The ex-wife of Vanroy Evan Smith said she feared her own safety in the weeks before he allegedly mowed down and stabbed a Los Angeles doctor to death.
Smith, a Long Beach accountant, was arrested Wednesday and charged with.
Authorities say Dr. Michael Mammone was riding his bike when Smith hit him with his white Lexus. Smith then exited the vehicle and repeatedly stabbed the doctor with a knife, the New York Post reported.
Several days before the tragic incident, police conducted a wellness check on Smith’s ex-wife, Marla Annette Hart, over “something involving Mr. Smith,” the ex-wife’s father, Stanley Hart, told the outlet.
Marla and Smith were in an ongoing custody battle over their two daughters. However, she filed for divorce over ten years ago.
“She was concerned for her own safety before this,” Hart said, adding that his former son-in-law was a well-mannered young man with a history of “issues.”
“It wasn’t like I didn’t believe it, but I never could’ve imagined this,” Hart said. “He has some issues, that’s all I can say. If the authorities do their due diligence, they will probably determine pretty quickly what those issues are.”
A friend and former client of Smith told The Post that Smith had begun closing himself off in the weeks leading up to the tragedy and shut down his business without notice.
“This is ridiculous. I’m devastated. I just spoke to him on the 23rd, and he said he was doing OK, but he was going through some things,” Gilliam said.
