Man who called 911 following murder of Perry County woman hopes for answers

Zachary Smith said he has volunteered at the Hope House in Hazard for more than one year. It has always been his way of giving back after he spent time homeless himself.

“Whenever me and my wife moved over here, like a couple months after we moved in we started volunteering,” said Smith.

He volunteers during the overnight hours. He said he never had many problems there until early Sunday morning.

Smith said someone staying at the shelter saw Anthony Lewis sneak in during the early morning hours. That person relayed the information to a woman staying at the shelter.

“He told her that you know 'someone's dead' and she's like 'who?' and he's like 'Marlena' and she's like 'how do you know?'” added Smith. “She ended up telling me like straight forward what happened and that's when I called the cops.”

Smith never saw Lewis that night but says he knew him well and never thought he would be behind bars, charged with the murder of Marlena Holland Hurt.

“You know, you wouldn't expect that out of him,” Smith said.

He went on to say he also knew Marlena well and what happened to her is devastating.

“She was nice, bubbly, you know, real outgoing,” he added.

Smith said he now hopes for answers regarding her death. The Hope House closed Tuesday night following a series of threats. Smith said he wants those threats to stop as well.