Latest / The Mind of a Man / The murder of Jacquelyn Smith [True Crime Documentary]

Transcript

The murder of Jacquelyn Smith [True Crime Documentary] · The Mind of a Man

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On November 30th, 2018, the Smith family in Baltimore, Maryland
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: were having a night out. Valeria Smith was with her father, Keith,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and her stepmother, Jacqueline, belatedly celebrating her 28th birthday. At
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the American Legion Hall, they ate, drank, danced, and took photos.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: When the family exited the Legion just before midnight, no
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: one would have predicted that the night was about to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: turn deadly. A few blocks from Valeria's home, Keith slowed
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the car to a stop and rolled down the passenger window.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Jacqueline wished to offer money to a new mother who
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: was out on the street, carrying a small bundle in
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: her arms, as well as a sign that read, Please
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: help me feed my baby. As Keith would later tragically recount,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: stopping to help the woman in need would prove to
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: be Jacqueline Smith's fatal mistake. Both he and his daughter
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: had a message for the city of Baltimore. Be careful
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: who you trust, because things are not always as they seem.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Kevin and welcome to Just Thought Lounge.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Today's case takes us through a roller coaster of fabrications
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and deception. It is a story of a city's reputation
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: being exploited. All the while, its officials were conducting a
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: clever and in-depth investigation. that would eventually uncover the truth.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Let's take a look. 52-year-old Keith Smith placed a frantic
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: 911 call from his vehicle at 1230 a.m. on December 1st, 2018.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: His wife Jacqueline had been the victim of a stabbing.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: She was in the passenger seat next to him and
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: needed immediate assistance. His daughter Valeria was in the backseat
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: of the car. She was also a witness to the unexpected,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: horrific attack on her stepmother. The operator directed Keith to
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: John Hopkins Hospital. Despite valiant medical efforts, Jacqueline Smith succumbed
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: to her injuries. She had sustained five stab wounds to
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: her torso and a single cut to her lower right arm.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: She was pronounced dead before 1 a.m. that night, the
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: victim of an unsolicited attack by two panhandlers who had
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: taken what they could from her and then run off.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Just felt moved to give her something. So at the
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: stop sign, she waved her over to come on over
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: to the car. And then out of nowhere, some guy
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: came over while walking with her. And I hit my window,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: and Jacqueline with the hand of money out, and the
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: guy just leaned over and said, can I thank your wife?
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: And I said, you can thank my wife. And within
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: that split second, this guy commenced to stabbing my wife.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Blood was everywhere. It was something that, it was horrific
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: for something like that to happen. But I'm right now
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: just absorbing.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: All of it.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Jacqueline Ann Smith was born Jacqueline Trevain in Providence, Rhode
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Island on the 4th of July, 1964. According to her mother,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: she was a joyful child who grew into a loving
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: and ceaselessly caring adult. At an early age, Jacqueline developed
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: a love of music and of poetry. That's what we did.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: We enjoyed music.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: We listened to music.
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: And so when I'm in my car and I'm listening
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: to music now, I.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Shed a tear.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: At the age of 54, Jacqueline had raised two adult sons,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: one in college and the second a graduate who had
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: joined the U.S. Coast Guard. Professionally, she had been very successful,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: holding a role as an electrical engineer and working for
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the Department of Defense in Maryland. In 2014, she had
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: married Keith Smith. The couple were active in their church.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Jacqueline was known as a woman of faith She was
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: also known to have a very generous nature.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Jackie was an awesome, awesome woman. And it's really, really sad.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: And it's heartbreaking the way that she was taken from us.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: The day following Jacqueline's murder, her husband and stepdaughter courageously
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: stepped out in front of the media to offer a
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: warning to their neighbors. Do not blindly trust in the
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: authenticity of those that appear desperate and in need of
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: your help. They could be dangerous. Some of those on
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the street are not who they appear to be. This
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: sentiment was also offered by law enforcement, who issued a
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: warning to the residents of Baltimore to be cautious.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: I just want to let Baltimore know to be careful
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: when you feel like you want to give because you
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: don't know what the intentions are of the person that
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: you're giving to.
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: It makes me look at this whole world differently now.
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: You know, it makes me look at everything and everyone.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: Nothing is ever what it seems. And you just have
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: to protect your family out here.
• 5:31
  Speaker 7: Using this ruse as panhandlers to get the attention of
• 5:37
  Speaker 7: their would-be victim. And we also want to caution the
• 5:41
  Speaker 7: public about engaging with panhandlers and recognizing the fact that
• 5:48
  Speaker 7: not all of them have honest intent.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: Not all of them are in real need.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: The nature of the attack on Jacqueline left many on
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: edge and began to stoke fears of the homeless, not
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: only in Baltimore, but across the country as news of
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the horrific murder spread into the national media. Attention was
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: drawn further when Oprah heard of Jacqueline's act of kindness
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: that had led to her death. She tweeted,' I' ve done
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: this a thousand times.' but will think twice before ever
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: doing it again. Law enforcement released the descriptions of the
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: two suspects, ostensibly panhandlers, who were targeting charitable individuals to
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: rob them, and if need be, attack them.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: To identify that suspect, he's described as a man possibly
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: in his 30s with a goatee. And we also want
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: to identify the woman who was out there asking for money.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Homicide detectives had met with Keith and Valeria on the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: night of the murder at John Hopkins and had taken
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: their initial statements. Then they drove straight out to the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: thousand block of Valley Street to secure the crime scene.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Three detectives arrived within a few hours of the incident,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: yet they were unable to find any indications of the
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: stabbing at the location where it had taken place. The
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: next morning, at just past 10 a.m., Detective Beauregard, Singer,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: and Santos tried again, this time in the light of day.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: They began to conduct a canvas of the neighborhood. After
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: walking the streets, searching the surrounding area, and speaking with
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: local residents, they found nothing of evidentiary value. The team
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: was unable to independently verify where the Smith's Audi had
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: stopped for the panhandlers. They could not locate any witnesses.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: The murder weapon, a knife, was not found. What did
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: become apparent to the team of experienced detectives was that
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the thousand block of Valley Street was not a well-traveled
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: nor a very well-populated area. This was not an area
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: panhandlers would typically be found. The survey of the neighborhood
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: concluded that most of the houses on the thousand block
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: were vacant.
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: Nobody's really panhandling right there. You know what I'm.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: Saying?
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Nobody. Keith and Jacqueline's 2012 Audi A7, driven by Keith
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: that night, was brought to police headquarters directly from the
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: hospital for processing. Latent prints were recovered from the exterior
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of the vehicle on the passenger side. But these were
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: determined to be those of Keith Smith. No other prints
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: were identified. A pair of black gloves were resting on
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the top of the center console, and a second set
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: of yellow rubber gloves were retrieved from the back seat.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: An acrylic fingernail had broken off in the seat as well.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: It appeared to match those worn by Valeria Smith. There
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: was no unidentified DNA or fingerprints in the vehicle that
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: could assist law enforcement in tracking down known panhandler murderers.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Investigators were still seeking to corroborate the details provided by
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Keith and his daughter. Specifically, they sought to verify the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: route taken by the vehicle. The FBI were called in
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to assist with extracting data from the Audi's computer to
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: obtain the GPS location data. They were unsuccessful. Despite their
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: thorough and focused efforts, the Baltimore police were struggling to
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: locate any leads. The Homeless Outreach Team, or HOT Team,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: were also notified. Based on the descriptions provided by Keith
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and Valeria, this team used all its existing resources, but
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: was unable to develop any suspects.
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: I just want them to find, if anybody knows anybody,
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: if anybody has any information, please help us and find
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: out who did this to my stepmother, please.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: The inability to verify the crime scene was an obvious
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: hindrance to the investigation. Seeking to piece together a timeline
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: of the evening, investigators began by acquiring the surveillance footage
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: across the city to track the Smiths' movements. They arrived
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: at the American Legion Hall on Madison Avenue. Cameras there
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: confirmed that the Smiths left the hall together at 11.45 p.m.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Reviewing the footage of 27 CCTV cameras from the Legion
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: to Valley Street near to Valeria's home, the team sought
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to recreate the path taken by Keith and verified by
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: his daughter. Detectives were unable to locate the Audi on
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: any of the cameras around the areas described. They reviewed
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: motion-activated residential security cameras that could have captured angles of
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the incident itself, first at East Chase Street. They found nothing.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Then they reviewed the cameras facing East Edgar Street and
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: again the cameras failed to capture any footage of the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: incident or of Keith Smith's vehicle. Their next step was
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: to acquire the cell phone data from Keith and Valeria's phone. Hopefully,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: they could use signal data to map the family movements
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that night. Keith's cell phone showed no activity throughout the
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: evening before he placed the call to 911 after his
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: wife was stabbed. but data from Valeria's cell phone proved
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: to be insightful. It showed that the family had not
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: gone south after leaving the American Legion to take Valeria home,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: as they had told detectives. Instead, they turned north. Connected
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Towers indicated that the family had traveled to Druid Hill Park,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: near the Maryland Zoo, and had remained in that location
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: for approximately 15 minutes. Neither of the Smiths had mentioned
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: this stop to police. In addition to analyzing the father
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: and daughter's phones, police obtained the activity from Jacqueline's stolen device. Curiously,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the last activity shown on her phone was from about
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: 4 p.m. that afternoon, from her home in Aberdeen. Although
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: it was reported that Jacqueline had her cell phone with
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: her on the night of her murder, there is no
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: indication that that had ever left her house. What of
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: the other missing items? In the days following the murder,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: pawn shops across the city were checked for any of
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the belongings stolen from Jacqueline during the attack. Her necklace, purse,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: and cell phone had not turned up in any shops.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: They could not be located. A week and a half later, however,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Jacqueline's visa card was flagged. Someone had been using it.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Detectives tracked down three male teenagers who claimed to have
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: found the card in a Michael Kors clutch left at
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: a bus stop on the corner of Caroline Street and
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Madison Avenue. The teens were detained and questioned as potential suspects.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: They were ultimately released, however, when the location of the
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: bus stop was confirmed to be on the exact route
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: taken by Keith and Valeria after leaving the Legion. At least,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: the route defined by cell phone data and tracking Google accounts,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: not the route they had claimed to police to have traveled.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: After three months of investigating, the Baltimore detectives had failed
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: to uncover a single piece of evidence linking Jacqueline's murder
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: to a pair of panhandlers. What they had discovered was
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: a series of inconsistencies and contradictions in the statements offered
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: by the Smiths. For instance, Keith told police at the
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: hospital that the second panhandler, the man, had reached into
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the car and stolen his wife's purse. In subsequent statements,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: he said it was the woman who did so.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Some guy came over to say, can I thank her?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: And as he did that, and I'm not thinking he's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: going to do what he did, he commenced to stabbing
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: my wife. Keith had initially been very vocal to the
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: media and keen to offer a neighborly warning to fear
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: the city's homeless population.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: But within a week, the story had picked up national
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: news coverage and Keith abruptly stopped taking interviews. Police confronted
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Keith with the location data. At that stage, his story
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: changed once again. He claimed that he had been lost
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that night and embarrassed to admit it. Yes, they had
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: gone to the park where the family parked for a
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: time and looked through photos they had taken earlier in
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: the evening on their phones. After he was released from
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: that interview, Keith Smith drove home remotely agreed to a
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: year-long lease to a modest home in Florida, ordered and
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: packed a rental truck, and left the state. February the 4th,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: and he came in one night with a very large
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: moving truck and rapidly loaded it the next day, and
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: we never saw him since. When Valeria was questioned, she
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: requested an attorney, and the interview ended. She later left
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Maryland as well to meet up Law enforcement knew that
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Keith was fleeing, and they were tracking him. Keith must
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: have at least suspected that he was being watched. He
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: attempted to dodge a wiretap on his phone in a
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: few ways, by changing his number, changing his phone provider,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and shipping a new cell phone to his daughter. But
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: law enforcement was still listening in. In February 2019, Keith
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: attempted to book two flights out of the country, one
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: to Canada and a second to Cuba. These attempts failed, however,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: because he did not hold a U.S.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Passport.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Keith eventually deduced that he could fly to the U.S.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Virgin Islands by providing only a driver's license. While placing
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: these calls, his search engine was locating information on how
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: one might travel to Mexico without formally going through a
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: border crossing. On March 1st, Keith rented a car in Texas.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: This move prompted an immediate response by police in Baltimore.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: An arrest warrant was issued for Keith and his daughter
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: two days later. The warrant stated that at the time
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: of writing, 11.15 a.m. on March 3rd, both suspects were
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: 20 minutes from the Mexican border in an obvious attempt
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: to flee prosecution for first-degree murder.
• 17:21
  Speaker 8: Let's be realistic. We would all love to take a
• 17:23
  Speaker 8: vacation to Mexico. You know, you get a chance to
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: go to Mexico, you say yes. Your dad says, hey,
• 17:28
  Speaker 8: you know what, let's head on down to Mexico. Let's
• 17:31
  Speaker 8: take a little family vacation, some R & R. I
• 17:34
  Speaker 8: don't see there being any criminal element to that.
• 17:37
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Smith is always innocent until proven guilty, and I haven't
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: seen anything yet that proves him guilty.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Keith and Valeria Smith were arrested by Texas law enforcement
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: later on the same day that the warrant was issued.
• 17:50
  Speaker 5: Course of our investigation, we developed evidence that Mr. Smith
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: was leaving Maryland. So we made the appropriate national notifications
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: and the Texas State Police arrested him this morning. We
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: pursued the evidence from the very beginning and these detectives
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: were very tenacious. They were very thorough and dedicated.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: These individuals took advantage of a situation, a city that
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: is already dealing with its own problems. So we're looking
• 18:16
  Speaker 3: forward to this, uh, cruel act being brought to justice.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: The arrest warrant did not outline how investigators believed the
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: father and daughter had committed the murder. It outlined the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: many lies and deceptions fed to detectives throughout the murder investigation,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: as well as their failure to turn up any other suspects.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: But that was not all. It seems that the panhandler
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: ruse was not the first plan proposed by Keith Smith
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: to murder his wife. Investigators learned through a friend of
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Keith's brother, Vic, that Keith had previously asked for help
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: getting rid of his wife. According to his brother, in
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the months leading up to her death, Jacqueline had spoken
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: to Keith about wanting a divorce. According to Vic, this
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: was not the desired outcome for Keith. It seems he
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: preferred instead to make a claim on her life insurance policy,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: on which he remained the beneficiary. Keith did exactly that.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Only two days after her murder, he arrived at Jacqueline's
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: work requesting the paperwork to make the claim. Law enforcement,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: already deeply suspicious of his story, told the insurer to
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: hold off on the payment. This left Jacqueline's two sons
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: time to fight for her estate and probate court. It
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: also meant that Keith was very short on cash. As
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: he schemed a means of escape, he was forced to
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: apply for a cash advance on his American Express. It
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: was declined. The news that the Panhandler murder had all
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: been a hoax was not a surprise to everyone. In particular,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Jacqueline's mother, who still lived in Rhode Island, told the
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: shocked news media that she had always believed that Keith's
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: story was nonsense.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: I knew it was phony. I didn't believe her husband
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: at all. I knew something else happened.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: You know, why would he stay in the area with
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: her in the car after the man pulled the chain
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: from her neck, as he claims?
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: It was too phony. The Trevain family reported that they
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: were never close with Keith Smith. Because of this, it
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: is unclear if they were aware of his criminal past.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Twenty years earlier, Keith had committed armed robbery, three times,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: at the same bank. In December 1999, Keith had lost
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: his job with FedEx because of a loss of points
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: on his driver's license. Worse still, according to the Baltimore Sun,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: he had just found out that he was HIV positive.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Struggling to pay for household bills as a single father
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to his daughter and requiring medication, Keith had decided that
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: the First Union Bank on York Road in Timonium was
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: a prime target. Its proximity to Interstate 83 allowed for
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: a quick getaway. So, he walked into the bank wearing
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: a ski mask and carrying a pellet gun. He jumped
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: over the counter, emptied the drawers of cash, and exited
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: from the back. This first robbery yielded a payout of
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: about $ 15, 000. Three months later, he did it again. That time,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: he took home $ 16, 000. It was five months later that
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: he decided to put his plan into effect one more time.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: By that point, police had a description of his vehicle.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: After it was spotted in East Baltimore, a police chase ensued,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: ending in a crash and the arrest of Keith Smith.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: He served six years of a 12-year sentence in state prison.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Keith told police that he had used the stolen funds
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: to pay bills. When they searched his home, they located
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: roughly $ 20, 000 wrapped into bundles and hidden away in a
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: black bag. Valeria Smith was charged as an accessory to
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: the murder. It is unclear what case, if any, the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: prosecutors had developed to link her to the premeditated murder
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: of her stepmother. It was clear that she assisted in
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: covering up the murder after the fact. It was revealed
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: that Valeria had been struggling. She was diagnosed as bipolar
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and spent some time institutionalized for treatment back in 2012.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Since that time, she had also developed an addiction to heroin.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: it was believed that she was in many ways another
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: victim of her father's, coerced into assisting him to cover
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: up the murder. For this reason, Valeria was offered a
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: plea deal.
• 23:11
  Speaker 8: You know, helped her father. She's indicated in the plea
• 23:13
  Speaker 8: agreement that, you know, she helped her father dispose of
• 23:16
  Speaker 8: the knife, helped her father dispose of, you know, the
• 23:20
  Speaker 8: other property, things of that nature. She's taken full responsibility
• 23:23
  Speaker 8: for that. You know, she's still extremely upset about the
• 23:26
  Speaker 8: entire thing. And she certainly apologizes to the rest of
• 23:30
  Speaker 8: the family for her role in this.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: But you can't tell us whether or not she's going
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: to testify against her own father.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Valeria admitted guilt as an accessory after the fact. And
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: she did agree to testify against her father. The trial
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: took place in late 2021. Valeria told the jury that
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: after celebrating her birthday, her father drove the family to
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Druid Hill Park with Jacqueline, who she believed had dozed
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: off in the front seat. There, her father stabbed her
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: stepmother five times when she was believed to have been,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: at least initially, sleeping. He disposed of the knife in
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the woodland. Valeria was given two wallets belonging to Jacqueline,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: including the Michael Kors clutch. she testified that she was
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: instructed by Keith to get rid of them. She left
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: one at the bus stop at Caroline and Madison, where
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: she watched as a group of youths wandered over and
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: picked through it. The panhandler story was given to her
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: by Keith. The defense team grilled Valeria over the length
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: of time it took her to come clean. They accused
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: her of playing a more active role in the murder
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: and lying on the stand to save herself. The 32-year-old
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: recovering addict testified that she was forced by her father
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: to lie, but was telling the truth now because she
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: did not want to go to prison for a murder
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: that she did not commit.
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: And they were in love. They were soulmates. She was
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: just awesome. She was an awesome woman. She was a
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: powerful woman. Like, I looked up to her, you know, and.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Keith Smith was convicted of first-degree murder in December 2021.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: He was sentenced to life in prison.
• 25:22
  Speaker 9: A selfish act where he not only manipulated the hearts
• 25:24
  Speaker 9: and the minds of a country, but he manipulated the
• 25:27
  Speaker 9: heart and the mind of his daughter, who was addicted
• 25:31
  Speaker 9: to drugs. He was able to utilize this elaborate scheme
• 25:36
  Speaker 9: and story to prey upon her and who she was
• 25:39
  Speaker 9: and her character.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: A month after her father, Valeria was also sentenced. She
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: was given five years for her role in covering up
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: the murder. The verdict and sentencing came as a relief
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to Jacqueline's family. It was exactly the justice that they
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: had sought.
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: I was laughing then. And, you know, I knew it
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: was a circus. You know, I knew it was all
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: for optics. I knew it was a show.
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: And I was just laughing.
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: And I knew this day would come.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: I didn't know it would come this soon.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: And that was the story of Keith Smith and the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Panhandler murder hoax. Thanks for watching. I'm Kevin. This is
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Just Thought Lounge. And I'll see you in the next one.