LOVE AFTER LOCKUP Kurtis King arrested for murder in Texas

Love After Lockup’s Kurtis King was arrested for murder on July 8.

According to jail records, Kurtis was arrested by Fort Worth police Monday afternoon. He’s being held on a murder charge after allegedly striking a man with his car during a dispute on July 5.

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Fort Worth police arrested Kurtis King, 34, in the death of Ellis Latavion Laron Smith, 35. Officers were called to the 2400 block of Meacham Blvd. the night of July 5 to find Smith critically injured. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Kurtis and Ellis Smith reportedly pulled out knives after getting into “an argument over a previous business transaction.” Kurtis then got into his car and drove it into Ellis Smith. After hitting the man, Kurtis reportedly fled the scene.

UPDATE – Kurtis King’s bond has been set at $300,000 for the murder charge. His next scheduled court date is September 20.

The first report connecting Kurtis King’s arrest to Love After Lockup was @merrypants on Instagram after receiving a tip from Kevin Hale about the Fort Worth Star-Telegram article.

GoFundMe for the victim

The man allegedly killed by Kurtis King recently moved to Texas from Georgia with his wife, Shakavian Smith. After news broke about Kurtis King’s arrest, Shakavian shared the post on Facebook.

“They got the bastard!!!” she wrote. “Thank you!!! Rest easy baby. I love you.!!!”

Shakavian started a GoFundMe in hopes of raising enough funds to transport her husband’s body back to Georgia.

Here is the description from the campaign, which haa a goal of $5,000:

My name is Shakavian Smith. My husband is Ellis Smith. Last night, I received a call that my husband was hit by a car. I later found out that it wasn’t an accident. I spent four hours at the hospital thinking my husband was stable, only to be told they could not share any information due to the ongoing investigation. I still have not seen my husband’s body.

We moved to Texas for a fresh start, which proved to be more challenging than we anticipated. We have been struggling financially due to my enrollment in nursing school, which we paid for out-of-pocket, in addition to our regular bills. To help maximize our funds, we decided to cut our life insurance policies, thinking we had more time.

We are originally from Georgia. Our family is there and we have no one here in Texas. My goal is to raise funds to take my husband home. He was a father to 9 kids (4 biological and 5 that are mine, whom he loved and took care of as his own). He had a passion for helping people, especially those experiencing homelessness. I want to give everyone their chance to say goodbye to him.

I want to raise funds to take him back home to Georgia and give him a proper funeral. Any and every contribution will help.

I don’t have a service date because I’m trying to raise whatever I can. As soon as possible.

Please help me get my husband home. Thank you in advance.

The campaign has raised $1,164 of the $5,000 goal. Unfortunately, Shakavian Smith shared an update revealing that she had given up on taking her husband’s body back to Georgia:

Thank you everyone who has donated funds to my husband. The cost to fly him home is to costly. I spoke with our family and cremation is best. So we sat an amount to cover that cost. Again thank you so much.

Kurtis King on Love After Lockup

Kurtis King appeared on the sixth season of Love After Lockup, but he was not officially a main cast member.

Kurtis was a friend of main cast member Tiffany Bolton, who was dating main cast member Kevin Hale. Kurtis and Tiffany were getting quite close before her release, and she ended up requesting that Kurtis pick her up when she got out.

When Tiffany was released, both Kurtis and Kevin were in the parking lot waiting. The two men got into an altercation in which Kurtis dared Kevin to punch him.

Kevin punched Kurtis in the jaw and knocked him out cold. The scene went viral and was a big part of WE tv’s marketing of the show.

Kurtis King’s troubles after Love After Lockup

When the episode of Love After Lockup featuring Kurtis King being knocked out aired, he was unable to watch because he was in jail for assault.

Kurtis was initially charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, which is a second-degree felony. He was convicted on a lesser misdemeanor charge of aggravated assault causing bodily injury in October of 2022.

Kurtis was sentenced to 23 days in jail for the assault charge, but he was credited with 23 days time served.

During his 23 days in jail, Kurtis says his roommate allegedly stole everything he owned except his bed and some sneakers. Kurtis launched a GoFundMe in May of 2022 in hopes of raising $10,000 to “help rebuild his life.” The campaign raised $150 of the $10,000 goal.

Kurtis King Drug Arrests

After his possessions were allegedly stolen by his former roommates, Kurtis was living in a small camper. That’s when his string of drug arrests began.

He was arrested by the Saginaw Police Department on July 30. The charge was possession of a controlled substance from penalty group 1 and/or 1-B.

A few months later, Kurtis was arrested by the Hurst Police Department. He was booked on a charge of possession of a controlled substance from penalty group 2.

On April 7, Kurtis was arrested by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department on a penalty group 1 drug possession charge.

At least one of Kurtis’s drug possession cases is still open with a court date scheduled for September.

Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com