Imani Dia Smith has breathed her last.
In a heartbreaking new update, TMZ reported on Wednesday, December 24, that the former Broadway child star died at the age of 25 after being brutally murdered by her loved one.
According to a press release from Middlesex County officials in New Jersey, Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan confirmed that Imani’s body was discovered on Sunday inside a home in Edison, New Jersey, with stab wounds.
She was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where doctors later pronounced her dead.
It has also been reported that she was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend, Jordan D. Jackso-Small, who has been taken into custody and charged in connection with the stabbing death.
Jordan, 35, has reportedly been charged with first-degree murder, along with several other offenses, including endangering the welfare of a child and multiple weapon-related charges connected to the incident.
Her family has launched a GoFundMe page, where they announced her passing, writing, "It is with a tragic and heavy heart that we share the loss of my niece, Imani Dia Smith, who was senselessly killed by her boyfriend on the morning of Sunday, December 21st, just ahead of Christmas."
"Imani was only 25 years old. She leaves behind a 3-year-old son, her parents, her two younger siblings, and an extended family, friends, and community who loved her so very much,” it added.
The actress – who portrayed Young Nala in Broadway’s The Lion King from September 2011 to 2012 – is survived by a three-year-old son.
