Houston man charged with murder in girlfriend’s 2011 strangulation death: Cold Case

15 years later, a cold case cracks: Houston man charged with murder in girlfriend’s 2011 strangulation death.

Earnest Harold Smith, 54, was arrested Friday and charged with murder in the death of Bridget Caldwell, 38, who was found dead in her Houston apartment back on March 6, 2011. Caldwell’s father discovered her body after she didn’t show up for work an autopsy determined she’d been strangled.

Smith, who was dating Caldwell at the time, was named a person of interest early on, but the case went cold until HPD’s Cold Case Squad picked it back up and uncovered new evidence tying him to her death.

Court records paint a disturbing picture: witnesses told investigators Caldwell had reported domestic violence and stalking, said Smith once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her, and told friends she believed he would kill her if they broke up. Records show Smith invited Caldwell to dinner the night she died she declined. Phone records and surveillance video reportedly placed him near her home around the time of her death.

Smith was booked into the Harris County Jail.