11. Back to Belmont County

Previously on Ice Cold Case

I can absolutely, one hundred percent agree mistakes were made

There's no incentive to be a good cop. But reputation is motivating. 

*Madison did you have anything with DNA or 

I don’t need to have any trouble with those cops down there.

Maybe explore Belmont County more because – there’s a reason why it was so easy to run drugs through there back in the day

There’s a saying in Belmont County… If you’re gonna kill someone – do it in Belmont County. Loosest county in town. In the whole state.

All roads will lead to Mr. McCort. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Loosest county in town. In the whole state.

Part 0: The Only Way Out

Thank you for being willing to meet with me. Is it okay if I record our conversation? Okay.
How old are you?
I'm 28. 
Okay. 
Yeah. I have questions, but we can just talk. 
Indeed!
Sorry. This is so crazy.
You didn't think I'd show, huh
Well, I never expected to hear from you ever in my whole life.

Going back to Belmont County was inevitable. And now that I’m here, it’s easy to feel why I was so hesitant. There’s a level of uncertainty here that is new to me. I’ve just trekked across the country, alone, and I’m sitting in the Ohio County Public Library in a town that naturally feels like it was built inside of a Stephen King novel. Everything feels even more uncomfortable than before. 

I’m only here for one reason – to talk to Daryl Smith. There’s two outcomes here: Daryl Smith killed my dad… or he didn’t. I know I need a lot more than one conversation to know the truth, but something told me that if I could just look him in the eyes, I’d have a better idea if Daryl Smith is really my dad’s killer. This was everything I wished for – the chance to talk to the main suspect. And as much as I want to, I can’t turn back now. I keep repeating a phrase I wrote down when I first started my investigation. It resonates more every day I get closer to the truth… The only way out is through.

Part 1: The Fear

When I woke up on December 13 with a message from Daryl Smith, I had knots in my stomach. Before even opening the full message, I was imagining what he could possibly say to me. Surprised doesn’t even feel like the right word to describe it. *sound effect: typing* While the message varied in tone from paragraph to paragraph. I remember thinking to myself, “this guy just wants to talk.” 

I knew I shouldn’t go alone. I tried to figure out how to bring people along with me – a sound mixer or my producer – but I didn’t have the resources to make it happen. I almost didn’t go because I didn’t want to be alone. But this had to happen. It was all lining up. 

The day Daryl reached out to me was the day I was meant to reach out to him. And I had already planned to go back to the area to look into a few other leads at the same time that Daryl could meet. Maybe it had to be this way. Maybe it was fate – like no matter what I would have ended up back in West Virginia, talking to Daryl, right now. 

I didn’t choose to go alone. There was no other option. But this was my opportunity to show Daryl that I was willing to hear him out. I wouldn’t go as far to say I trusted him, but I put enough faith in fate to meet with him alone.

I am just so glad that you are not scared.

Honestly, I’m terrified.

Part 2: Daryl and J.C.

How did you hear about my podcast? 
That shit was poppin’. You see, when I could maybe hit a podcast. What podcast? You know, good. A Madison J.C.’s daughter. I heard it when I was in prison. Yeah she did. She got a segment once. She has a segment two. She has segment –. It's called Ice Cold. So when I made it home. I'm sitting around chatting with my mother. She was like, son, why is this girl throwing your name all through the mud? You should listen to this.

Cracking a case as cold as the murder of John Cornelius McGhee has not been simple. Not just because he was my dad, but because there are a lot of storylines to track, theories to follow, and dots to connect.  

My original theory has Daryl Smith and Duncan Waitts at my dad’s door when my dad was shot with Omar with them as a product of this potentially staged home invasion. I believe the cops conducted a lackluster investigation and *sound effect: stack of papers thrown in a drawer and door slammed* shoved my dad’s case files in a drawer for over two decades. Not to mention Rico’s obvious resentment towards my dad and his access presenting the opportunity for a contract killing, a murder-for-hire. 

For the last two years I’ve been trying to gain access and muster up the courage to reach out to the list of suspects in my dad’s murder. And now, Daryl Smith, a prime suspect in this case, is sitting directly in front of me. What if I don’t like what I hear? What if I do get the answers I’m looking for and it’s even more painful than I could have ever imagined? What if I don’t get any answers at all? All I could do was start from the beginning…

I have so many questions to ask you
Indeed
But let's just start...Okay. So how old are you?
49
Ok so how old were you when this happened? In 2002?
I was roughly about 28. 29.
Okay. And I guess, just like, how did you know my dad?
Oh, man. I grew up with your pops and shit. Like he was older. He was always in the hood and everything. And when I got to the age to be able to hit the bars and things, I would be in his bar at like 16, 17, because it was the thing to do when I was with the older people and shit. I grew up a little bit before my time, you know, I was in the streets at like 12, 13 trying to figure things out. You know, I was doing things in school basketball and all that stuff, but I was teetering on the fence.

Daryl and my dad had that in common – they were both thrown to the wolves at a young age. In the Wheeling area, it seems like a familiar story. The bar Daryl is referring to is Johnny Cool’s. The bar that my dad owned in Wheeling, West Virginia – just across the river from Belmont County, Ohio. Daryl knew my dad’s nephew, Rico. At this point in the timeline, the early ‘90s, everyone was cordial. And Daryl and Rico were close.

So your pops when I got to be about 16, 17. I was running with Rico. The Rico that you’re always speaking about, the big dog or whatever and shit like. And me and him was close like because at that time we had ran all the out of town guys up out of town. Anybody with some heroin or anything like that and shit, you had to go. And then all of us started getting the money. So Rico came about because he was a bit weak in everything, and I knew him since I was like 12, 13. He was an exception. So therefore, if he had it, I had it. So therefore the city was my this that and the third and he was doing big things. So JC, your father, he was a good dude back then. Like there was never any issues this.

Johnny Cool’s is the same bar that is home of the Rico federal case. Rico, my cousin, got a RICO, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, charge. Daryl was working with Rico at the time and he talked about what he remembers from that trial. It’s no surprise that this case is a huge turning point in my dad’s story. 

Things didn't get bad until the end when we caught the case, the federal case.  He's seen JC's name on the paperwork. They were offering Rico five years in the feds. And, Rico said, "Nah my uncle would never do that to me. I'm going to beat this case because everything is based off of JC's testimony." We had the transcripts, everything he was going to say. And he didn;t think that JC would actually do it to him because they were so close. But when we got to court, you had your whole family over there in the background and stuff, and we're on trial and we're sitting there. He didn't think JC was going to take the stand to say what he was going to say. Well, JC said what he said, like the family's crying and everything. And I couldn't believe it because I didn't know the type of money he was spending with Rico because anytime that's family shit, like I'm just cool and stuff like that, I'd be around. But when it came to the business or shit like that, I didn't know for sure, but I know he was up, you know. And after he testified, that broke his heart, you know.

This was hard to hear. I hadn’t given much thought to the implications of my dad turning on not only his family but his peers. These are tight-knit communities. My dad’s back was up against the wall and in protecting himself and ultimately my sister, he had to sever important relationships. 

Rico got life because he said that Joe was selling dope for him and how he was renting, taking Barb's car less this that and the third to places. It was just a circus, you know. 

It seems like, as far as motive goes, this federal case wasn’t enough to give Daryl a vendetta against my dad. But he admits he started to see my dad in a different light. Snitches don’t usually recover their reputations after they rat someone out. 

I'm like, "Damn, how could you get your own family?" Like, I don't like rats. I don't like this. He gave Rico life behind that. But that's a family situation. Like JC ain't never did nothing to me. He didn't have nothing to say about me, because his actions were dumb with Rico. So. That's how I know your father. On that aspect. 

We’ve been chatting for a few minutes at this point — mostly about context and interpersonal relationships. But what do these things have to do with my dad’s murder?

Part 3: What Happened that Day

I could feel that we were building rapport. He seemed eager to talk to me. But there was clearly an elephant in the room.

Daryl went all the way to the Grand Jury for my dad’s murder and as recently as my last interview with the police less than a year ago, they still name him as a main suspect. So if Daryl wasn’t at my dad’s house the morning he was shot, if he didn’t ransack Omar and Pearl’s house and tie them up with phone cords… where was Daryl that morning?

.... What were you doing that day?
That night I was in East Wheeling. I was with, my little girlfriend Jill Tiplin, we was up. It was a nice summer day, and we were doing something on the hill. We had tents out on the hill. You know where Grandview Manor is right? They was tearing it down. And you know I'm from the hood, this was my old stomping grounds. But I've been incarcerated so long to come home and see everything. Like - Cause I used to run in the hills through there, I grew up on a hill and everything, and that was just an East Wheeling thing. So when me and Jill come down off the hill, you know, Choo-Choo and all them? Are you familiar with him? His son just passed today a couple days ago. They're all congregated down by Jack's corner. The first thing they say is,"Man," I read newspapers and stuff. "Somebody killed JC." It's like "And"? Because at that time and shit, "He gave Rico life" this that and third. I don't fuck with them type, "Okay? So it's over with, basically." So. And that was it. Yeah. I was in the hood. I was in East Wheeling.

He says he wasn’t there. It’s hard to know if this is the truth right now, but it’s possible. And that possibility is frustrating. If there’s no physical evidence the only way to know what happened that day is if someone owns up to it. If Darly was there, he has no incentive to tell me that. And if he wasn’t there, there’s nothing I can do about it.

I can see this is hard for you.
Yeah. I mean, its just frustrating. It just feels like I'm, like, running in circles.
Indeed.

I think he could tell I was nervous and that I wasn’t trying to attack him. But there were some solid reasons to believe that Daryl could be connected to my dad’s murder, but could it all just be coincidence? After all, there were a lot of people who wanted my dad out of the picture. And they couldn’t have all done it. 

Omar had described the car in one of his interviews to be a purple PT cruiser, similar to Tish Terry’s – a girl Daryl was seeing on and off at that time. That was something I couldn’t ignore.

So what, why would there be any connection like. I mean, unless Omar made it up, which is totally possible. But, like this P.T. cruiser thing, obviously, it's really weird that he would say there was a PT cruiser there. And Tisha had a PT cruiser. Do you think he just knew that she had one or like. 
At that time, PT cruisers were the shit. Not to toot my own horn, but at that time, I was the shit. You know, I mean, I thought I was, you know, I had all kinds of cars. But at that time, like I told you, I was with the white girl. Her name is Tisha, right? And she had a little Ford Focus. So I don't know how Tisha’s PT Cruiser even came into play. They tried to say that she was messing with JC and she said, ‘Ew. Tisha was, she was bad back then. And she was like, high society type shit. Like she would never, ever, ever dated JC and there would never be any animosity between me and JC about a Tisha. Because that would never even existed or at that time.

There were more specifics about the town dynamics I wasn’t fully aware of before. The Ohio River that separates Wheeling, West Virginia from Belmont County, Ohio isn’t just a state line, it’s an unspoken border. If you mess around on one side, you probably keep clear of the other.

But in 2002, people from East Wheeling didn’t go to Belmont County. We already knew what it was in Belmont County, and JC didn't mess with nobody from East Wheeling. You didn't see J.C. at that time. After he did that, you didn't see him. You would probably see him in passing. But his little connections and everything, were done now because he was considered a rat. 

After my dad turned on Rico, he was known as a snitch. And his ties to Wheeling were seemingly cut off. But even though Rico was locked up with a life sentence, Daryl was still around – in and out of prison for shorter terms. But Rico’s influence in this area remained strong.

Part 4: Rico

If Daryl was close with Rico back in the ‘90s and my own theory places Daryl at my dad’s house possibly because of Rico, maybe Daryl knows more about Rico’s unexpected release from federal prison.

Um. And you can pass on questions, obviously. But, I mean, I gotta ask about Rico. How did he get out of jail? 
This had to be 2010 or 11. So when I come home, Rico came home probably like 11 or 12. And I was wondering, how the fuck did you do that? When you have life and affairs, you never come home. There's not too much appeals and anything else and shit that's going to bring you home. You got life. So when I actually, they had the rumors going around for years “Rico's coming home. Rico is coming home. He's going to be home.” But when I talked to him and he was home, I'm like, “Hm.” My mindset is either - he's working with them real tough, and he's doing something with Mexicans or something like that. I don't know. Blew my mind. I was glad to see him home. So I go, I finally get some of the time knocked off too, because I go to trial and everything like I don't rat. I don't do none of that. I live by the code. If you happen to get me on something and shit. Prove it. Know what I mean? And if you got me, you got me type shit. 

Rico has been out since 2012, and my sister saw Daryl at Rico’s daughter’s bar looking for him several years ago. It made me wonder if the two of them are still close after all these years.

Have you talked to him recently? 
Rico don’t fuck with me. 
Why?
Rico. Rico is a real smart, intelligent individual, right? He can play and he can manipulate almost any situation in the world. He's like a, he plays life like you play chess. And I mean, and granted, Rico, he was a pretty decent, good dude. You know, I mean, I‘d have gave my life, Rico, back in the day, like, we was, like, close, you know. but now he's not the same. He's not the same person. And Rico, he could, I don't think that he did that because at that time, in 2002, Rico didn't have too much power in the joint. But he didn't have no rank like that to put hits, and he didn't have no money to put hits for somebody to come out of prison and go smack somebody and murder something, and shit just because he gave his word to do it. He's never been that powerful until recently, like. But yeah, he, Rico was a go getter and he had a lot of influence over the family. The family loved me, you know. Buck and everybody. Miss Khiladi (?), his mother, the whole McGhee family and stuff. They really loved me at the time.  

These are lifelong bonds so it was surprising that Daryl and Rico weren’t close anymore. In my mind, something must have happened that drove a wedge between them and it had to have been something significant.

So when I came home, Rico was already home. And he pulled up on me and shit and he was like, “Yeah, I know you know about me.” But he was starting to make his climb again in the game. He was like, “Listen, I love you like a brother” he was like “This is something different out here. The world's changed heroin's in this that and the third. I didn't allow niggas to sell no heroin around here. Whoever was selling this shit, I was coming to get you. My niggas was coming to get you. Whatever. So he says, “Listen. The game is different if you're going to play this game. You gotta be able to get down with the get down because you like to go to trial and they're going to always make you a scapegoat because you go to trial. Anybody who's taking a plea bargain is going to come and get you. He was like, “Bro, if you ain't willing to get down and tell somebody some shit, I would advise you not to get in this game.” So at that time, Rico’s the man around here. But me, I'm out here. I'm happy to be home. I don't sell heroin because I know what it does and shit. I live around here. This is my community, this that and the third. 

Whether or not Rico was involved in my dad’s murder, he definitely hated my dad for ratting him out. To go from that to becoming a snitch himself, seems like a double standard. I think that perfectly outlines the nuance of becoming a confidential informant. It’s almost always because you have no other option. These people have families, children, and parents to take care of. Drug dealing is their job. 

Why would you forgo providing for your family to cover for a coworker?

But at the end of the day who is the one forcing the hand for information? The system that currently exists promotes plea deals and information on others to get lighter sentences or get off entirely. This is common with drug dealers in an attempt to “get the bigger guy.”

So now the game is shifting because the winner is the one with the most information. It’s all about leverage.

Rico kept me away from everything. I've never been to one of his houses. You know, he owned city blocks and Belair, you know what I mean? He never let me know anything about us getting down and shit. But if you ever seen me down bad, he would definitely look out. But as far as we run all Rico, them days was done. He didn't trust me no more. 

Even though Daryl and Rico aren’t associated with each other anymore, at one point, they were. And what about Duncan Waitts?

Why do you think - So I uncovered that Duncan Waits was the other redacted name. But why would you two ever be associated? Or were you friends? 
We’re from East Wheeling and at that time period, Duncan Waits was younger. He's never played basketball with Rico or none of that. When we were doing that thing in the 90s, he was basically still a kid. Back then Duncan had heart. But nobody would listen. That's another thing. Nobody from East Wheeling would ever go across that bridge to do anything crazy in Belmont County. 

At this point in our conversation, I wasn’t getting the closure that I was hoping for. Daryl’s answers were incredibly detailed in some ways and vague in others. But now I have a lot more context – I’m getting more familiar with this area, how things operate, and the lives of the people I’ve spent years reading about. So now, with that knowledge, I was ready to hear more about what happened on July 11, 2002.

Part 5: Daryl’s Theory?

Of course, my biggest question was “did Daryl do it?” and I assumed, if he was reaching out to me to set the record straight, he was going to say he didn’t. So my next question is naturally, what Daryl thinks happened that day. His proximity to these characters means he might have information. Maybe he heard things through the years. Maybe someone behind the scenes is taking credit. Maybe someone has slipped up and said too much.

It’s clear that in this town rumors swirl around, so it’s definitely possible that between his jail time and his connections, Daryl heard information about what really went down that morning on Berkeley Avenue. He swears he doesn’t know anything. He even questions the validity of the information that currently exists.

What do you think happened? Just based on. I mean, do you think this home invasion is real? Do you think it was staged?
Fuck no I don't think it's real. Because if - them people came down here and they're calling themselves the Midwest Task Force. Why would they go over there? They would've came prepared. They wouldn't wouldn't be pulling out loose shit and trying to catch them on fire with alcohol, this that and the third, they would've been like a well planned thing, like, you know, you're not gonna come to town and do this and then grab Omar and and take him over here. I don't know, does it? Doesn't make sense. It doesn't.
So then, do you think anyone was there or do you think they made it up? Like, what do you think happened that morning?
My guess is as good as yours. We can have theories and educated guesses and on that shit but like… I don’t know.

Part 6: A New Angle

Daryl Smith was right. We can help each other. If he didn’t do it, and I find out who did, his name is cleared. If he has information that can lead me to solve this case, that can happen sooner rather than later. And the mere fact that Daryl was out of prison, because he won an appeal against Belmont County, means there is a new angle to consider. 

Daryl had listened to the podcast – beginning to end, twice. I wasn’t just asking him questions. He was asking me questions as well. He pointed out how strange it was that the cops would be telling anyone to get the guns out of my dad’s house – a plot point that was always suspicious to me.

And then you told me you said something about Nippert telling them to go get the guns. Where the hell did you get that from? 

A family member told me that. 

 I really wanted to dive into Daryl’s history with Belmont County and his previous charges. There had to be a reason he was already on their radar when my dad was killed. 

Everybody knows that Belmont County is one of the racist counties, period. Everybody from around here also knows you don't go over there to do anything. Especially in their hotels, because they're going to find a reason, especially if you're with a white woman, to do certain things and shit. They don't give a fuck. They plant drugs, they do all kinds of shit. And then as you see, they gave me a murder case that didn't have anything to do with me. What I think about that - I think it might have been. Police involvement in that. For Nippert -  to give me this case where there was so many discrepancies and to just give it to me when you cannot link anything really to me with this. I think forreal that they would dependent on me getting found guilty of it, and then they would have gave me the lethal injection. And then your case that you're fighting right now, it would have been no sense because there would have been a person with it. But how can you prove now that it would have been unsolved, that it would’ve been an unsolved murder and would have been a case closed because we have somebody for it. Now, even if I didn't do it, he's dead. So therefore the case is done anyway. Everything that if there was some kind of collusion with the police and the investigators, the case is done. Now they don't have nothing to talk about because they got a body for that and he's a dead man, you know. So that's why this is troubling for me. Like and then everything from there like, with Belmont County just recently. I have the sheriff's department planting drugs to get me. And then the Bridgeport police turn around and do the same thing. Three years later. I mean, this coincidence. This couldn't be a mere coincidence. You know, and it's done and it’s the same Belmont County (??)  And these are the same two entities that gave me your father's murder, you know. So I'm seeing some kind of collusion right here.

Daryl isn’t the only one who believes there is something weird going on within the Sheriff’s Department. There is a lot of talk about corruption in the county and it makes sense. The opportunity is there – it’s a small county with proximity to several major cities. And Daryl’s 2023 case is a concrete example of the power the county officials have to make up their own story… and almost get away with it.

The Belmont County Sheriff’s Department has made one thing very clear – they still think Daryl Smith is the main suspect. Or at least… that’s what they’ve told me. 

*Madison You’ve closed on Daryl? It’s not him? *Detective DeVaul No, no, no. I still think it was Daryl there.

And they really want me to believe that, too.

Omar doesn’t really have the – the killer eyes. Daryl Smith got the killer eyes.

Next Time on Ice Cold Case

That’s the problem with the Ohio Valley girl. It is so freaking corrupt.

So she might have opened up a can of worms and shit. 

We have done nothing to cover this up.

Credits:

Ice Cold Case is brought to you by Yes!
It is written, hosted, and produced by Madison McGhee
Also produced by Jeremy Benbow
Mixed by Cody Campbell 
Original music by Matt Bettinson
Creative direction by AJ Christianson
Creative consulting by Hoff
A video version of this episode is available on our YouTube Channel and a transcript is available at icecoldcase.com
To submit any tips or information please email us at icecoldcasepodcast@gmail.com