Trial starts for man accused of killing Bladen Co. native

RALEIGH (WTVD) — Lawyers made their opening statements Tuesday in the trial of one of the teenage suspects in the 2013 murder of a Raleigh mother.

Travion Devonte Smith is one of three people charged in the death of 30-year-old Melissa Huggins-Jones.

Wake County assistant prosecutor Melanie Shekita told jurors that Huggins-Jones was brutally beaten to death.