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Court hearing reveals how Virginia Beach man allegedly helped murder suspect on the run

Posted at 1:09 PM, May 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-18 16:32:08-05

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – We’re learning more about how a Virginia Beach man allegedly helped a murder suspect on the run.

The new details came out during Henry Smith’s preliminary hearing Thursday morning.

Back in February, 19-year-old Jayln Harris was shot and killed on 16th street.

The gunman, according to police, was Andre‘Jeru Bigby.

A detective told the court that soon after the shooting Bigby called Smith.

Prosecutors said Smith helped Bigby stay hidden by allegedly picking up his clothes, cellphone, and wallet over the course of a few days.

He was then caught on surveillance video inside a North Carolina convenience store in an area where Bigby has family.

Harris’s loved ones told us that Thursday’s court hearing left them with more questions.

“What really took place,” Ronesha Woodis, Jayln Aunt, said.  “Why Jayln’s not here? That’s what we’re waiting to hear and that’s what we still don’t know. Why, why he shot him?”

Bigby was caught in California in April.

In December Smith took a guilty plea to Accessory after the fact: Homicide. He was sentenced to five years but four years and two months were suspended, so he will serve 10 months behind bars. After serving, he will have four years of unsupervised probation.