Their affair — which began in 2008 — broke off the following year after Smith was confronted by his own wife. But Smith and Cade began exchanging e-mail messages again in 2010, Grace said. When Smith’s wife found out, she drove with two of her sons to Creech’s house, where Creech told Smith’s two sons, “You saved your father’s life by coming here today,” according to the prosecutor.
Two years later, however, when the romance rekindled again, Creech made good on his threat to kill Smith, Grace said.
Smith was last seen between 9 and 10 p.m. May 1, 2012, leaving a female friend’s home off Kanan Road in eastern Ventura County in his 2000 Mercedes- Benz 420 E. Prosecutors allege he was killed either on May 1, 2012, or early the next day.