Homicide suspect charged in Bellevue murder from May 2022

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Metro Nashville Police confirmed the arrest of a man wanted for a homicide back in May.

MNPD announced on Wednesday that 20-year-old James Marques Smith was arrested and will be charged with the murder of 20-year-old Nicholas Spivey in the Valley Ridge Apartments parking lot on Harding Pike on May 11, 2022.

Smith was spotted in a vehicle with 21-year-old Shy’Marie’On Link on Main Street. Detectives tracked the vehicle to 17th Avenue North when both men exited the vehicle and ran. Smith discarded a gun before he was arrested on Wednesday afternoon on 17th Avenue North. The gun was found to be stolen out of Chattanooga.

Smith is charged with criminal homicide and is being held without bond.

Link also tossed a gun during his attempted escape. He was wanted on an outstanding auto theft warrant in Nashville and several felonies in Sumner County.

The investigation revealed that Spivey and two other men, one of them alleged to be Smith, were participating in a prearranged meeting when the gunfire occurred. Spivey then approached their silver sedan when one of them got out, opened the trunk, and retrieved a gun.

Investigators went on to say that one of the suspects and Spivey had begun fighting, after which both men shot at him. They then fled the parking lot. Police later located the silver sedan, which had been reported stolen, abandoned the following day in East Nashville, and was impounded.

Robbery is believed to be the motive for Spivey’s death, and he was carrying more than $3,200 cash.

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