Kim Yvette Smith, RIP

Kim Yvette Smith1965-2009

In memory of Kim Smith, tragic victim of Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell. 

This is a story about a beautiful woman named Kim Yvette Smith.  Ms. Smith was an aspiring artist who loves to paint beautiful pictures. Here's a painting by her below:

Kim's Still Life painting, n.d.

This is a still life painting consists of several fruits, a transparent wine bottle set against the red wine colored cloth.  Look at the brilliant reds of the grapes, the luscious bright greens of the pears, the golden color of a cloth in which the pear is rested upon.   Miss Kim has done an excellent job with the painting.  I liked the contrast of the wine soaked linen against the black background.  Reminds me of Renaissance and Baroque artists such as Rembrandt.

According to Stan Donaldson of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer on the brief bio of Kim Y Smith:

Kim Smith and her father made a pact to take care of each other.

Smith stayed with him and looked out for him after he developed a spinal injury that left him in a wheelchair: singing as she cleaned up the apartment; cooking his favorite dish -- steak and potatoes; picking up his prescriptions; and making sure he got to his doctor's appointments.

Friends described her as the artsy type. She loved singing and art. And she had talent. Her family said she worked as a backup singer for local acts.

But Smith took much better care of her father than she did of herself. She hung around the wrong people and smoked crack cocaine -- one of the drugs that prosecutors say serial-killings suspect Anthony Sowell used to lure her and 10 other women into his Imperial Avenue home.

Kim Yvette Smith was born Jan. 20, 1965, at Huron Road Hospital to Virginia Herndon and Donald Smith. She was their only child together. Smith had a son from a previous relationship who didn't live with the family.

Donald Smith worked at a bottling company in Maple Heights, and her mother worked downtown as a bookkeeper. They lived in a house on East 145th Street and Kinsman Road.

Smith had a typical childhood -- she liked to play with dolls, watch cartoons and have play dates with cousins. She had a soft spot for animals. She loved the family dog, Champ, a shepherd and collie mix. And she sometimes brought home stray cats.

She worked as a backup singer for