17-Year Fugitive Caught After License Renewal Request

License Renewal Request Reopened a 17-Year Search

A woman wanted in Georgia for 17 years was arrested after a South Carolina driver-license problem triggered an identity-fraud investigation that led agents to an outstanding murder warrant. Tamaira Angell Smith, 52, was arrested in Texas and returned to Gwinnett County, Georgia, where she faces a felony murder charge in the 2009 death of Eyanna Moore.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said the break began in July 2026, when a woman contacted the state Department of Motor Vehicles because an alert prevented her from renewing a license online. Records showed the license had been obtained in 2018 using another woman’s identity, and the matter was assigned to SLED Special Agent Shawn Ludwig in August.

Facial Recognition Connected the Identity Case to Georgia

SLED said Ludwig reviewed the 2018 license records and used facial-recognition technology to identify the woman as Smith. Her criminal history showed an outstanding Georgia murder warrant, changing the investigation from an identity-fraud case into a fugitive search.

Agents also identified another alias Smith had allegedly used in McKinney, Texas. SLED shared vehicle information with the McKinney Police Department and contacted Gwinnett County police to confirm the warrant. McKinney officers located Smith’s vehicle and arrested her in August, according to SLED.

Smith had been wanted in connection with Moore’s death since 2009. WSB-TV reported that Gwinnett County police initially charged Smith with practicing medicine without a license and later obtained a felony murder warrant after Moore died following silicone injections.

Moore Died After an Unlicensed Hotel-Room Procedure

Moore, 29, was a Loganville mother of four. Police said Smith gave her silicone injections inside a Holiday Inn Express near Stone Mountain on May 30, 2009, despite not being licensed to practice medicine.

Moore’s family told WSB-TV that she had spent time researching the people offering the procedure and believed they were legitimate medical professionals. Her aunt, Yolanda Hammond, said the family later learned that the credentials they believed they had verified were not what they appeared to be.

According to the station, Moore’s husband was called to the hotel after the procedure and arrived while she was still alive. He called for emergency help when her condition worsened. Moore was taken to a hospital and died on May 31, 2009.

Police obtained an initial warrant accusing Smith of practicing medicine without a license. WSB-TV reported that a felony murder warrant followed about three months later, but Smith was no longer available to be served with it.

Moore’s Children Grew Up During the Search

The arrest ended a long period without a court case for Moore’s family. WSB-TV reported that Moore’s four children were young when she died, and some were too young to retain their own memories of her. Family members said the children were raised by their father with support from relatives.

Moore’s oldest daughter was nearing the age her mother had been when she died by the time Smith was returned to Georgia. The family told the station they planned to follow the court proceedings after years without an arrest.

Smith has not been convicted of the charge against her. Fox News reported that a bond hearing was scheduled for Oct. 22 at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center.

SLED’s account also shows how the case crossed three states before the arrest. The license record surfaced in South Carolina, agents traced an alias and vehicle to Texas, and Georgia authorities confirmed the long-standing warrant. That sequence allowed McKinney police to make the arrest and return Smith to the jurisdiction where Moore died.

For Moore’s family, the renewed case arrives after her children spent most of their lives without a defendant before a Georgia court. WSB-TV reported that relatives had continued to remember Moore as a mother and an ambitious young woman while the warrant remained unresolved. The case now proceeds in Georgia court after a driver-license renewal request in South Carolina led investigators back to a warrant that had remained outstanding since 2009.

References: SLED Agent Cracks Cold Case by Tracing Stolen Identity | An Arrest in Mother’s Silicone Injection Death Gives Children Closure 17 Years Later | Fugitive suspect in Georgia mom’s silicone injection murder captured 17 years later after DMV slipup: cops