Photo courtesy of CBS Baltimore
A Maryland man faces life in prison after blaming a panhandler for his wife’s fatal stabbing in December 2018.
Keith Smith, 55, was given the maximum sentence for the murder of his wife, Jacquelyn Smith. He also faces an additional three years for a deadly weapon with intent to injure, CBS Baltimore reported.
At the time, authorities believed that 54-year-old Jacquelyn, an Aberdeen Proving Ground engineer, had plans to divorce her husband before the Dec. 1 fatal stabbing.
The 55-year-old was sentenced to first-degree murder and deadly weapon with intent to injure after a week-long trial in December. According to News Onyx, Smith’s daughter, Valeria, 31, testified against her father in her stepmother’s murder trial.
Keith initially told investigators that he stopped his vehicle and lowered the window on the passenger side of the car so Jacquelyn could give a $10 bill to a female panhandler and her baby when a man allegedly stabbed her in a robbery attempt, authorities said.
“Mr. Smith claimed, at that same moment, a male also walked over to the passenger side of the vehicle where his wife sat and the man asked Mr. Smith if he could thank his wife for giving the woman money,” officials said. “Mr. Smith said he replied ‘Yes.’ He then claimed the man began to stab his wife multiple times, grabbed her necklace and wallet from her lap, and then fled on foot with the female panhandler.”
After committing the crime, Keith and his daughter fled town and headed towards Mexico. Three months later, the father-daughter duo was arrested at a Texas gas station near the U.S.-Mexico border.
When investigators obtained cellphone records and wiretap warrants, they indicated that Keith had “placed two phone calls for flight reservations and attempted to book one-way tickets to Cuba and Canada,” officials said.
According to authorities, Keith’s plans started to fall apart after realizing that he couldn’t travel out of the country because he did not have a U.S. passport. So he used an online search engine to find out if he needed a passport to go to Jamaica or a way to enter Mexico without going through border crossings.
Once the two were in custody, Valeria “admitted that the panhandler story was a hoax by Keith Smith and that she witnessed when he killed Jacquelyn in Druid Hill Park,” officials said.
In September 2019, Valeria confessed to helping her father cover up the murder and pleaded guilty to accessory to her stepmother’s death. The 31-year-old revealed that the family was coming from a birthday party when her father took a detour to Druid Hill Park.
Valeria explained that he started stabbing his wife after driving slowly and remained calm afterward until he called 911. After ditching the murder weapon, a knife, Keith reportedly told his daughter to lie and say a panhandler killed Jacquelyn.
A day or two later, Valeria said her father went to his wife’s workplace and requested paperwork regarding her life insurance policy since he was the beneficiary.
An FBI agent testified, saying Google and cellphone data placed the father and daughter in Druid Hill Park at the time of the murder, per CBS Baltimore.
On Monday, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said Keith deserves to spend “the rest of his natural life in prison for his heinous and reprehensible actions.”
“Keith Smith will now justly serve a life sentence in prison for violently stabbing his wife to death and then creating an elaborate cover-up plan to cowardly blame panhandlers for his horrific attack,” Mosby said. “Today, the public can rest assured that justice was served in a case that manipulated the hearts and minds of our country.”
Jacquelyn’s sister, Yzonne Saab, was pleased with the outcome of the trial and said the verdict was due to “tremendous” evidence against him.
“This didn’t bring her back but we were elated and feel that definitely justice was served,” Saab said. “And as I said on the record, the judge was very poignant and to the point. You could tell that she really reviewed this case thoroughly and made a decision that made us very happy.”