(CBS News) – On the night before Thanksgiving 2021, Smith went on a first date with a woman named Leslie Reeves. The morning after, first responders found Smith in his Farmersville, Illinois, home with a bullet lodged in his brain. Reeves was dead.
EMTs rushed Smith to a hospital where he underwent brain surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma. Fragments of the bullet remained in Smith’s brain. His doctors say that to retrieve the bullet could risk causing further damage.
Smith’s mother, Sharon Costanza, and sister, Ashli Holcomb, sat by his side during his recovery. Doctors told them chances were very low that Smith would return to his previous level of functioning. CONTINUE