PREGNANT WOMAN, UNBORN CHILD FOUND DEAD AND STUFFED IN A SUITCASE. TWO PEOPLE ACCUSED OF MURDER IN THEIR DEATHS.

A pregnant woman was found stuffed in a suitcase along a North Carolina river and two people are accused of killing the soon-to-be mom and her unborn child. 

The remains were in a purple suitcase in Neuse River, east of Raleigh, North Carolina. A person passing by found the suitcase and reported the remains to the police. 

The body was confirmed to be that of 28-year-old Brittany Simone Smith, who went missing on Feb. 4, officials said. Investigators say that cause of death was strangulation, and a motel room was somehow involved in the homicide, according to warrants in the case. 

Smith was visibly pregnant at the time of her disappearance, and warrants state she was six months along with a boy. She was last seen near Fox Run Drive in Wendell, North Carolina. 

Thomas Clayton Johnson, 37, and his girlfriend Emmalei Grace Trevathan, 24, were charged with the death of Smith and her unborn child, according to the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. Police took the accused into custody during a traffic stop. The suspects’ connection to the victim and their motives are unclear. Both are charged with murder, murder of an unborn child and concealment of a body.

Smith lived in a tent in Dale Williams’s backyard with her boyfriend Cody Page when she disappeared. Williams didn’t have enough room to take the couple into his home, but wanted to help them out by allowing them to live in his backyard. 

“No one deserves to die like that,” said Williams, according to CBS 17. “Frightened, in pain, and alone.”

Anyone with information about the case should contact the Wake County Sheriff’s Department by calling (919) 856-6900.