DOVER, DE (AP) -- A soldier charged with abducting and killing a 65-year-old Wilmington woman has waived a preliminary hearing.
Twenty-four-year-old Dwight Smith, Jr. waived the hearing Tuesday. The next step for prosecutors is to seek an indictment from a New Castle County grand jury.
Smith was taken into custody Dec. 19 after a detective stopped a vehicle matching witness descriptions of an SUV involved an incident earlier that day involving Marsha Lee, who disappeared after taking her dog for a walk.
According to police, Smith targeted Lee at random after deciding he wanted to kill somebody, hitting her with his sport utility vehicle, stuffing her inside, then beating her to death.
Smith was on leave from Fort Drum in New York at the time of Lee's death, having previously served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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