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The latest episode of Dateline NBC dove into the brutal murder of actor and producer Gavin Smith, who seemingly disappeared on May 1, 2012. The 57-year-old movie executive was allegedly involved in an extramarital affair with Chandrika Cade-Creech, the wife of John Creech, a convicted drug dealer.
After Gavin's sudden disappearance, the search continued for months, ultimately leading to the authorities declaring Gavin dead. Finally, in October 2014, hikers found his body buried in a shallow grave in a remote area in Antelope Valley, California. His body had decomposed by the time it was found. It was discovered that Gavin died from craniofacial trauma, with his skull crushed from both sides.
Authorities arrested John Creech as the primary suspect, and he was later charged with voluntary manslaughter. However, he was acquitted of first and second-degree murder.
The details of this case can shock even veteran true-crime fans. Read on to learn five such facts about Gavin Smith's murder ahead of NBC Dateline's upcoming episode.
5 quick facts about the murder of Gavin Smith
1) The authorities initially assumed that Gavin Smith was missing
Gavin previously suffered from painkiller addiction, and he was going through a rough patch in his marital life at the time of his disappearance. This, added to the fact that both his car and he were missing, led to the initial theory that he had gone missing.
However, in 2013, a tip led the authorities to a storage facility in Simi Valley, California. There, they found Gavin's car with his dried blood inside. This changed the course of the case, and the authorities began investigating it as a homicide.
2) Gavin had an affair with John Creech's wife for over four years
Although Gavin was a family man with three children, his pill addiction landed him in a rehabilitation clinic, where he met Chandrika Cade-Creech. They began an affair in 2008, which eventually culminated in the tragic altercation that claimed Gavin's life.
3) John Creech followed his wife, presumably for revenge
Although the defense claimed that John Creech had no intention of killing Gavin and that the latter had attacked Creech first, sources claim that Creech followed his wife to her late-night rendezvous with Gavin and got into a fight with the movie executive.
All the while, Chandrika witnessed the situation, allegedly begging her husband to stop. Speaking about the fight, she said:
"Honestly, too many times to count. More than a dozen,...He wasn't fighting back or anything. He wasn't even pushing away. He wasn't moving at all..."
4) Creech's defense claimed that he killed Gavin Smith in self-defense
Creech's defense claimed that their client had made some questionable choices, but he did not intend to kill Smith. They allegedly indicated that Smith had started the fight and Creech tried to fight him back.
The prosecutors countered this claim by saying that "accidentally punching" someone to death is not possible.
5) Creech was acquitted of first-degree and second-degree murder
With the argument of the defense in place, the jury decided to acquit Creech of first-degree and second-degree murder but found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He was handed a sentence of 11 years for killing Gavin Smith in addition to the drug charges he was already facing.
