Friends described Smith as generous and outgoing while prosecutors detailed a planned killing.
OCALA, Fla. — Timothy Smith’s friends remembered him as a joyful health care leader and LGBTQ advocate as the criminal case against his husband ended with a life sentence for murder.
The September 2025 conviction of Herbert Swilley brought a legal close to a case that had unsettled people who knew Smith in Ocala and The Villages. Jurors found Swilley guilty of first-degree murder after hearing that Smith was drugged, strangled, moved and left in an apartment staged to misdirect investigators.
Smith, 59, had worked in senior care and was known among friends for parties, dancing and community ties. Michael Orsini, a drag entertainer who performs as Twila Holiday, said Smith had a bright presence in local LGBTQ spaces. He described Smith as someone who loved feathers, sequins and rhinestones and who would dance when given the chance. Candy Baker, a close friend, said the news of Smith’s death overwhelmed her. “When I got the call that he was gone, I just fell to my knees and screamed,” Baker said in a televised account of the case. She said Smith was the kind of person who helped others. Those memories formed the emotional backdrop as jurors weighed a case filled with forensic evidence and claims of deception.
The investigation began March 25, 2023, when Swilley told the Marion County Sheriff’s Office that he could not reach Smith. Deputies went to an apartment the couple used apart from their primary home. After getting a key from the landlord, they entered and found Smith dead in a bedroom. Officials saw trauma to his face and neck, including ligature marks. They also smelled what appeared to be a cleaning chemical similar to bleach. The apartment later became a focus because it had been used for sexual encounters, a fact the defense said widened the field of possible suspects. Prosecutors said that same fact explained why Swilley chose it as a stage. They argued he wanted deputies to believe Smith had been killed by another person during a private meeting.
As investigators moved through Smith’s final hours, the state’s version became more detailed. Prosecutors said Smith and Swilley were at their primary residence on the night of March 23. They said Swilley gave Smith a massive dose of diphenhydramine, then beat and strangled him after the drug took effect. Forensic testimony later showed Smith had a level of the antihistamine more than 30 times higher than a normal therapeutic dose. The medical examiner said Smith died from neck trauma tied to ligature asphyxia and a broken neck. Detectives then used surveillance video and digital records to trace movements between the home and the apartment. Officials said the records showed Swilley moving between the two locations, then taking Smith’s Jeep to the apartment to support the staged scene.
Money, job plans and the state of the marriage shaped the motive presented at trial. Prosecutors said Smith was the main breadwinner and had been looking at a new job in DeLand. They said Swilley feared losing access to Smith’s income and stood to receive life insurance payments totaling $333,000. The state also cited a retirement account worth about $48,000. Assistant State Attorney Amy Berndt said Swilley grew bitter and believed Smith owed him. The defense argued that prosecutors had built a theory around suspicion and had not proved the killing beyond a reasonable doubt. Defense attorney John N. Klein IV said investigators failed to fully pursue other leads connected to the couple’s open marriage and the apartment’s use by other people.
The people closest to the couple gave testimony that went beyond documents and lab results. Jordan Swilley, the defendant’s daughter, testified about tension in the home and about what she heard around the time prosecutors said Smith died. Trial coverage said she told jurors her father instructed her to say she had heard nothing and that he had been home all night. Baker testified that Herbert Swilley and Jordan quickly cleared out Smith’s belongings after the death. Other witnesses said Swilley talked about insurance and cleaning. A former employee at an Ocala store said he tried to donate items tied to Smith only days after the body was found. Prosecutors used those moments to argue that Swilley was acting like someone protecting a plan, not a grieving spouse.
The defense pushed jurors to see uncertainty. It argued that the second apartment had a history of visitors and that the presence of sexual items and traffic there could not be ignored. It questioned the strength of DNA evidence and pressed investigators about outside possibilities. Court coverage showed the defense explored an alleged alternative suspect and called witnesses about other people connected to the apartment or the couple’s life. But the state said the total case did not depend on one piece of proof. It pointed to toxicology, medical findings, surveillance, phone data, statements by Swilley, actions after the death and lack of evidence that Smith arranged a meeting with someone else that night. Jurors accepted that combined theory.
Swilley’s conviction came after a week of testimony in Marion County court. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning the guilty verdict. The judge sentenced Swilley to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Local reports said he received credit for time already served and that defense motions made during trial were denied. The state attorney’s office said the case had been prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Richard Buxman and Amy Berndt, with work from law enforcement and forensic professionals. Swilley had been arrested in November 2023, more than seven months after Smith was found dead, and had pleaded not guilty before trial.
The case later reached a broader audience through true-crime television programs that revisited the investigation. Law enforcement officials described the apartment scene, body camera footage and the steps that led detectives from a possible mystery at a second residence to a spouse accused of premeditated murder. Sgt. Daniel Pinder said the scene was designed to make it look as though Smith had met an anonymous person for sex. Detective Karla Santana Palau described the violence visible when deputies found Smith. For friends, those accounts sat beside their memories of a man who loved performance, friendships and community gatherings. They said the trial confirmed what investigators had long argued, while also forcing them to relive the details of Smith’s death.
For now, Swilley is serving a life sentence, and no new trial date is pending. Future developments would come through appellate or post-conviction filings in the case.
Author note: Last updated July 6, 2026.