GUILTY TX - Karen Smith, 40, shot to death in Dallas parking garage, 8 Jan 2013

A couple’s violent and tumultuous marriage ended Tuesday night in a UT Southwestern parking garage when her estranged husband fatally shot her as she was leaving work, according to police records obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

The victim’s husband, Ferdinand Smith, has been booked into the Dallas County jail. Smith, 41, is being held on a charge of murder in the death of his wife, Karen Cox Smith, who worked as an executive assistant at UT Southwestern.

He was also being held on felony family violence assault accusing him of attacking his 40-year-old wife in December. It was unclear when the warrant was issued and why he had not been taken into custody on the warrant prior to the murder.

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“The suspect said he became enraged and shot and killed the complainant with his duty weapon that he uses as a security officer on his job,” the records state.

Officers who responded to a report that had been shots fired conducted a floor search of the parking garage before finding Karen Cox Smith lying on the parking lot on the floor. She had been shot multiple times in the head and upper body in what is believed to be the first homicide on the university campus in three decades. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to police records, detectives quickly learned about the December incident and police went to his Duncanville apartment, where he was taken into custody about 3:40 a.m. Wednesday on the family violence warrant in the December case.

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Ferdinand Smith worked at Faith Family Academy in Oak Cliff for several years, serving as a security guard at the early childhood center.

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Murder of abused wife devastates family, spurs change in Dallas

By SARAH MERVOSH

Karen Cox Smith waited three weeks for protection. Finally, police promised it was coming. She thanked them.

A half-hour later, she was dead.

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Karen Smith’s brutal slaying — and a series of domestic abuse deaths that followed — helped prod Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to lead a crusade against domestic violence. Saturday morning, thousands of men are expected to join the mayor outside City Hall for a rally against abuse.

Her murder also sparked changes within the Dallas Police Department. In mid-January, Chief David Brown made serving domestic violence warrants a priority. Since then, the department has cut the number of outstanding warrants by about half.

Maj. Jeff Cotner of the crimes against persons division said Smith’s death was one in a “series of failures” that led the department to re-examine its handling of domestic violence complaints.

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Dallas mayor, celebrities, religious leaders try to inspire better men at anti-domestic violence rally

On a cold and rainy morning, the predominantly male crowd spread across the plaza outside Dallas City Hall. While the weather might have kept organizers from hitting their attendance goal of 10,000, at least half that showed up at the Dallas Men Against Abuse rally.

Looking more like sports fans than activists, the men waved white rally towels and chanted against domestic violence. Their mantra was simple: Real men don’t hit women — not once, not ever.

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Dale Hansen, longtime sportscaster for WFAA-TV (Channel 8), recalled how he was 7 years old when his mother woke him in the middle of the night and dragged him from the home. His father — a huge man with biceps the size of some men’s legs — had broken her nose.

“Never has such a big man looked so small,” Hansen said. “That’s what a man does when he hits a woman. He diminishes the woman; he diminishes himself even more.”

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Lara Gaither, outreach director for the Genesis Women's Shelter in Dallas, said Chief Brown has told Genesis officials that over the last year or two, overall crime has dropped in Dallas. The exception is cases of domestic abuse.

"We can't end domestic violence until men are part of the solution," Gaither said before the rally.

Mayor Rawlings said his next priority is raising money for shelters and working with faith-based groups on counseling; also working with legislators on a "three strikes" law for serial abusers.

The rally ended with an oath for all men: That they treat women with respect... not rage.

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Sarah Mervosh ‏@smervosh 23h

Men in crowd asked - how many know a victim of domestic violence? Almost everyone raised a hand. #Rally323

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An estranged husband who shot and killed the mother of his three children inside a UT Southwestern parking garage has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Ferdinand Glen Smith pleaded guilty to murder as part of a plea deal that would sentence him to 50 years with parole available after 25 years.

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