Jurors recommended 45 years in prison for Fairley Napier after a trial over the death of Joanie Campbell-Smith.

JACKSON, Ky. — A Breathitt County jury convicted Fairley Napier of murder in the killing of Joanie Campbell-Smith, his former common-law wife and the mother of his children, after prosecutors tied him to her disappearance, burned vehicle and remains.

The verdict moved a case that began as a missing-person report in January 2024 toward a formal sentencing hearing set for May 8. Napier, 49, was found guilty of murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and criminal mischief. The jury recommended a total 45-year sentence, with 30 years on the murder count and five years each on the other three counts. Campbell-Smith was 45 when she vanished after contact with Napier.

Campbell-Smith was reported missing Jan. 4, 2024, after she had not been heard from. Kentucky State Police investigators later said Napier was the last person known to have contact with her. The search shifted two days later when authorities received information about a burned car on Spicewood Road in Breathitt County. The vehicle matched the description of one Campbell-Smith was known to drive. Inside it, police found what appeared to be human remains. The car was on property connected to logging work by Napier, and investigators said logging equipment nearby also appeared to hold human remains or tissue.

Prosecutors told jurors that Campbell-Smith did not die by chance or in a fight that ended without planning. Commonwealth’s Attorney General Miranda King said Napier shot Campbell-Smith after the two met, then used a mattock, a sharp digging tool, to break into the vehicle after its doors became locked. King said Napier later moved the vehicle, mutilated the body inside it and set the vehicle on fire. Investigators said tissue belonging to Campbell-Smith was found around the scene, including on equipment linked to Napier. The defense challenged the state’s version and Napier testified that he last saw Campbell-Smith at a Jiffy Mart.

The trial also focused on what Napier allegedly told people after Campbell-Smith disappeared. Their daughter told police that Napier admitted burning the body and said he had grown tired of seeing Campbell-Smith. Jurors also heard that Napier later admitted the killing to a friend. Prosecutors said Napier’s conduct after the disappearance showed guilt, including changing vehicles several times and buying a prepaid phone. After the couple’s daughter said she could not reach her mother, Napier offered to help search, a detail prosecutors used to contrast his public actions with what they said he privately knew.

Napier testified that he and Campbell-Smith had known each other since they were young and had an on-and-off relationship that stretched from 1994 to 2022. He said they met to talk before going to another parking lot. He also testified that Campbell-Smith wanted him to break a window in her vehicle so she would have an excuse to drive a Chevrolet Tahoe she had bought with her new husband. Prosecutors rejected that account. King said the evidence showed Napier followed a different path that ended with Campbell-Smith dead, her vehicle burned and her remains left on land connected to his work.

The state described jealousy as the motive. King told jurors that Campbell-Smith’s remarriage angered Napier, even though he also was in a new relationship. Court testimony showed Napier’s girlfriend had shown him pictures of Campbell-Smith with her new husband. King said Campbell-Smith and her husband had tried to keep the marriage from Napier because they believed it would make him angry. Campbell-Smith, of Pikeville and formerly of Hardshell, was born in Hazard and was survived by her husband, children, stepchildren, a sister, nieces and other relatives, according to her obituary.

The case reached trial after Napier and his lawyer rejected a plea offer in February. Jurors heard evidence from the missing-person investigation, the burned vehicle scene, family statements and Napier’s own testimony before returning guilty verdicts. Local reporting listed the verdict date as March 30, while other accounts placed the full conviction on April 1. The key outcome was the same: Napier was found guilty on all counts tied to Campbell-Smith’s death and the handling of her body. He remained lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail after the verdict.

The judge will decide the final sentence at the May 8 hearing. Under the jury’s recommendation, Napier would receive 30 years for murder and five-year terms for tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse and criminal mischief. The recommendation totals 45 years. The judge may consider the jury’s findings, the trial record and any statements allowed at sentencing. The hearing will be the next formal step in a case that moved from a missing woman at a Jackson-area convenience store to a murder conviction in the Breathitt County Justice Center.

The case left two families tied to the same loss and the same courtroom record. Campbell-Smith’s funeral was held Dec. 28, 2024, at Deaton Funeral Home in Jackson, with burial in Noble Cemetery at Hardshell. As of Tuesday, Napier stood convicted but not formally sentenced. The next milestone is the May 8 hearing in Breathitt County.

Author note: Last updated April 28, 2026.