On Christmas Day, 46-year-old Patricia Fields and 47-year-old Jada Fields was killed by Michael Anthony Smith Jr. after Fayetteville, North Carolina police said he ran a red light and crashed into their Toyota Corolla.
The North Carolina Beat has identified the man charged with carelessly running a red light on Christmas Day, resulting in the deaths of a husband and wife. According to the Fields family, they were told that 26-year-old Michael Anthony Smith Jr. was speeding at up to 90 mph when he ran a red light near Hope Mills Road and Glensford Drive, resulting in the deaths of Jada and Patricia Fields.
The youngest and only daughter of the couple, 24-year-old Tayazhnae Davis, stated that the Fayetteville Police Department had failed her. She said they also failed her other two siblings and the entire family. Davis told The North Carolina Beat that her mother was her best friend and that they did everything together.
![(Left) to (Right) [Mother] Patricia Fields, Tayazhnae Davis, [Father] Jada Fields and [Brother]Jada Fields III at Tayazhnae's graduation.](https://thencbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/JPEG-image-4129-A6ED-C1-0.jpeg)
“My mom was my best friend,” Tayazhnae said, smiling as she talked about her mother. “It doesn’t matter what I did… she’s right behind me like ‘that’s my child.'”
Tayazhnae said that her mother was her superhero and her everything.
“She’s my everything and my superhero,” Tayazhnae said. “She always made me feel comfortable, no matter what.”
From nail dates to shopping sprees, Tayazhnae said she and her mother did it all. She told The North Carolina Beat that Michael Anthony Smith Jr. was an idiot for what he did to her mom and dad
“He’s an idiot for what he did and I feel like the police failed us,” Tayazhnae said. “The charges should have been more… there should have been more.”
Tayazhnae Davis said she had spoke to her mom early Christmas morning before she got the news about the car accident
On Christmas morning, around 7:30 a.m. or 8:00 a.m., was the last time Tayazhnae said she had spoken to her mother.When she received a call from her aunt asking when the last time she had spoken to her mother, she was informed that her parents had been in a car accident.
“I’m like are you sure?” “At first, if you know my aunt, you’ll think she jokes around a little bit,” said Tayazhnae Davis.
Tayazhnae said that the last conversation she had with her mother was about seeing each other that day because Patricia had gifts for them. After that, she said she never heard from her mom again.
Fayetteville police said Michael Anthony Smith Jr. was responsible for the deaths of Patricia and Jada Fields
According to the Fayetteville Police Department, they responded to a car accident in the area of Hope Mills Road and Glensford Road just before 11 a.m. Upon arrival, police reported that Jada and Patricia were found dead inside the Toyota Corolla.
An unregistered Chrysler 300, driven by Smith, ran a red light and collided with the Fields‘ car. Police said Smith sustained minor injuries and remained at the scene, while a passenger in the vehicle fled. The girlfriend of Smith, Jasmyn White, a passenger in the vehicle, also sustained injuries. Authorities said they don’t know the identity of the person who fled or their whereabouts.
28-year-old Jada Fields III, eldest son of Patricia and Jada, expressed his heartbreak over the loss of his parents. He told The North Carolina Beat that his mother and father were his best friends. He said he talked to his mother and father every day.
“Some people don’t have a relationship with their parents when they get older…don’t talk to them every day,” Fields III said. “I talked to my mom and dad Monday-Sunday and if I’m not talking to my mom, I’m talking to my dad because they were right there beside each other.”
Jada Fields III said he talked to his mother on Christmas Day around 8:15 a.m. He said they talked for 36 minutes, and she was supposed to call back but she never got the chance.
“I talked to my mom around 8:15 p.m. and I talked to her for 36 minutes,” said Fields III. “She was supposed to call me back but she never got to call me back. I couldn’t believe it.”
When Jada Fields III heard the news about his parents, he said he was at home waiting for his 8-year-old daughter, Shaniya Fields, to come down from Winston-Salem to open her presents. He said that his mother was very excited to give her granddaughter her gifts. That Saturday before Christmas Eve, he said his mom went shopping for Shaniya and bought her a lot of gifts.
“I lost not one parent but two,” Fields III said. “That’s a lot on your heart…that’s a lot on everything. My parents got killed because this person decided to run a red light early christmas morning… what was the rush?”
Jada Fields III expressed disbelief at how someone could be charged with two misdemeanors for killing two people.
“A person can run a red-light, kill two people and get a misdemeanor?,” Jada Fields III asked. “They said he was speeding and going 90 mph.”
Patricia Fields was the sixth oldest of seven children, according to her third oldest sister, Bonnita Smith. She said that she would miss her sister because all of her siblings were close. Bonnita said her parents raised her, Patricia, and their siblings in the church, and they’ve always been close.
“I was able to spend a sister’s day with this past Saturday, not expecting this,” Bonnita said. “It really has put a hole in my heart and it’s hard to speak on it especially to lose my sister in a tragedy like this. It really hurts.”
Last Christmas was different the Fields family told The North Carolina Beat. A video from last Christmas, given to us, shows Patricia and her sister Phoebe, playing a TikTok game called “jinglbells” and listening to some feel good music. Another video we received shows Jada Fields jamming out at Bonnita’s house as they frequently gathered for game nights and fun.
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Michael Anthony Smith Jr. faces 150 days in jail if he is convicted
Fayetteville police department charged Smith with the following charges below, cited him and released him without bond:
- Misdemeanor death by motor vehicle reckless driving
- Stop light violation
- Fail to reduce speed
- Driving with license revoked
- Failed to register vehicle
- No Insurance on vehicle
- Fail to display correct registration plate
- Fictitious registration plate
- Expired inspection
- Fail to wear seat belt
- Windshield tint violation
In 2022, Smith Jr. was convicted of attempting to elude arrest while speeding and was placed on probation, according to NCDPS. If he is convicted in the deaths of Patricia and Jada Fields, he faces up to 150 days in jail.
We reached out to Michael Anthony Smith Jr. for comment, but he did not respond at the time of writing this article. We also learned that he had deleted all of his photos from his social media after the deadly Christmas Day crash in an attempt to keep his identity discreet.
Jada and Patricia leaves behind one daughter, 24-year-old Tayazhnae Davis, two sons, 27-year-old Jada Fields IIII, 28-year-old Jada Fields III, and one granddaughter Shaniya Fields.
