Smith had been missing since the day before Thanksgiving, last seen dropping off her 6-year-old daughter at the Laurelton School.
She was supposed to meet her sister at a home they were renovating just four blocks away, but she never showed up. Family members say when she didn't pick up her daughter at the end of the day, they knew it was something serious.
Police say 35-year-old Marvon Jemmot is now charged with her murder.
The two had a child together.
The Nassau County Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be strangulation.
Jemmott is charged with second degree murder and will be arraigned today in Hempstead.
