Boyfriend sought in woman’s death

Six weeks before Jennifer Silva’s body was found in a Sailboat Bend home, state prosecutors dropped a domestic violence charge against her boyfriend, who police now suspect in her death, records show.

Police say they have a murder warrant for Thomas Smith, 52. The Fort Lauderdale man has a record of arrests for drug and domestic violence charges.

Silva, 34, was found dead on Nov. 28, Smith’s 52nd birthday, at 805 SW Fourth St., aka Tequesta Street, after somebody tipped off police about “a possible deceased victim” there, said Casey Liening, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

That address includes two units and a house and is next door to a residence Silva and Smith had listed as their home, court records show.

Police did not reveal how Silva died and would not describe the nature of Silva and Smith’s relationship other than to say “the victim and the suspect were known to each other.”

But Broward Circuit Court records show Silva and Smith were in an intimate relationship and he was the father of her child.

A police report from Aug. 30 details Smith’s arrest for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after his girlfriend, Silva, showed up bloodied and beaten at a hospital.

Silva had a large cut on her head, her face and arms were bloody and she “appeared to have been dragged around in the dirt,” the arresting officer wrote.

Silva told police she and Smith fought over money and he hit her in the head with a crowbar and a chair, the report said.

State prosecutors on Oct. 15 dropped the battery charge against Smith. Court documents do not explain why.

Prosecutors are continuing to pursue drug possession charges against Smith, who they say had three cocaine rocks in his pocket when he was arrested last summer.

In 2016, Smith eluded another domestic violence prosecution when his battered girlfriend refused medical attention, would not allow investigators to take photos of her injuries and declined to give a statement or sign a complaint, records show.

The victim’s name was redacted from the Nov. 2 arrest report.

When Hollywood police arrived at that scene, the victim said Smith strangled her with both hands to “near unconsciousness,” the report said.

The woman had a swollen, bruised and cut eye, a bloody lip, fresh scratches, swelling and welts around her neck, Officer Freya Hinton wrote.

The victim said she “was sick and tired of her boyfriend coming home drunk and beating her all the time,” Hinton wrote.

Police arrested Smith but prosecutors dropped the charges a month later. The same thing happened with a misdemeanor domestic battery charge in Fort Lauderdale in 2012, court records show.

Silva, originally from Puerto Rico, was a convicted felon whose

rap sheet shows arrests on cocaine, Xanax, flakka and marijuana charges dating back to 2006.

She did two stints in state prison, records show, for cocaine possession, grand theft and burglary convictions. Silva was released from state custody on June 2, 2014 after serving nearly three years.

Silva was due to be in a Broward courtroom on Dec. 17 for arraignment on a misdemeanor open-container citation. She was cited Nov. 9, documents show, when a Fort Lauderdale cop saw her drinking a 16 oz. Steel Reserve beer in front of VIP 6th Street market.

Police urge anyone with information about Smith’s whereabouts to contact Fort Lauderdale Police Detective E. Thomas at 954-828-6093 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.