Police left with unanswered questions in woman's death

GASTON COUNTY, N.C.,None — A Tuesday autopsy on the body of a woman who was found dead in a vacant house failed to provide the answers Gastonia police were looking for.

As a result, several more months will pass before investigators can say with any certainty what caused the death of 29-year-old Emma Lynn Smart.

"We were hoping to be done and over with it today, but we're not," said Gastonia Police Sgt. Jimmy Arndt. "We've got an idea (on the cause of death), but it's still inconclusive."

Arndt said Smart's death remains suspicious, but added "in all probability, it's not a homicide."

"It could go either way. It may not be a homicide," he said. "But we still have to run everything down."

The owner of an abandoned home at 507 S. Oakland St. in central Gastonia was going by to check on the house at lunchtime Monday when they discovered Smart's body inside. The owner then called police just before 1 p.m.

By Tuesday afternoon, the yellow police tape around the property from the previous day had been removed, and all of the windows and doors had been boarded up with plywood. A small arrangement of acrylic red and white roses had been fastened atop a fence post in front of the derelict house.

Smart's listed home address was less than a mile away at 452 S. Weldon St., where no one could be reached for comment Tuesday. She would have celebrated her 30th birthday next Monday.

Smart lived with her boyfriend, Jody Barlow, who reported her missing at 1 a.m. Friday, Arndt said.

Police believe Barlow is telling the truth about having last seen Smart late Thursday.

"He thought she was going to go to the store and come right back, and she didn't," said Arndt. "He didn't know what happened to her."

Smart turned up in the Gaston County Jail in March 2010 after being charged with first-degree trespassing. She was previously charged with both first-degree and second-degree trespassing in September 2009. Most recently, she was arrested Aug. 11 in Charlotte and charged with assault and battery.

Arndt again declined to provide further details, such as where in the house Smart was discovered, or how police believe she died. Detectives always begin by investigating such cases as homicides until evidence proves otherwise, he said.

The autopsy Tuesday morning was conducted at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, but it couldn't confirm anything for police, Arndt said. A more detailed examination will have to be handled by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh.

"Now it has to go to the toxicologist," he said.

Arndt said he couldn't confirm whether the house was known to be a haven for drug activity. But there was evidence it was being used without the consent of the owner.

"I can say people have been coming in and out of the house and staying there," he said. "With vacant houses, people who are homeless sometimes get in them to have somewhere to stay."

WSOC