It Could Have Been Me: Chris Smith

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Speaker 3 If I can come back from a deathbed and survive this and

Speaker 3 defy medical odds and

Speaker 3 create medical history or rewrite medical history,

Speaker 3 anybody can come back and achieve anything life, no matter how bleak things look in life.

Speaker 3 There's always a sun rising on the other side.

Speaker 4 If you are seeking inspiration, look no further than Chris Smith. His is a story of resilience and recovery.
Back in November of 2021, Chris was on a first date with a woman named Leslie Reeves.

Speaker 4 Now, they had gone back to his house when Leslie's ex-boyfriend, Bobby Tarr, forced his way inside and shot them both. Leslie died, but Chris miraculously survived a bullet wound to his head.

Speaker 4 He lay comatose in the hospital for several weeks before waking up. And when he did, he had no memory of what happened that night.
So how did Chris defy the medical odds and survive the unthinkable?

Speaker 4 I'm Natalie Morales at 48 Hours, and this is, it could have been me.

Speaker 4 You're going to be hearing from Chris in just a few minutes. But first, I would like to introduce producer Paul La Rosa.
He knows this case well.

Speaker 4 He worked on this story for an episode of 48 Hours with correspondent Aaron Moriarty. Paul, so good to have you join us today on what is such an incredible story of survival and real grit.

Speaker 6 Great to be here because Chris is one of the most interesting and resilient people I've ever met.

Speaker 4 I know he really touched you and had an impact on our entire 48 Hours team. Walk me through, Paul, what happened on that night, November 24th, 2021.

Speaker 6 Right. So it was the day before Thanksgiving, the evening before Thanksgiving, and Chris and Leslie had met on Facebook, as people do these days.

Speaker 6 They never met in person before this night, but they had texted with each other, they had spoken on the phone to each other, and they were simpatico in a number of ways, mostly because they were really into physical fitness.

Speaker 6 And Leslie ran a Pilates studio, yoga studio. She taught women self-defense, and Chris was in the best shape of his life when this shooting happened.

Speaker 6 But anyway, the night before Thanksgiving is traditionally a night when people go out drinking, and that's exactly what they did.

Speaker 6 Chris said, why don't you come up to Farmersville, which was about an hour from where Leslie lived. And she was in Troy, Illinois.

Speaker 6 They both had kids, and Leslie's kids were with her ex that evening and the same with Chris.

Speaker 6 So they were without their children and Chris had a big house and he told Leslie, you can sleep in one of the bedrooms if we go out drinking too much, whatever. And that was the plan.

Speaker 6 She told her girlfriends where she was going to be. She gave them the address because after all, she never met this guy.
But they went out drinking to a place called the Uptown Saloon.

Speaker 6 And then they went to a second bar. Everything was hunky-dory.
Then they went to Chris's nearby house.

Speaker 4 Yeah, Paul, because I understand at some point, Leslie's ex-boyfriend, Bobby Tarr, he started to follow them and showed up at Chris's house, right?

Speaker 6 Right. No one knows what really happened except Bobby Tarr, who was convicted of the crime, because

Speaker 6 Leslie is dead and Chris remembers nothing from that night. So it's difficult for investigators to know exactly what happened.
But what

Speaker 6 the evidence reveals happened is Bobby Tarr tried to push his way in.

Speaker 6 Leslie spotted him through the glass side door. She moved her refrigerator, police believe, in front of the door to try to block him.
He was able to maneuver the door part of the way open.

Speaker 6 Chris was crouched down, trying to push the door with his shoulder and his weight. And

Speaker 6 Bobby Tarr shot him in the head, according to police. Chris went down.
Tarr walked in. Leslie ran into the living room, hid behind a Christmas tree.

Speaker 6 And according to the prosecutors, Bobby Tarr walked in, shot Leslie one time right in the top of the head.

Speaker 4 I mean, it's so horrific.

Speaker 4 The timeline, I understand, is a little unclear as well, but we know it was sometime in the very early morning hours, though.

Speaker 6 It was around 1 a.m. when this mayhem occurred, according to investigators.
And Leslie and Chris's friends and family were concerned when they didn't hear from them the next morning.

Speaker 6 Now it's Thanksgiving morning. Both of them had plans to go to Thanksgiving dinner at separate locations.
And when the friends didn't hear from Leslie in particular,

Speaker 6 she had a bunch of girlfriends who she knew she was dating, knew Bobby Tarr, knew that Bobby Tarr had stalked her before.

Speaker 6 Just a month before, Tarr had shown up at another first date that Leslie was having. They were concerned.
They knew the address. In particular, a friend named Nanette Stiber

Speaker 6 decided, I can't raise her on the phone. I'm driving there.
So she drove an hour up to Farmersville. On the way, she called the local sheriff's office.

Speaker 6 At the same time, a 16-year-old girl who knew Chris

Speaker 6 showed up at the scene. So this young girl named Brijon Smith, she walked over to the side door.
She saw blood everywhere. She saw Chris on the floor.

Speaker 6 She immediately called 911, and we have a recording of that phone call.

Speaker 6 Nobody's answering the door, and the back window shattered, and there's a body, and there's blood on the stove, and there's a foot I saw on the floor.

Speaker 4 Chris, however, was still alive, which, I mean, barely alive, which is truly miraculous.

Speaker 6 Yes. And

Speaker 6 Farmersville being the small town it is, the first two medics who appeared were friends of Chris, and he knew them well. And, you know, of course, they were, you know, horrified themselves.

Speaker 6 Here's their buddy.

Speaker 6 And with Chris was his faithful dog tiki tiki is a female dog um very loyal to chris and tiki huddled with chris according to people at the scene and probably saved his life because the glass door was broken so a lot of cold air was coming in and um

Speaker 6 this medic decided um that he didn't want to wait for a helicopter to get there. He put Chris in the ambulance with another medic, and he drove like a bat out of hell to the hospital.

Speaker 6 Again, timing is everything, probably helped to save Chris's life.

Speaker 4 And let's take a listen now to what investigator Josh Easton said when he described the scene to you and to correspondent Aaron Moriarty.

Speaker 3 I was overwhelmed when I saw the kitchen. What do you mean? There was just so much blood and it was...
It was everywhere. There was not a spot on the kitchen floor that didn't have blood on it.

Speaker 7 And what does that say to you? That

Speaker 3 I don't know what went on in there, but it was, it was horrible. For

Speaker 3 Chris, it was undescribable without you being there. I can't even make you understand how bad it was.

Speaker 6 Josh Easton, who is with the Illinois State Police, it's his job to catalog all the evidence,

Speaker 6 go in, and sure enough, I mean, we talked about the blood, but in the middle of that, there were also two shell casings, one in the kitchen, one in the living room. There was no murder weapon.

Speaker 6 So that, of course, told them that someone else had to have been involved, a third person.

Speaker 4 And we know, you know, investigators were quickly able to identify a person of interest, Bobby Tarr, because the friends had already told them that.

Speaker 4 Leslie had a stalker and it was her ex-boyfriend, Bobby Tarr. How soon after then was he arrested, Paul?

Speaker 6 Well, this investigation unfolded rapidly. They find his license, a registration, where he lives, and they put that license into the license plate readers up and down the highway.

Speaker 6 One of the hits was near a gas station. They went there.
They found a receipt where he had paid for gas at a certain time that night.

Speaker 6 So they began sort of creating a timeline of his movements before they even spoke to him.

Speaker 6 They were able to

Speaker 6 later on get his cell phone records as well. Remember, this happened, the shooting at 1 a.m.
By 8 p.m. that evening, just hours later,

Speaker 6 they were going to Bobby Tarr's house and asking him if he would agree to be questioned. And he submitted to the interrogation.
They put him under arrest at about,

Speaker 6 it was the next day, it was the morning after Thanksgiving.

Speaker 4 And he was arraigned on those murder charges and attempted murder charges.

Speaker 4 To this day, though, he maintains his innocence.

Speaker 6 That's right.

Speaker 6 Bobby Tarr likes to pretend to be the

Speaker 6 like, what? What happened? Me? Me? He likes to pretend that, you know, he never did anything wrong.

Speaker 4 Well, this episode, of course, is not about Bobby Tarr, but it is about the survivor himself, Chris Smith, and his remarkable recovery. You'll hear from Chris when we come back.

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Speaker 4 So let's hear from Chris Smith himself. Chris, welcome.
It is such an honor to meet you.

Speaker 3 Thank you and likewise.

Speaker 4 Now, Chris and Paul, I understand you guys text each other weekly, right?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I kind of know him. Yeah, I ask a lot of advice from him, actually.

Speaker 6 Yeah. And he's, you know, Chris is a terrific guy, as you'll see.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 4 And Chris, I know that you actually wrote a book about your survival and the incredible odds in your recovery. Yes.
It's called My Fatal First Date is Now Available for Purchase.

Speaker 4 And you explained to the readers that your story really is a journey of blood, sweat, and tears. You've had to work really hard to get where you are today.

Speaker 4 Tell us about the injuries you sustained and where exactly the injury was. If you can point to it.

Speaker 3 Well, actually, it's kind of hard with the earphones on, but the bullet went in about five inches above my ear, straight at the top of my head.

Speaker 3 And as you know, Paul said, I'm sure you all have talked about it. I don't remember anything of that night.
I don't remember Leslie. I was told that we met on Facebook.

Speaker 6 Which I find really interesting because they spoke on the phone and texted. two weeks before the incident.
But it's interesting how the brain works. It just excised Leslie out of his brain.

Speaker 3 Now, see, I do remember some stuff. You know, like I remember passing my neighbor's house on the drive home that afternoon.
I remember some stuff from October.

Speaker 3 And then like, basically, I want to say from like the beginning of November on to the shooting, I don't remember much, if that makes any sense. So it's like my brain cut out the whole month.

Speaker 3 Go figure. I don't know.
It's very odd.

Speaker 4 I mean, when you talk about where you were shot and how long you were in your kitchen and on the kitchen floor and were able to survive with blood and everything all around you.

Speaker 4 I know they had to remove part of your skull, but they weren't able to get the entire bullet out, right?

Speaker 3 No, it's still nine millimeter hollow point is actually still right behind my right eye. And they say it's a fragment, but it's actually the whole thing.

Speaker 3 When they say fragment, what fragmented was my actual skull fragmented. That's what they were picking out of my brain was my skull, not the actual bolt.

Speaker 3 The bolt never moved in its lodged right here in my frontal lobe. And I mean, I should still be in a coma, still be burnt.
I should be bedridden on a ventilator with severe cognitive deficits.

Speaker 3 And the doctors are perplexed by that.

Speaker 4 I want to play some of the sound from your doctor, Dr. Victor Williams.
Aaron Mortiarti asked him about your chances of survival after the shooting.

Speaker 9 So all the odds kind of were against him when he arrived at the hospital.

Speaker 3 It would appear so.

Speaker 9 But he managed to survive.

Speaker 3 It's a blessing and a miracle that he did.

Speaker 4 They don't have an explanation, right, Chris?

Speaker 3 No, they don't.

Speaker 4 No, they don't. What's your explanation?

Speaker 3 Well, Well,

Speaker 3 I call it divine intervention. And two of my worst traits before I was shot, stubbornness and impatience are not my best attributes.

Speaker 3 And then I'll never forget the day I woke up from the coma. I met Dr.
Williams. He came in and he said, Chris, I know your family.
I know your sister.

Speaker 3 My sister's a neurotelemetry nurse, and she actually worked for him on the floor that I was at. And he said, but I hate to tell you, I'm not going to BS you.
You're never going to walk again.

Speaker 3 And I sat there, started tearing up.

Speaker 3 and i mean just had a lump in my throat and felt like someone punched me my gut and i sat there i thought about it for a second and i looked at him i said victor you just told the wrong person he can't do something because i'm gonna do it out of spite to prove you wrong and now you're walking again yes i'll be with the cane i can walk without one now but i kind of look like a zombie but um i will get back there i am i'm determined to and i have to as i told paul before hey life gives us lemon and limes you've got to dig down deep for that tequila and that sugar water make poor man's margaritas and just suck it up, pull your bootstraps up, work your tail off, and you can accomplish anything, overcome anything, exceed at anything, and be unstoppable too.

Speaker 4 Yeah. And I know we were talking

Speaker 4 about what you do and don't remember about that night and what happened when you were asked then about Leslie. Do you remember what you said?

Speaker 3 Well, when I woke up from my coma, I mean, I look up, I'm like, I have tubes on me, oxygen. I look on the the wall and it says the Paul Hospital, St.
Louis, Missouri. And I'm like, wait, what the?

Speaker 3 And I started yelling and screaming. The nurses came rushing in, Chris, calm down, calm down.
I'm like, what am I doing here? What happened? And the one nurse says, Leslie's ex-boyfriend shot you.

Speaker 3 And I said, who the F is Leslie? I don't know Leslie because I didn't know her. I really didn't.

Speaker 4 I want to go back to, you know, what perhaps allowed you to get through this in the best possible way, not just, of course, the incredible acts of your friends, the medics who transported you to the hospital.

Speaker 4 They knew they didn't have the time to spare. But then also, you know, the fact that your family, your sister, as you said, worked with the doctor, was there along your side.

Speaker 4 I know your family had to help pull you through as well. Can you talk about them?

Speaker 3 My sister saw some fight in me and I started in the ICU when I started coming out of the coma. They tried to medically and put me in a coma, medically induced coma, which they did succeed to do that.

Speaker 3 but

Speaker 3 there's he saw life in me i mean i was saying just craziest things i wanted my truck keys and my jacket and i thought i was gonna walk out of there now you if it's on my youtube but you can barely understand what i'm saying but i mean it's like a comedian was born i wanted vitamin d red cap whole milk i swore it was under my bed and rum chata i've never drank rum chata in my entire life why the only thing i could think of was maybe that night it was on a bar or something like that.

Speaker 3 I mean, our brains are so mysterious. They don't know enough about them.
They really need to do more brain research.

Speaker 4 I know you call it your ICU comedy special because the way you were reacting when you came out of that coma.

Speaker 3 Yes, it was crazy. But I mean, I didn't like

Speaker 3 fully become conscious until they transfer me to St. Louis, you know, January 12th.

Speaker 4 I've seen and I know, I mean, I've seen glimpses of that sense of humor. And I know that you actually have a funny nickname that you went by with Paul on it on a text, right?

Speaker 4 What did you call yourself? Bullet Boy.

Speaker 6 Hey, it's me, Bullet Boy. At that point, I had talked to him like once on the phone.
And, you know, I'm conditioned to treat victims very seriously.

Speaker 6 And like, you know, I know he was shot in the head and, you know, I want to give him due respect and all that. And I wasn't going to joke around with him, but he was joking around on his own.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 I mean, my sense of humor has been one of the best healing mechanisms I've had. I've never lost that.

Speaker 4 That's a good thing because I think it's a survival and a coping mechanism that everybody needs when they go through such horrific trauma and tragedy.

Speaker 4 Going back to when you were able to get out of the hospital, though, Chris, that was February of 2022.

Speaker 4 So I know you had to move in with your mom and your stepdad because you really couldn't take care of yourself the way you wanted to and that you lost your home at the time.

Speaker 3 Yeah. I mean, it sucked, but it is what it is.
You know, I had to do what I had to do. And, you know, luckily enough that my parents are, my mom's cool still.

Speaker 3 She'll be 70 in July, you know, so we're like only 17 years apart, but 17 and a half. Got to add that half on there.
So, you know, I'm very fortunate and I love my stepdad to death, you know.

Speaker 3 So, I mean, I'm very lucky.

Speaker 4 Paul, I know you've met them as well.

Speaker 6 Yeah, he has a great family. I've met his mother, his stepfather, and his sister.
And, you know, his mother looks so young. She's got a lot of energy.
His sister is very intelligent.

Speaker 6 And she's a nurse and a beautiful person. And the stepfather is very friendly friendly and has two big dogs that run around the house.
And that's one reason, by the way, that Tiki

Speaker 6 is no longer living with Chris. Tiki, the dog that helped protect his life.
Tiki is with a neighbor.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I was wondering about that, Chris. I mean, do you feel that Tiki might have helped save your life that night?

Speaker 3 Definitely. They don't understand how I lived.
There's so much blood I lost, but she was laying right there, cuddled up next to me the whole time.

Speaker 3 So she's very tall.

Speaker 4 And I think there was some evidence as well. Was it on your chest that she perhaps had tried to get on you?

Speaker 3 Yes. Her little palm marks are right there.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 6 We didn't, I guess no one knew what that was at the beginning. And then he figured it out or his family figured it out.

Speaker 3 He was just trying to wake her daddy up.

Speaker 6 By the way, I don't know if we ever mentioned it, but he was there for about 12 hours laying on the kitchen floor before anyone found him.

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 4 In April of 2024, though,

Speaker 4 we know that that's when bobby tar's trial happened

Speaker 6 you were you there no i did not go his family was there um

Speaker 6 and they told him every day what was happening and he another reason chris didn't go he could tell you himself is that he said his anger would not let him go he was afraid of what he might do if he was in the courtroom you could tell them yourself chris yeah what i mean i said i'll take him out one you know one hand one arm I mean, it's like what he did is the most cowardly act anybody can do.

Speaker 6 But we should say that you were there for the sentencing and you got a chance to give an impact statement.

Speaker 3 Yes, I did.

Speaker 6 And how did it feel to be in the same courtroom with Bobby Tarr?

Speaker 3 I mean, the guy's a piece of dirt. You know, I mean, he's a

Speaker 3 sorry excuse for a human being.

Speaker 4 You talked about the fact that Tar killed you without killing you. What did you mean by that?

Speaker 3 He took my life from me. He affected so many other people.
My family, my my little girl, my son. I mean, my friends.
I mean, they've had to suffer with me through my recovery.

Speaker 4 We cannot forget the victim here as well, Leslie Reeves, and what her family has had to go through and endure as well. Just horrific, the tragedy.

Speaker 3 I mean, it makes you grateful for everything you have, you know.

Speaker 4 Absolutely. Absolutely.
You are the living testament of that now.

Speaker 4 Chris, though,

Speaker 4 when Bobby Tarr was found guilty on four counts, including first-degree murder and attempted murder, what was your reaction to the verdict?

Speaker 3 I was happy, but I would say the death penalty and only, but I mean, he won't be, he won't get out until he's 1040 years old, and he's not going to live that long.

Speaker 4 Right. Sentenced to 85 years in prison.

Speaker 4 What was truly shocking, though, is even after Bobby Tarr is convicted, he's in prison. Then you come to find out that

Speaker 4 there was a solicitation of murder on you.

Speaker 6 The story goes, according to prosecutors and his defense attorney, that Bobby Tarr had solicited an inmate to go to the hospital room where Chris was recovering and shoot him.

Speaker 6 We are told by prosecutors that some money did change hands. So Tarr was indicted, but the charges were ultimately dropped for various reasons.

Speaker 6 The biggest reason being that Tar is in jail or prison for 85 years, and it seems to be no point in having another trial and maybe another sentence. 85 years is a lifetime sentence for talk.

Speaker 3 Correct. Yes.

Speaker 4 You still have some recovery ahead of you, right?

Speaker 3 Yes, I do. Yes.

Speaker 3 I have been doing, it's called menoschymal stem cell transplants, MSCs. They harvest stem cells from either my pelvic bone, right and left side now,

Speaker 3 and then they shoot them up your

Speaker 3 into your nose up to the vessel supplying your brain. So, I mean, it's not FDA approved yet, but it should be here shortly because it has restored a lot of my function to my left-hand side.

Speaker 3 I'm not running yet, but Paul knows it will be someday, hopefully sooner than later.

Speaker 6 Physically, I've seen changes. When he first started, by the way, Chris is still the lead singer in his rock and roll band.
That's true. He used to play guitar.
He can't play guitar anymore.

Speaker 6 But when I first saw him performing,

Speaker 6 he always had a great voice. He's a good singer.
But his left arm would shake like crazy, like this.

Speaker 6 And we would joke that he would joke that he should put a tambourine in it and try to keep beat so it wouldn't look so odd when he was singing because it would just never stop moving.

Speaker 6 Now, of course, it's pretty steady. And I've seen recent video of him performing.
And he looks better than ever. His arm doesn't shake.
He's standing more.

Speaker 6 Occasionally, he would sit in his wheelchair and sing, but the last clip I saw, he was standing the whole time and arm was steady.

Speaker 4 Well, it's great to see you singing again and still performing with your band. I hear, though, there is another woman in your life who has really become your angel.
You have fallen in love again.

Speaker 3 Tell me about her.

Speaker 3 Michelle and I met, it'll be two years this June and we've got a house together and yeah, I'm starting over again. You know, starting over again.

Speaker 4 You're engaged to be married now. Yes, we are.
When are you going to get married?

Speaker 5 I'm looking at this fall.

Speaker 4 Oh, amazing. What led you to write the book?

Speaker 3 Well, I

Speaker 3 told Paul I had no intention of writing a book. Everybody from day one was like, you've got to write a book.
You got to write a book. You got to write a book.

Speaker 3 Well, throughout my recovery, people have been reaching out to me

Speaker 3 from all over the world through Facebook. I mean, through other social media outlets and whatnot.

Speaker 3 And I was like, you know what? I can do it. I can do it.

Speaker 3 I basically wrote it like I was sitting down, having a conversation with somebody like I'm talking to you right now.

Speaker 3 You know, just telling my story, all the intimate details that 48 hours couldn't cover, you know, in the first run.

Speaker 3 And that's what I've done. I was like, I put my thumb to my iPhone because I can't type.
I just hate saying the word can't. I'm unable to type.

Speaker 3 So I literally wrote my whole book on my iPhone 14, all typing with my thumb. And just my message is to inspire people, motivate people.

Speaker 3 And show everybody, no matter how bleak things look in life, there's always silver lining. You can always dig yourself out of the hole.

Speaker 3 And you can accomplish and achieve achieve anything that you want as long as you put your mind to it and work your tail off.

Speaker 4 For those who are struggling in their lives, do you have some advice you'll share? What's your perspective that you tell them?

Speaker 3 Life is too precious to ever give up on anything. We don't know how many grains we have left in our hourglass.

Speaker 3 Don't ever give up on anything. Love your family.
Love your kids. Love your friends because you don't know when you last,

Speaker 3 you know, the last grain will fall.

Speaker 3 But just live life to the fullest. Have fun.
Laugh. Don't take things too serious.

Speaker 3 I mean, I'm not the wisest person in the world, but I have learned a lot of wisdom throughout this whole situation.

Speaker 4 Chris, you are truly one of the most remarkable people I've spoken with.

Speaker 4 So, you know, well done on all that you've done to not only thrive and survive, but you are out there spreading your message and giving inspiration to so many. So we thank you so much for that.

Speaker 3 Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 And Paul, thank you also also for joining us.

Speaker 3 Of course.

Speaker 4 And thanks to you all for listening and watching. And you can find and follow It Could Have Been Me in the 48 Hours podcast feed.
It is on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 4 And if you liked this episode, please rate and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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