A man under a civil commitment as being mentally ill and dangerous admitted in court Tuesday to fatally stabbing a woman in her St. Paul apartment in 2022 after believing she was his mother.
Appearing by Zoom from St. Peter Regional Treatment Center, Maurice Angelo McClinton Smith, 42, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder in the killing of 47-year-old Tina M. McCombs in the North End on Jan. 9, 2022.
Under questioning by his attorney John Riemer to establish a factual basis for the plea, Smith agreed that he had used methamphetamine and ecstasy and drank alcohol before going to McCombs’ apartment.
According to the criminal complaint, Smith and McCombs were Facebook friends, and Smith told police in an interview they met about a month earlier. The complaint wasn’t clear how well they knew each other.
Smith agreed with his attorney’s statements that McCombs had previously cut his hair, and that she had supported him through what the attorney said his client described as “very traumatic mother issues.”
Maurice Angelo McClinton Smith (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Through McCombs’ support, Riemer asked his client, “you transferred that into seeing this person as your mother?” “Yes, sir,” Smith said.
“In fact, you specifically killed (McCombs), stabbed her, to seek revenge for what your mother did to you?” Riemer asked. “Yes, sir,” Smith said.
Smith is under a civil commitment that was originally put in place about seven months after the killing. In August 2023, he was found to be competent to face the charges against him.
Under terms negotiated in his plea agreement, Smith faces a term in the low to middle range of state sentencing guidelines. Smith’s attorney said his custody placement will be determined by the Minnesota Department of Corrections and Department of Human Services.
Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher set Smith’s sentencing for Feb. 13.
Two stab wounds to chest
Officers were sent to the apartment at 180 W. Larpenteur Ave. about 2:30 p.m. Jan. 9, 2022, after a report of a man kicking in doors while holding a knife. As officers were on the way, they received updated information that a woman had been stabbed.
Police found McCombs unresponsive on the bedroom floor, and parts of the door and lock to the apartment scattered in the entryway. She was pronounced dead, and an autopsy showed she’d been stabbed twice in her chest.
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Her boyfriend told police he was dozing in the living room when a man broke in. He heard McCombs yell, “What … is wrong with you?” before the man stabbed her. He said he’d seen the man around and thought he was homeless.
About 90 minutes after the killing, police received a report of a man lying on a back stoop of a residence three miles away and found Smith. He was unable to respond to officers, had dried blood on him and matched the stabbing suspect’s description. McCombs’ boyfriend identified him from a photo lineup as the man who killed her.
An investigator asked Smith why he was at McCombs’ apartment and he said “to get some tea and crumpets,” the complaint read. “… When asked why he went to see (McCombs), Smith said, ‘To kill her.’ Smith said he was a simple prophet.”
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