Fairley Napier faces formal sentencing May 8 after jurors recommended a 45-year prison term.
JACKSON, Ky. — Prosecutors said Fairley Napier killed Joanie Campbell-Smith after learning more about her new marriage, and a Breathitt County jury convicted him in a case that exposed the final break in a decadeslong relationship.
The murder trial was not only about what happened on Jan. 4, 2024. It also turned on what prosecutors said had built up before that date: a former couple with two children, a relationship that had ended, a remarriage Campbell-Smith tried to keep quiet and a defendant accused of reacting with violence. Napier, 49, was found guilty of murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and criminal mischief. Jurors recommended 45 years in prison.
Napier and Campbell-Smith had known each other for much of their lives. Napier testified that they grew up together and were in an on-and-off relationship from 1994 to 2022. Campbell-Smith later married Arthur Smith Jr. of Pikeville. Commonwealth’s Attorney General Miranda King told jurors that the remarriage gave Napier a motive, even though he was also seeing someone else. King said Napier’s girlfriend showed him pictures of Campbell-Smith with her new husband. Prosecutors said Campbell-Smith and her husband tried to keep the marriage secret because they believed Napier would become angry if he knew.
The final meeting began, according to Napier, with a conversation at a Jiffy Mart. He said he and Campbell-Smith talked there before going to another parking lot. He testified that Campbell-Smith asked him to break a window in her vehicle so she would have an excuse to drive a Chevrolet Tahoe that she and her new husband had bought. Napier said the last time he saw her was at the Jiffy Mart. Prosecutors said the evidence showed a different ending. King told jurors that Napier shot Campbell-Smith at the second location, then tried to cover up the killing.
After Campbell-Smith could not be reached, she was reported missing. Kentucky State Police learned Napier was the last person known to have contact with her. The investigation then moved to Spicewood Road, where authorities found a burned vehicle that matched the one Campbell-Smith drove. The vehicle contained what appeared to be human remains. It was found on property connected to Napier’s logging work. A skidder and dozer nearby belonged to him, according to the arrest citation described in local reports, and investigators said the skidder appeared to have human remains or body tissue on it.
The state said Napier bought a mattock after the vehicle doors locked. A mattock is a sharp tool used for digging and breaking soil. Prosecutors said he used it to get into the vehicle, then moved the vehicle to the place where police later found it. King said Napier dismembered and mutilated Campbell-Smith’s body inside the vehicle before setting it on fire. Investigators said tissue belonging to Campbell-Smith was found around the scene, including on logging equipment tied to Napier. The defense challenged the prosecution’s account, but jurors accepted the state’s case on all four charges.
Statements from the family became another turning point. Police said Campbell-Smith and Napier had children together, and their daughter told investigators that Napier admitted burning the body. She also said he told her he was tired of seeing Campbell-Smith. In later courtroom reporting, the statement was described as Napier saying he had become tired of seeing Campbell-Smith lying in the log yard and looking at her. Prosecutors said Napier also admitted to a friend that he killed Campbell-Smith. Those alleged admissions gave jurors a direct account that matched the state’s physical evidence theory.
Napier’s actions after the disappearance gave prosecutors more facts to use. They said he changed vehicles four times and bought a burner phone in the days after Campbell-Smith vanished. They also said that when the couple’s daughter could not get hold of her mother, Napier offered to help find her. To prosecutors, that offer was part of an effort to appear helpful while hiding what had happened. Napier told people he was in a bad frame of mind after being accused of a crime. The jury weighed that behavior alongside his testimony and the evidence from the burned vehicle scene.
The charges reflected both the killing and what prosecutors said happened afterward. Murder covered Campbell-Smith’s death. Abuse of a corpse addressed the state’s claim about how her body was treated. Tampering with physical evidence covered the alleged effort to destroy or hide proof. Criminal mischief covered damage tied to the vehicle. The jury recommended 30 years on murder and five years each on the other counts. The total recommended sentence was 45 years. A judge will hold formal sentencing May 8, when the recommendation is expected to be taken up in court.
Campbell-Smith’s obituary listed her as 45, from Pikeville and formerly of Hardshell. She was born in Hazard and was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Brenda Campbell, and her brother, Jimmy Edward Campbell. Survivors included her husband, son, daughter, two stepsons, sister, nieces, great-niece and other relatives and friends. Her funeral service was held Dec. 28, 2024, at Deaton Funeral Home Chapel in Jackson, with burial in Noble Cemetery at Hardshell. Those details placed a name and family history beside the legal record of the case.
Napier rejected a plea deal in February before going to trial. The jury later convicted him after hearing about the relationship, the alleged motive, the last meeting, the burned car, the logging equipment, the mattock and the statements to family and a friend. Local accounts placed the verdict at the end of March or on April 1, but all reported that the jury found him guilty and recommended a 45-year prison term. The case now rests with the judge for final sentencing.
As of Tuesday, Napier remained convicted and awaiting the May 8 hearing. Campbell-Smith’s death has moved from a missing-person report to a murder verdict, with the final sentence still pending in Breathitt County court.
Author note: Last updated April 28, 2026.