Husband, step daughter staged woman’s killing by alleged panhandler in Baltimore say police

The husband and stepdaughter of a woman who was stabbed to death in East Baltimore in December, after her husband said she gave money to a panhandler out of their car window – have been arrested in her death, authorities said Sunday. Acting Baltimore police commissioner Michael Harrison said Keith Smith, 52, and Valeria Smith, 28, were arrested by Texas state police in Harligen, near the Mexican border while trying to flee the country. The duo have been charged with first-degree murder. “During the course of our investigation, we have developed evidence that Mr. Smith was leaving Maryland, so we made appropriate national notifications, and the Texas State Police arrested him this morning (Sunday),” Harrison said. “All of our investigators for both Keith and Valeria Smith, outlining the evidence in this case to a judge, who reviewed and signed the warrants for first-degree murder.” Harrison would not comment on a motive, saying that is a “trial matter.” Jacquelyn Smith, 54, an electrical engineer at Aberdeen Proving Ground, was stabbed to death at North Valley and East Chase streets in Baltimore around 12:30 am, on December 1st, according to authorities.

Keith Smith and Jacquelyn Smith

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Her husband, Keith Smith, and his daughter appeared in an emotional news conference at the scene just days after the murder. The two said the man had come up to the car appearing to thank Jacquelyn Smith for her generosity, then reached into the car and snatched her necklace and pocket book. Several family members of Jacquelyn Smith’s told the Baltimore Sun, they always questioned the story from the beginning. “I already know it’s Keith”, Marcel Trisvan, Jacquelyn Smith’s brother said. I already know it’s Keith,” he said. Trisvan said authorities provided no information to the family, but detectives had increasingly been asking the family about his sister’s relationship with her husband.

 

#BREAKING @BaltimorePolice say Smith’s husband and his daughter were arrested in a Texas, near the Mexico border.

They are charged with first degree murder. #WBAL pic.twitter.com/QZnQlfBcGf — Vanessa Herring (@VanessaWBAL) March 3, 2019

“All the questioning has been specific to Keith. That kind of sums it right there,” he said. “It never made sense. I told [detectives] from the very beginning there are no suspects out there.”

Trisvan said Keith Smith moved out of his sister’s house in Aberdeen two weeks ago. Smith handed the keys over to Trisvan, and he told the family he was moving to Florida. Trisvan said his sister owned the home. He said Keith Smith removed all the appliances from the home. The case drew national attention, with celebrities including Oprah Winfrey expressing concern about giving money to panhandlers in the future. In the days after Smith’s killing, some of Baltimore’s homeless citizens said they noticed a decrease in the number of people willing to roll down their windows and help.