Entertainment
Broadway Child Star Imani Dia Smith Allegedly Murdered By Boyfriend
Broadway Child Star Imani Dia Smith
Allegedly Stabbed to Death at 26
Boyfriend Charged With Murder
Published
Imani Dia Smith — a former child actor who starred in “The Lion King” on Broadway — has died.
According to a press release issued by Middlesex County, New Jersey, prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Edison Police Department chief Thomas Bryan, Smith was found Sunday in a residence in Edison, N.J. with stab wounds. She was reportedly pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
The press release says Smith’s boyfriend, Jordan D. Jackson-Small, was arrested and charged in connection with the stabbing death.
Small, 35, was reportedly charged with first-degree murder, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon.
According to Playbill, Smith played Young Nala in “The Lion King” from September 27, 2011, to September 23, 2012.
According to a GoFundMe set up for the family, Smith is survived by a 3-year-old son.
She was 26.
RIP