Miles Smith, 32, Troubled W-Section Resident at Center of Dead Puppy Feud Last March, Found Dead

Miles Smith, the 32-year-old lone resident at 31 Lago Vista Place, had a history of conflicts with neighbors that seemed to get worse with time. The conflicts involved a dead dog, a brick thrown through former Palm Coast Mayor Jim Canfield’s car—because Smith didn’t like the color Canfield had picked to repaint his house—the tire-slashing on a car belonging to another neighbor, a crime for which Smith pleaded guilty and had to pay restitution, and, most recently, the repeated summoning of cops  to mediate a running conflict with yet another neighbor.

This morning, Smith was found dead in his house, which borders the Pine Lakes Golf Club. The cause has not been determined: the sheriff’s office is awaiting an autopsy. But “there’s nothing that was glaring or obvious,” a sheriff’s spokesman said, and “there’s no indication of a firearm.”

Smith, who had spoken of mental health issues in a previous interview in March, was reportedly heavily medicated. He had a dog, whose ceaseless barking for the past three days had finally alerted neighbors that something was not right at Smith’s house. Smith himself was a creature of habit, his neighbors say. He religiously put out his trash cans on Thursday night, and brought them in Friday morning. He had set them out last Thursday, but never brought them in Friday, suggesting that his death took place overnight that Thursday.

Last March he was at the center of a controversy involving the suspicious death of a puppy that had once belonged to his neighbors, and who had given him the puppy to keep. He texted an image of the puppy to his neighbors as the puppy appeared bloodied with gunshots, in a bathtub. The image upset the neighbors, who accused him of killing the dog. The dog was eventually found on the side of a nearby road in a bizarre shrine-like arrangement. Flagler sheriff’s detectives served him with a search warrant and spent several hours at his house on March 4, removing boxes of items. He never faced charges, however.

But less than two weeks later he was charged with criminal mischief when one of his neighbors, Jason Pellicer, accused him or slashing a tire on his Jeep Cherokee. Pellicer had suspected that Smith had damaged his vehicle previously, but he didn’t have evidence. Because of the numerous incidents targeting him or his property, Pellicer installed a surveillance camera, which took images of Smith puncturing the tire.

In July, Smith pleaded no contest, was found guilty, sentenced to six months’ probation, 20 hours of community service, fined $323, including court costs, and ordered to pay $120 in restitution, which he did. He was also ordered to have no further contact with Pellicer, an order he respected—though Pellicer’s spouse said in an interview today that Smith then directed his feuding at another neighbor, including the spray-painting of foul words on a fence.

His last payment to the court, of $103, was recorded last week. The medical examiner removed the body from the house on Lago Vista Place in mid-afternoon.