Dateline: The Laura McNaughton Case breakdown - How pheasant hunters exposed a small-town dentist’s dark secretAashna Fri, November 13, 2026 at 8:56 AM UTC
A still from the trailer of Dateline: Hunted ©YouTube/Dateline NBC
Dateline: Hunted, which will air on NBC on November 13, will revisit the brutal 2005 murder of 30-year-old single mother Laura McNaughton, who worked as a waitress at Rib Crib in Clovis, New Mexico.
The official synopsis for the upcoming episode reads as follows:
"After a woman's body is discovered along a remote road in New Mexico, detectives uncover a disturbing secret that leads to an unlikely suspect."
According to Case Mine, pheasant hunters discovered Laura McNaughton's battered body on December 10, 2005, in a rural bar ditch off County Road in Curry County, New Mexico. An initial autopsy report revealed that Laura McNaughton was sexually assaulted, beaten, and strangled. Medical examiners discovered blunt force trauma to her head and scratches on her body.
The upcoming episode of Dateline will explore how the pheasant hunters' gruesome discovery exposed a small-town dentist’s dark secret. Dr. James Smith, who worked as a dentist at La Casa Family Health Center and often visited Laura McNaughton's workplace, was eventually found guilty of the murder.
Dateline: A small-town dentist was found guilty of Laura McNaughton's murder
The upcoming episode of Dateline will explore the tragic 2005 killing of Laura McNaughton. While investigators initially interrogated McNaughton's ex-husband, who worked as a radio show host, and a man she was supposed to meet for a date the night she disappeared, evidence pointed towards Dr. James Smith. Co-workers testified that Smith frequently visited Rib Crib and left huge tips for the deceased. When Laura McNaughton's family members revealed that she often complained about unwanted attention from Dr. Smith, the dentist was summoned for questioning.
The upcoming episode will explore how investigators built a case against Smith. The small-town dentist stopped by a car wash to get his truck cleaned while he was on his way to be questioned. Despite the wash, investigators discovered physical evidence suggesting Smith was the culprit, including hair matching the color of Laura McNaughton's, traces of Laura McNaughton's blood and debris from the area where Laura McNaughton's body was discovered. Additionally, a search of Smith's house and office led investigators to troubling videotapes depicting the killing of women whose bodies were manipulated after death.
Dateline: Laura McNaughton's killer attempted suicide
A still from the upcoming episode (Image via YouTube/Dateline NBC)
While Smith denied knowing the Dateline victim, he was released after he agreed to take a polygraph test the next day. But Dr. Smith attempted suicide by self-inflicting a wound and left a note for his wife, denying any involvement in Laura McNaughton's murder. Smith was eventually admitted to a hospital, and he survived the self-inflicted wound.
According to Case Mine, Smith entered an Alford plea to charges of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, attempted criminal sexual penetration in the first degree, and one count of tampering with evidence on December 12, 2006, a year after the Dateline victim's murder. Under an Alford plea, the defendant does not admit to committing the crime but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to secure a conviction.
According to Smith's statement, he confessed that he had a social relationship with Laura McNaughton, who died accidentally while he was strangling her with her consent. This is what Smith claimed:
"While we were watching television, there may have been a show or something else that got us talking about erotic asphyxiation. We mutually decided to try that. There was no sexual contact but I proceeded to choke her with her consent. We had a safe word. She died unexpectedly while I was choking her."
A judge sentenced Smith to life in prison plus 27 years, with a requirement that he serve a minimum of 57 years.
According to News on 6, James Smith was also named as a person of interest in four unsolved Oklahoma homicides in 2007, which took place between 1999 and 2002. Smith, who was a student at the University of Oklahoma, was suspected in the killings of four prostitutes, whose nude bodies were found near rural country roads.
According to ABC News, by September 2007, Oklahoma authorities cleared Smith as a suspect in those cases.
Dateline: Hunted airs on November 13 at 9/8c on NBC. You can stream it on Peacock the following day.
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Source: Crime
