Chapters
Shownotes Transcript
You guys, most weight loss plans are one size fits all. They don't take into account each person's individual needs, but Noom builds personal plans that can meet your individual needs. Noom takes into account dietary restrictions, medical issues, and other personal needs to build a plan that works for you and is built for your psychology and your biology,
meeting you where you are. And you guys, I actually have been using Noom Weight and it truly feels personalized to meet my lifestyle. What I love most is that Noom doesn't restrict what you can eat and it actually doesn't shame you when you choose to treat yourself. Noom's personalized program has felt more sustainable than other more restrictive weight loss programs.
Noom Weight uses psychology and biology, and that's why they say losing weight starts with your brain. The program helps you understand the science behind your eating choices and why you have cravings and actually helps you build new habits for a healthier lifestyle. So stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology based approach. Sign up for your trial today at Noom.com. Today, Noom has helped more than 5.2 million people lose weight.
It's that time of the year. Your vacation is coming up. You can already hear the beach waves, feel the warm breeze, relax, and think about work. You really, really want it all to work out while you're away. Monday.com gives you and the team that peace of mind. When all work is on one platform and everyone's in sync, things just flow wherever you are. Tap the banner to go to Monday.com.
hey everybody welcome back to our podcast this is murder with my husband i'm peyton moreland and i'm garrett moreland and he's the husband i'm the husband okay so this time we have actually finished with the live we did it it was awesome it was amazing again thank you to everyone who came everyone who supported it was
such a fun night okay if you were on our live you most likely saw a sneak peek of one of the upcoming merch designs we have i mean people were kind of commenting it in the live feed because i was wearing it but we have a drop coming it should be a week from now we have one of the designs dropping it wasn't the one i was wearing on the live but it's another great one so kind of stay tuned and be ready for that and just a reminder those will only be up for usually like a week or two
We just kind of do limited drops and they're super fun. We're really excited about this one. We've been working on some new merch designs for a while. We know merch has been kind of delaying, so we're excited to get this going. Cool. All right. Are you ready for your 10 seconds? 10 seconds. Well, Peyton and I just got back from raising canes, so that was really good. Also, I just ceramic coated my car, so we'll see how that turns out. I've mentioned this before, but I don't want to say I'm turning into a sneaker head because I don't think I can claim myself as a sneaker head yet.
i'm not really in that group but if anyone has any ideas on some new shoes i should get let me know preferably a new pair of nike dunk lows but i don't know exactly which ones how about can you do custom murder with my husband that would be pretty cool if we could do murder with my husband nikes yeah that would be sick i'd wear like mwmh yeah that'd be sweet if anyone has a hookup for that
Let me know. That would be so cool. Just a reminder, our Apple podcast subscription and Patreon is all ad-free. I think there were some issues for a second with Apple not being ad-free, but it's all ad-free now, so everything should be fixed. And if you're interested in that, you can check those out. Link in the description. Other than that, I think...
I think we can hop right into it. Cool. All right. Our case sources are abcnews.go.com, baltimoresun.com, foxbaltimore.com, lawandcrime.com, newsweek.com, nbcwashington.com, wbaltv.com, wmar2news.com, wpri.com, cbsnews, investigationdiscovery, oxygen.com, heavy.com, and google map.
Google Maps really be helping us lately. A case source these days, doesn't it? Yeah. That's because you're always coming at me with those, how far away?
way is it? So I really have to look it up now. I know. So our case begins on December 1st, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore is a major seaport city in Maryland. And according to the United States Census Bureau in 2018, Baltimore's population was 614,700. It appears that the population has actually been declining since then.
It's approximately 1227 a.m. when a 52-year-old man named Keith Smith frantically calls 911. He reports that he and his 54-year-old wife were driving his 28-year-old daughter home when a panhandler, his words, stabbed his wife while she was attempting to give him money.
He explains to the operator that they are at a stop sign on the corner of Valley and Chase Street. While on the phone, Keith is rushing his wife to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a little over a mile from where Keith claimed the attack happened. At 12:34 a.m. on December 1st, 2018, officers from the Baltimore Police Department arrive at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where Keith has taken his wife.
At 1248 a.m., after trying to save her life, hospital doctors pronounce his wife dead from the stab wounds. She had been murdered. His wife was named Jacqueline Smith. But who are Jacqueline and Keith?
And how and why does a random man stab a woman to death in front of her husband and stepdaughter? Jacqueline Ann Smith was born on July 4th, 1964. She was 54 years old at the time of her murder on December 1st.
As noted in her obituary, Jackie will be forever remembered as loving, giving, intelligent, independent, strong-minded, and witty. Jacqueline grew up in Rhode Island, and that's where her mother still lives. She was well-educated and attended Catholic schools growing up.
According to Jacqueline's sister Yvonne, Jacqueline always made the honor roll in school. She was very smart. She was a hard worker and is quoted in WRPRI.com. Her sister said that Jacqueline loved music. She loved poetry and she was just overall a very happy child.
After graduation, Jacqueline attended North Carolina A&T State University. Jacqueline eventually went on to be an electrical engineer, which to me, that's like hard. That is hard work. She worked as an engineer at Aberdeen Proving Ground, a U.S. Army research facility roughly 37 miles northeast of Baltimore, according to Oxygen.com.
Jacqueline had two adult sons at the time of the attack. Obviously, neither were with her. They were ages 19 and 25. Her sons are Kendall and David Hood, and she was very...
Very proud of them. She firmly believed in higher education for herself and her children. And one of her sons was actually at the University of Maryland prior to the murder. And I believe this was David, who was only 19 at the time, a sophomore in college. Jacqueline's other son, I believe that would be Kendall, graduated from a university in Pennsylvania and is now with the U.S. Coast Guard. Now as in now in time or now back then?
Now back then at the story. Okay. There's also another report that both are actually still now to this day employed by the U.S. Coast Guard, but obviously I didn't dig into their life too much. Yeah, yeah.
So Jacqueline was known to be a wonderful mother to her boys. Her life really is going together. And I can't find any information about who Jacqueline's first husband, the father of her two boys are. All I can see is a reference to a failed marriage. According to WPRI.com, Jacqueline and her first husband had moved around a bit, living in Germany and San Francisco during their marriage. So Keith Smith, her husband,
is reportedly from Baltimore. He was 52 at the time of his wife's murder. He was a truck driver from U.S. lumber, and apparently he too had been married before and had a daughter, Valeria Smith, from this previous marriage. Now, Valeria was the stepdaughter that was in the car with her stepmom and dad during the attack.
Jacqueline and Keith Smith were married in 2014. And like I said, it was a second marriage for both of them. The couple lived in Aberdeen, about 26 miles northeast of Baltimore. They would be married for only four years before that dreadful day that Jacqueline was murdered. So back to the hospital. Keith told police that he was driving Jacqueline and his daughter Valeria home after a birthday celebration for Valeria.
and Valeria was sitting in the back seat. He said that they were driving down Valley Street in East Baltimore, and he claimed that some panhandlers were out on the corner of the street, and so he pulled over so that Jacqueline could open her window and give them $10. This was Jacqueline's idea. She was like, it's cold outside, it's dark, let's give them some money. There was a female panhandler standing there appearing to be holding a baby, which is another reason why Jacqueline's
asked her husband to pull the car over, and then a male panhandler came up and attacked Jacqueline while she was giving the female panhandler money. What the heck?
According to Keith, the panhandlers went to the front passenger side of the car where Jacqueline was sitting. The male panhandler grabbed Jacqueline's necklace from around her neck and yanked it off, grabbed the wallet off her lap and then stabbed her. Keith told police that the man asked if he could thank his wife for giving them the money and then at which time he reached his hand in and began stabbing Jacqueline.
Okay, pause for one second. Keith at this time didn't just drive off? No. So his wife is- I'm not blaming him. I'm just kind of trying to figure out what's going on. So he just says, can I thank her? Keith says, yes. He leans in. He starts stabbing his wife. And Keith says that after the stabbing, the female and the male actually fled into an alley in the thousandth block of Valley Street. And-
Keith was kind of panicking. It was happening so fast. He says he just put the car in park and got out of his car and chased the individuals.
But then while he was chasing them, he realized that his wife was back in the car. Dying. Dying. And so he ran back to the car instead, got in the car, called 911, and started driving to the hospital that was only about a mile away. Okay. At 1.32 a.m., homicide detectives arrived at the hospital to begin their investigation. So Jacqueline has now since passed at the hospital and now... Oh, that's right. She died. Yes, she died at the hospital. Okay. And so...
Now homicide detectives are arriving because this is clearly a murder. They transported Keith and his daughter Valeria to homicide at the police station so that they could give their formal statements to the detectives investigating the case.
Keith now gave a more detailed account of what happened that night at the police station. He said that on November 30th, 2018, he, Jacqueline and Valeria went out to celebrate Valeria's birthday. They went to the American Legion Hall that's located at 1502 Madison Avenue in Baltimore. He said they danced, they ate dinner, they drank and they took some photos. And after the
fun night of celebration was over, Keith said that his daughter gave directions through East Baltimore back to her place so they could drop her off. So his daughter lives in Baltimore and they live outside of Baltimore. So he has to drive to Baltimore, drop the daughter off, and then was planning to head back home with his wife. It was while driving home that they first noticed the female panhandler on the thousandth block of Valley Street. They pulled over to the corner so Jacqueline could hand some money to the female through her open window.
So they weren't at like a light or anything where they were stuck there, correct? No, no, they weren't at a light. He gave the same account as he did at the hospital, but investigators couldn't help but notice one small but significant change in his story. This time, he said the male panhandler ran up and stabbed Jacqueline multiple times through the window, then grabbed her necklace from around her neck, then her wallet from her lap.
At the hospital, he claimed the robbery happened first, followed by the stabbing. So now he's switched up the order that the things have happened. Now, this could be a completely innocent misremembering from a grieving husband who's probably going through the worst night of his life. Traumatized. Or this could be something else. So police don't really sit on it. They take note of it and they move on. I also thought it was kind of weird how he added that.
they thanked him thing in there right that just seems I don't know it seems weird that he said the guy asked if he could thank his wife and then that's when the stabbing happened yeah I just I know something seems off right so Keith said the female panhandler's hands never went inside the car so she never actually went in the car it was only the male who went in grabbed this stuff and stabbed his wife
And he saw the two suspects run away together on foot. So after getting this statement, the police went to the location where Keith said the murder happened. This would still be in the middle of the night. It's still dark out, but they're like, we need to go like see this location. Maybe they're still hanging around. Like we need to go.
And it was during this time that police were unable to locate an actual crime scene, related evidence, witnesses, or video surveillance footage that supported initial statements given by Keith Smith and his daughter, Valeria Smith.
They can't find any blood anywhere. They can't find any video surveillance footage. But both of their statements matched. Valeria and Keith both said the same thing, like in separate interviews. They said, we were sitting in the car. We pulled over to give her money. The guy ran up, stabbed her, and they both ran away. Got it. But police are having a hard time finding any evidence to back up these matching statements.
Either way, police would continue investigating the murder. It's only day one. And they offered their condolences to the family and sent them home. So what evidence would they be looking for exactly? Because if the panhandlers ran away...
Like what? They're going to be looking for video surveillance. There were houses nearby. They're going to be looking for doorbell camera footage, evidence that someone was standing on the corner, probably blood, because if they used a knife to stab her, there would be. Yeah, it's true. You can't just clean the knife immediately. There would be some left over. Yeah. So that's kind of what they're looking for. But again, like you just said, they know it's only day one. They haven't checked the video footage yet. So they still have some investigating to do. Okay.
At 1030 a.m. the next morning, the police went back to the same location on Valley Street to take another look during daylight hours. Last time they looked here, it was dark. Yeah. But again, they don't find any physical evidence.
The police interview people who live in the area and they consistently said, no, we didn't hear anything last night, but also we've never even seen panhandlers in this area. They don't operate here. This is not an area for that. The police noted that the street wouldn't be a lucrative location for panhandlers as many houses are vacant and there's very little foot or vehicle traffic there.
So it just doesn't even make sense that that would be a place that someone would go to need to get money because there's not a lot of traffic there. Your chances of getting money isn't going to be very high. Yeah, that's why I asked if they were on a corner by stoplight. You know, usually they're in certain locations. Right. And this is not a location that is normal for this. So the police then investigated Keith and Jacqueline's car, which was a white 2012 Audi A7.
It had been parked outside next to the hospital where he parked it to run inside to take Jacqueline in.
The police transported it to the crime lab at police headquarters. The police processed the Audi for fingerprints and blood, both inside the vehicle and outside. They found blood inside the front passenger door, which matches the story, and they found one set of latent prints on the exterior of the passenger side door, again, matching the story. There were no other prints recovered from the exterior of the car. Okay.
After this, the detectives begin trying to identify and locate the two suspects. Homicide alerted the homeless outreach team in an effort to find the suspects. On December 1st, detectives also notified the Baltimore Police Department's pawn shop unit of the items that Keith had reported were stolen from his wife. So if they stole her necklace, her wallet, everything. It'd be somewhere. They're like, okay, they're going to go turn them in somewhere for money.
Okay, you guys, shifting my wardrobe from summer to fall can be a challenge, but I'm telling you right now, my Quince products that I have, my Quince clothing items are my go-to staples in the fall. They make it so easy. They have timeless, high quality items. I use their silk skirts. I literally wear them in so many ways with boots, with tights, with a sweater, with a crop top.
They have cashmere sweaters from $50, pants for every occasion, washable silk tops, so much more. And the best part is that they are priced so well because they partner directly with top factories. So they cut out the cost of the middleman and then they pass the savings onto you. So you are literally getting cashmere sweaters for $50.
I just got a cashmere sweater from quince that I am going to be wearing I also have a pair of their linen pants I'm actually just going to pair them together I will post it on my social media and you will see it So make switching seasons a breeze with quince's high quality closet essentials go to quince.com slash husband
For free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. You guys, if you want free shipping, make sure to do quince.com slash husband. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash husband to get free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash husband. They have the cutest clothes. You need to go check it out. Hola. ¿Cómo está? Hola, ¿cómo estamos? Want to learn a new language? Well, the best way is to uproot your entire life, move to Spain, and live there for the rest of your...
I made that up. I went off the ad. Let me go back to the ad read. The best way is to uproot your entire life. Drop your... Oh. You literally followed the ad. I didn't read the rest of that. Drop yourself in the middle of a new country and figure it out from there. I just want to let everyone know that's what I did. But... That's what I did. It worked. If you're not ready for that, you can still learn a new language the next best way, and that is with Babbel. See...
Speak like a whole new you with Babbel, the science-backed language learning app that gets you talking. Wasting hundreds of dollars on private tutors is the old school way of learning a new language. Babbel's 10-minute lessons are quick and handcrafted by over 200 language experts, ready to get you talking your new language in three weeks because talking is the key to really knowing any language.
Designed by real people for having real conversation, Babbel gets you talking. You guys, I actually use Babbel to brush up on Spanish when we travel. I love it. It is so easy. And then I can actually kind of keep up with what's going on. And with over 16 million subscriptions sold, Babbel's 14 award-winning language courses are backed by a 20-day money-back guarantee. So there's no pressure. Buy Babbel and travel.
Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription, but only for our listeners at babbel.com slash husband. Get up to 60% off at babbel.com slash husband spelled B-A-B-B-E-L.com slash husband. Rules and restrictions may apply. The next day, December 2nd, the homeless outreach team and Crimestoppers put out flyers in the area asking for information. I mean, this is like a
a pretty awful attack. This is a pretty gruesome attack. Keith and Valeria gave multiple grief-stricken interviews to law enforcement and to the media in the days following the murder. Keith gave a press conference maintaining his story. According to the Baltimore Sun, Keith Smith urged officials to outlaw panhandling in the streets of Baltimore so no one else would fall victim. This is interesting because
you just mentioned that i was going to say i could be totally wrong but i don't think i've ever heard any stories of panhandlers attacking people who are giving them money while driving right and it is i think it's also just i don't know
It's one of those things where it could totally be true and it could totally be happening. But also, if it's not true, this feels like a pretty dirty thing to be saying. You know what I mean? Everything just seems pretty sketchy right now. Right. So Keith said that the panhandlers were holding a cardboard sign asking for money so that they could feed their baby, which is why they pulled over. The Baltimore City Medical Examiner's Office performed the autopsy on December 3rd, 2018.
The cause of death was homicide by sharp force injuries as a result of five stab wounds to Jacqueline's chest. She also suffered a cut to her right arm.
Also on December 3rd, the police went to the American Legion Hall to verify Keith's story that that's where they'd gone that night to celebrate. I just want to say the American Legion Hall is basically just like a row of restaurants and basically like a city. Just think of, you know. So the police reviewed the surveillance cameras and they found that the three Smiths, so Jacqueline, Keith, and
Valeria had arrived there at about 10 35 PM and left at around 11 45 PM. Just like Keith has said on December 3rd, the police received a tip that someone named baby J had committed the murder. The police followed up on the tip, but it was a dead end based on interviews and surveillance video. The police determined that this baby J had a valid alibi and had been inside of a hotel at the time of the murder. Okay. But you know, props to police for chasing every lead. Um,
This same day, Keith also gave an interview to ABC News telling the whole entire story. In his words, he says, she was trying to help someone out. I think the reality is we forget about the times we're living in. You may have the best intentions on helping this person, but when you let a person get into your safety zone, you're actually opening yourself up to whatever this person has intended for you.
And you can actually watch an eight minute video of Valeria and Keith giving a press interview on December 3rd, 2018 out in front of Keith and Jacqueline's home in Aberdeen. So it starts with Valeria and she says that the female panhandler had a sign asking for money. She said she was in the backseat, so she wasn't really paying attention. And she said it all just happened so fast.
At first in the interview, Valeria is fairly composed, but then she seems to fight tears and then she begins full on wailing like,
hunched over, just bawling. And it's really hard to watch. She said her father was driving and that they were at a stop sign. They decided to pull over a little bit, stop longer to give the money. She said she was wearing the same clothes for the past two days since the murder because she had been with her father. She hadn't even gone home. She says she's very concerned for his wellbeing, that maybe she thinks he might try to kill himself and that he just loved Jacqueline so much.
In answering the reporter's questions, Valeria says that they were at the American Legion Hall in West Baltimore. She says it's basically just like a regular row house. She said they had a great time and that her dad and Jacqueline were dropping her back at her home when this happened. I'm a little confused because I think at first I thought Keith probably had something to do with it.
This interview is confusing me so far. Right. She then goes on to say that Jacqueline was the, quote, nicest woman that you could ever meet in your life. And while she's saying this, it is very hard for Valeria to talk about her. She appears grief stricken and she begins begging for the public's help.
She says they were two blocks from her home when the stabbing occurred. She said the guy said, can I thank you? And then her stepmother had given them a $10 bill. And then she says then he just started stabbing her. She says my father chased them and I saw my life flash before my eyes because are they about to come back for me? Am I about to get stabbed? And she was also worried because she looked up and she could see Jacqueline bleeding, but then her dad ran back and they drove to the hospital.
She says they talked to officers on the phone the whole way there and that it all just happened in a split second and that nothing is ever what it seems. After this, Keith comes on camera and he continues the interview. And it's kind of odd to go from Valeria, who's so overwhelmed, to Keith because he seems very calm. He's very factual, especially after, you know, Valeria has just been in hysterics and now he's just so calm. It's definitely weird. Well, it's his daughter too. Right.
He said three blocks away from Valeria's place, there was a girl out with a baby in her arms. Again, he's just going over his story for the public. He mentions that it was drizzling out and that it was cold, that his amazing wife felt moved to give her something. And so they pulled over. Then out of nowhere, a guy shows up. Jacqueline gives the money. And then the man said, can I thank your wife? And he said, yes, you can thank my wife. Then in a split second, he started stabbing her, then stole the necklace off her neck and then stole the pocketbook.
off her lap they then ran to a basketball court and he ran after them but he eventually comes back because he knew his wife needed him more he says right now he's just absorbing everything that's happened and seeing how he can move past it but he doesn't think he can move past it until the congressmen ban panhandling so again he's going back to this like this should be illegal which if something like this affects your life so heavily i can understand the drastic feeling
I think there's just some things in the story that he did that are making me doubt everything. Like what? I don't, I try to put myself in his situation. And if he doesn't have something to do with this, well, then this is a little awkward. But I put myself in the situation that if we were in a car and you were getting stabbed, I feel like my initial reaction would be,
Drive away. Drive away. And then if you had gotten stabbed and I didn't have drive away, I don't think I would have gotten out of the car. Yeah. I would have looked at you and said, oh, we need to get to the hospital now. Or are you okay? Do I need to give you CPR? Like, what do I need to be doing to make sure that you're okay? Right. So I think that's my thought process, but I guess we'll see where this goes. I also think, you know, again, seeing where this goes, but, you know, I think...
five times she was stabbed. Yes. And I know everything happens in a split second, but you know, a split second isn't five steps. I think if someone reached their hand in the car, I, that alone would, I'd be like, Whoa, what are you doing? Yeah. What are you doing? I'm grabbing their arm. I'm doing something. Right. Right. Okay. Let's keep going. So he says that ever since this has happened to his wife, he doesn't look at pantomime.
panhandlers the same way. Now he sees them as a threat to his life and he says he's going to make this new law in his wife's name to make sure that she didn't die in vain.
Keith told viewers to be careful who they want to give to because you don't know the intentions of the person that you're giving to. And then after this interview kind of goes viral, even Oprah Winfrey took note of the case and urged people to be more cautious around people asking for money. Like she came out and made a public statement about the case. Oprah actually says she felt a special connection to the case given that she'd been a newscaster in Baltimore before.
So on December 4th, 2018, the police went to the hospital to review surveillance footage there. And they confirmed that the three Smiths drove up to the hospital in the white Audi. The police interview Keith and Valeria again. And I'm not sure if this interview happens at their house or at the police station, but either way, they take their second formal statement. And the details of Keith's account of the stabbing were again, slightly different this time, which if you are lying about something that would make sense, right?
So he stated that the stabbing was simultaneous to the victim giving the female panhandler money. So basically he says that the man reached in and stabbed her as she was handing the money, which this is different again. Additionally, Keith stated that the female reached into the car and snatched the victim's wallet.
come on before keith said that the man was the one who'd reached in the car and that the woman never put her hands in the car yep so the police then drive keith and valeria to the american legion so that keith and valeria could show the detectives the exact route that they'd taken the night of the murder a few days earlier relying upon the path of travel described by keith and valeria smith law enforcement personnel reviewed video footage from 27 cameras around the area described
and detectives were unable to locate Keith Smith's vehicle on any of the cameras. This is the first physical evidence that contradicts
Keith and Valeria's story of where they were that night because where they said they went they can find them on no cameras. The police also reviewed motion activated residential security cameras that should have caught the vehicle on the night of the murder but those cameras didn't record the vehicle either. On December 4th 2018 Keith and Valeria consent to having their cell phones searched and information extracted.
It was also around this time that the testing from the outside of the car print came back. And it was as follows. The subsequent latent print comparison determined that the latent prints on the outside of the car were that of Keith Smith. Got it. No stranger's prints were on the outside of the car. I think it's safe to say that the police are suspicious of Keith at this point. Oh, 100%. They definitely think something's going on.
But what about Valeria? This is crazy because I was just about to ask about Valeria. Right, because, okay, so we see husbands kill their wives all the time. So if Keith really did kill Jacqueline this night, why in front of his 28-year-old daughter? What does she have to do with this? Why is she lying? And why would she lie about it? Correct. This doesn't make any sense.
But so police don't know exactly what's going on, but they continue to follow where the evidence leads them, just like they should be. On December 11th, seven days later, detectives executed a search warrant on Keith and Jacqueline's Audi to access GPS information from the car. During this search, there was luminol also used inside of the car and some swabs were taken from four areas within the interior of the car.
Luminol did detect blood in unsuspecting areas of the vehicle. Now, I'm not sure what this means, if this means like the trunk or like why there would be blood not in the front seat, but this is what it says. However, the report goes on to say that the Luminol didn't show any blood other than that, which they'd already found from the passenger seat area. So whatever it is, I mean, there's blood in unsuspecting places,
but nothing that's going to give them more clues. The police and the FBI at this point were unable to get GPS information from the car relating to the night of the murder. Inside of the car, though, the police seized various items, including an acrylic fingernail inside the rear passenger area that appeared to have belonged to Valeria. So she has a fingernail in the car and some gloves. On December 11th, 2018, police found out that Jacqueline's credit card was being used. She's...
been passed now for a while. Yeah. They discover three male juveniles who the police excluded as suspects. They reported that they found a Michael Kors clutch bag at the corner of Caroline Street and Madison Avenue at a bus stop. Now, the implication here from an arrest warrant, although not stated, is that these juveniles found the purse and then used the credit card, but that they weren't suspects in the murder. Got it. They had just found the purse.
Where did they find the purse? In the trash? No, just on the corner of a street near where the robbery happened. Interesting. So I'm just trying to piece all this together because this is weird. Why steal a purse if you're just going to ditch it? Yeah, exactly. So the next day, the police received the cell phone information from Keith and Valeria's phones, including not only their call histories, but also their locations.
Okay. Okay.
However, Valeria's cell phone was pinging after the American Legion in the completely opposite direction, northwest of the American Legion in Druid Hill Park near the Maryland Zoo. And it stayed there for 12 to 16 minutes. Holy crap. This is nuts. So neither Keith nor Valeria mentioned going in this direction or going to Druid Hill Park.
Now, just for some context, Druid Hill Park is in northwest Baltimore. According to Google Maps, it's a 745 acre park. The Maryland Zoo is within the park and as is Druid Lake.
Essentially, if American Legion, where they ate dinner, was sitting in the middle of a map, one direction would be towards Valeria's home and the 1000th block of Valley Street where they said Jacqueline was attacked. And in the complete opposite direction would be Druid Hill Park where they actually were that night. Got it. Okay. So Keith and Valeria have just forensically been proven in a lie about that night that they were not where they said the attack happened.
So if the attack actually happened, it's not where they said it was. Yeah, so how do you get out of that? At that point, what do you do next? Right. So three days later, Jacqueline's funeral is held, followed by Christmas, because now we're into December. During this time, police decided to dig up any more information they can on Keith and Valeria. No arrests happened. They're just looking for more evidence.
So they discover that Keith had a criminal past, which does not automatically make him guilty. Okay. People can make mistakes. They can break the law and they can still be good people. In 2001, though, Keith pled guilty to robbing the same bank in Maryland three times in nine months. Come on, man. Three separate times in nine months. What are we doing? He served six years of a 12-year prison sentence for robbery with a deadly weapon and for fleeing the police.
According to WBALTV.com, Keith Smith had a history of committing serious crimes for money. In September 2000, he led police on a chase.
Oh my gosh. Okay.
Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage, to the first real life store stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Shopify is there to help you grow. Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout up to 36% better compared to other leading commerce platforms.
and sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify Magic, your AI-powered all-star. Peyton and I love Shopify. We have been using it for, I mean, I've been using it for six years now, so many years, and it's amazing. It just keeps getting better and better with more updates. It's easy to use. It's user-friendly. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US, and Shopify is the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklyn, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries.
Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash husband, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash husband now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash husband. Okay, let me guess. Your medicine cabinet is crammed with stuff that does not work. You still aren't sleeping, you still hurt, and you're stressed out. That's
That's how it was for me, so I cleared out my cabinet and reset my health with CBD from CB Distillery. CBD Distillery's targeted formulations are made from the highest quality clean ingredients, no fluff, no fillers, just pure effective CBD solutions designed to help support your health.
In two non-clinical surveys, 81% of customers experienced more calm, 80% said CBD helped with pain after physical activity, and an impressive 90% actually said they slept better with CBD. I have personally used CBD before to help me sleep. I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping and I couldn't figure out what to do to help. And honestly, CBD did help. And if that's something you're struggling with, yeah.
Give it a try. Check it out. If you struggle with a health concern and haven't found relief, make the change like I did to CBD Distillery. And with over 2 million customers and a solid 100% money back guarantee, CBD Distillery is the source to trust. You guys, we have a 20% discount to get you started. So if you've ever wanted to do CBD, now is the time. Visit CBDistillery.com and use code husband for 20% off. That's CBDistillery.com.
dot com code husband cb distillery dot com code husband keith was released from prison on february 9th 2007 about seven years before he would go on to marry jacqueline real quick that does not seem like a ton of money for three bank robberies i probably because he didn't send him to the vault he probably just took what was right there in the drawers like i feel like
I don't know. If you're going to rob a bank, I feel like it's go big or go home, right? If you're going to rob a bank at gunpoint, go big or go home. You're already using a deadly weapon. Not that we're robbing a bank, but just my two cents. I've watched enough bank robbery movies. Exactly. So according to CBS News, when police found this out, they determined that a day or two after the murder, Keith and...
went to Jacqueline's workplace to get paperwork for her life insurance policy in which he was the beneficiary, which is not weird. If your loved one dies, you should go get your money. But based on the fact that in his past he had committed crimes for money, uh,
police now was like, okay, well, it was only two days after her death. He was already looking to get the money. Valeria is Keith's daughter, like we said, from a previous marriage, obviously making her Jacqueline's stepdaughter. She was 28 years old at the time of Jacqueline's murder. And according to heavy.com, an online database with the Maryland judiciary brings up prior cases, including assault and traffic violations for her. And,
In 2017, she was charged with second-degree assault and disturbing the peace. Valeria Smith pled guilty to the assault charge and appeared to have been sentenced to probation. She reportedly has two children, but I couldn't find any information on them. Neither do, like, should I? It's fine. And I've looked, but I also can't find who Valeria's mother or Keith's ex-wife is. Again, not necessary to the story. On January 4th, 2019...
The police executed search warrants for data relating to Keith and Valeria's Google accounts. These records also showed that the direction their phones traveled doesn't match up with their stories.
At some point, detectives also looked at cell phone information for Jacqueline's phone. Keith had told police that Jacqueline had her cell phone with her the night of the murder. However, her cell phone data shows that the last activity on her phone was an incoming call at 4.16 p.m. on November 30th and that the last known location of her phone, per the phone records, was at their home in Aberdeen. So no further activity happened on her phone after that incoming call.
Detectives very quickly grew suspicious of Keith and his story, both because of inconsistencies in the way he told it and also the inconsistencies with common sense. Kind of like what you were saying. Like, why get out and run? This is crazy. If your wife is bleeding out. I feel like at this point it's obvious they had something to do with it. Investigators also thought it defied belief that panhandlers would be out that late on that deserted street corner asking for money. They were just like, this story just does not add up.
Another reason for suspicion is that no evidence was found at the particular street corner to corroborate Keith's story and neighbors of Keith's in their townhome community in Aberdeen later reported that on February 4th, Keith showed up at his home. This is after police have kind of
found a lot of this evidence and they're probably putting the heat on Keith. Keith shows up at his home with a large moving truck. He loaded it quickly the next day and the neighbors never saw him again. Wow. Okay. According to WBALTV.com, neighbors found it so odd. Even one neighbor took a picture of the moving truck outside the house because they thought it was so weird. Neighbors reported that there were never any signs of trouble with this myth. Revitt,
residents though there was no yelling and as quoted in wbaltv.com they were always very pleasant they never had any kind of incident over there nothing was unusual
On February 8th, 2019, the police obtained wiretaps for Keith and Valeria's cell phones. Both wiretaps are activated that day, which means police are now listening to every single call that goes from Valeria's phone or Keith's phone or to their phones. Valeria said her phone was actually stolen during the time of the investigation, so she wouldn't give it to police. So the wiretap was for her new cell phone. Got it. On February 12th, 2019, Keith is formally interviewed by detectives for a third time.
This time he was given his Miranda warnings, which he signed. Keith gives another slightly different version of what happened that night. This time he says that the female panhandler was wearing a blue hoodie, but previously he had said she was wearing a brown jacket and
The police confront Keith with Valeria's cell phone records saying you were not where you said you were. It contradicts the story. And the phone indicates they went northbound into Druid Hill Park and that you guys stayed there for 12 to 16 minutes. So what was going on? Keith says, okay, fine. I'll tell you. I just got lost and I didn't want to admit it to you in my prior statement. Oh, come on. He further advised that they were sitting in the parking lot looking at pictures they had taken during the evening and then they turned around and went home.
Immediately upon completion of the interview, Keith got into a rental truck and drove to Winter Haven, Florida, where he requested to be relocated by his job. So he has relocated.
Bopped right out of Maryland. He said, I'm out of here. Also on February 12th, the police re-interviewed Valeria. She was also given her Miranda warnings, which she signed and agreed to speak with detectives. When confronted with her cell phone records, Valeria said they were never in Druid Hill Park. I don't know what you're talking about. And then she quickly requested a lawyer and the interview stopped. So he's just leaving Valeria to fend for herself at this point? While he goes to Florida? Yeah. Yes. She's not going to Florida with him.
So I'm curious to see what happens with this attorney then. Is he not scared? Like, oh crap, they're going to figure it out because now my daughter's getting an attorney and...
I mean, probably, but he's already making his way to Florida, which is very close to you. Florida is very close to bye-bye. You could leave the country. Yeah, for sure. So on February 14th, detectives speak to an unnamed source who knows Keith and Valeria. And this source tells police that Keith had asked his brother, Vic Smith. So Vic is Keith's brother. He asked his brother, Vic Smith, if he'd help Keith kill Jacqueline.
Okay. The source advised that the information was then given to Mr. Donald Morgan, who is a close friend of Keith Smith. So then they tell another friend, Donald Morgan, that they're going to kill his wife. Investigation revealed that Keith Smith had a brother named Vic Smith and a close friend named Donald Morgan. The next day, the detectives now interview Donald Morgan, who tells police, yeah, okay, Vic Smith told me that he was approached by Keith to try to get rid of Jacqueline. He interpreted that get rid meant kill her.
Detectives showed Morgan a photo of Vic Smith and he says, yeah, that's Keith's brother, Vic Smith, who told me this. All right. This basically means police confirmed that at some point, Keith had been trying to plot to have his wife killed. And then later she turns up dead and he says it's panhandling. So they're just like further cementing some evidence here. On February 17th, Keith switched cell phone carriers from Verizon to Metro PCS.
On February 18th, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for a package that had been sent from Keith to Valeria. They intercepted it. The police had previously discovered that Keith was sending her a cell phone so that she could talk freely without the wiretap. The police intercepted this phone from the mail. Oh, it's over. They...
Yeah, they're in trouble. Yeah. Police get the wiretap to apply to Keith's new phone that he got for Metro PCS. So they're still on top of it. They're like, nope, you're not going to have any conversation we don't hear. On February 19th, detectives find Vic Smith, who is Keith's brother, and
And they ask him to talk to them at police headquarters. He agrees. He says that Keith had told him that Jacqueline was thinking of divorcing Keith. So now they've just found a motive. Jacqueline was threatening divorce from Keith. And now Keith wants her dead and wants her money. After Vic left police headquarters, the wiretap got him calling his brother Keith.
Vic asks Keith if he got his text and Keith says no. And Vic tells Keith about the questions the police had just been asking him. And Vic warns Keith that he didn't want to talk on the phone because, you know, everything's got ears now. And he says, pay attention to your phone, man.
The police also get a wiretap for an additional phone line for Valeria. So now she has a new phone again. It's crazy you can just tap in like that. I know. That's so nuts. On February 27th, 2019, police serve Vic Smith with a grand jury subpoena, apparently for him to testify.
Before the grand jury on March 1st, which means they are going to charge him. They're not charge Vic, but they're going to charge Keith. Yes. Because Vic has now just been asked to testify. Vic calls Keith and tells him about the grand jury subpoena. He warns Keith that, hey, they're going to issue an arrest warrant. You're going to be arrested if the grand jury finds enough evidence, which is what I'm going to testify for.
The wiretap also intercepts two calls Keith makes trying to book a one-way ticket to Cuba and then a one-way ticket to Canada. He was unsuccessful because he doesn't have a passport.
Keith also asks one of the reservation clerks whether he can fly to the Virgin Islands without a passport, just a driver's license. The reservation clerk says, yeah, you can do that. Keith tries to book a flight to the Virgin Islands, but the worker tells him to call an 800 number so he isn't able to do it on that specific call. As quoted in the Baltimore Sun, Keith says in calls with a travel agent about Cuba, oh, I didn't know you need a passport. Do you need a passport to get to Canada? The guy's like, yeah.
Yes, sir. He goes, oh, I didn't know that. Do you need a passport to get to the Virgin Islands? While he was on the phone, Keith does a computer search for whether a passport is needed to fly to Jamaica and whether you can travel to Mexico without going through an official boarding crossing.
I'm just telling you all of these separate searches and details because it's apparent that he's trying to flee the country. Which is pretty crazy because if he had a passport at this point, he would be gone. Yeah. Oh, he definitely would be gone. 100%. On February 28th, Keith also makes a call about getting a cash advance on his American Express card, but it's denied because of the type of card he has. So not only is he trying to flee, he's trying to get a lot of money. Yep. On March 3rd, 2019, Keith and Valeria Smith are arrested in Texas. Okay.
approximately 1700 miles from maryland and only 20 minutes from the mexico border no way apparently they claimed they were just on vacation the police had sent out national notifications that keith was planning to flee so that the other states could keep a watch out for them and it worked that's crazy it's not clear how long the two were in texas prior to their arrest
They must have been in a car and they were apparently arrested at a gas station. The Texas Rangers made the arrest. I wonder if they were headed to the border. Oh, I mean, I would assume so, right? A hundred percent. At some point after the arrest, Valeria admitted that the panhandler story was completely false and that she witnessed her own father stab his wife, Jacqueline Valeria.
The statement attached to the arrest warrant says that at the time of the warrant, Keith Smith and Valeria were 20 minutes from the Mexico border based on the results of this investigation. And Mr. Smith's attempt to flee the country. The investigation has failed to provide suspects other than Mr. And Miss Smith. So they're basically just saying we have our killer. Like we have the people who were involved on March 3rd, 2019. Keith Tyrone Smith was booked. His address was listed as Winter Haven, Florida.
Keith is listed as 5'8", 182 pounds. Bail was set at no bond. Keith was charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder with Valeria Smith, assault, and dangerous weapon charges. It listed the location of the murders as 1800 Orleans Street, Baltimore, which is the hospital where Jacqueline died.
The next day, Keith and Valeria were arraigned on March 4th in Cameron County, Texas. They waived extradition and will be transported back to Maryland. And at this point, Jacqueline's brother, Marcel, comes forward and says that he knew from the start that the panhandler story was a lie. He says he's not shocked. He's not surprised. He said he didn't know his brother-in-law too well, but he knew that his sister loved him.
He commended the efforts of the police department and the detectives. As quoted in Heavy.com, Marcel said the family had suspected Keith from the beginning. All the questioning had been specific to Keith. That kind of sums it up right there. It never made sense. I told detectives from the very beginning who the suspects were. The station also interviewed...
jacqueline's mother anna who said the whole panhandler story sounded phony her brother also said that music will never be the same for him because he and jacqueline liked listening to music together and now he doesn't like music after being caught and arrested in texas the two were extradited to maryland to face murder and other charges
Police transported Keith and Valeria by plane and they arrived at the Baltimore airport shortly after midnight on March 21st, 2019. They were taken straight to the central booking intake facility in Baltimore. A police representative was quoted in Newsweek.com as saying, "...we developed evidence that Mr. Smith was leaving Maryland so we made the appropriate national notifications and Texas State Police arrested him that morning."
So after Keith and Valeria's arrest, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh took great issue with the fact that they had gone on TV multiple times and falsely blamed the homeless panhandlers in Maryland. According to investigationdiscovery.com, she said she was disappointed that the two alleged suspects attempted to take advantage of negative perceptions of their city.
And I have to agree with this. Like, I need to say something here that you, again, are picking the people that are already down. It goes back to sex workers constantly being the targets and their cases not being taken seriously. Like, it's so easy to point the finger. And then you went on this rampage about trying to get homelessness banned in Maryland. And that was, it was all a lie. I'm trying to figure out why the daughter lied. Right? Yeah.
I don't understand why you would lie watching your dad kill someone. Yeah. That's insane. So in September, Valeria pleads guilty to accessory after the fact as part of a cooperation agreement with the state. She is going to testify against her father at his murder trial, but this murder trial won't begin for another two years. December 1st, 2021 because of COVID. Okay. So at trial, one of the devastating parts of trial was that Valeria testified that Jacqueline was asleep in the front seat.
when Keith pulled over and began stabbing her. Valeria said she was high at the time and so she was just kind of surprised her dad did it and then she just listened to her dad. He told her what story to say and she said it. The jury deliberated for about five hours total over the course of two days before convicting Keith on December 9th, 2021 of first degree murder and using a deadly weapon.
In convicting him of first-degree murder, the jury had to find that Keith acted with premeditation. Keith was then 55. Because of COVID, Keith was watching the guilty verdict through Zoom, basically. Oh, okay.
On December 14th, 2021, Valeria, now 31 years old, was sentenced to five years in prison. She had already served almost three years and was hoping the judge would just release her, but that was not the case. Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence for Keith, which in Maryland is life in prison. On February 28th, Keith was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, plus three years to be served concurrently for the use of a deadly weapon.
Keith was sentenced by Baltimore Circuit Judge Jennifer Shifer, who noted the victim had no way of knowing her husband would stab her over and over again. The victim was the definition of defenseless and vulnerable. She was asleep.
He blamed vulnerable people, i.e. how he went on national television and blamed panhandlers. So sad. As reported by WBALTV.com, family members said Jacqueline loved her husband and wanted their marriage to work. They said she gave her all to everything she did, and this is how it turned out. And that is the story of Jacqueline Smith. That's so mind-boggling to me that...
because she was thinking about a divorce he killed her well he wanted the insurance money too yeah do you think it was more money or more divorce i think it was both i think he knew that he had the money and then the second she said he wanted a divorce he said okay i know what i gotta do that's so messed up i just think so messed up the whole case is so confusing it it feels good to know that the the right people went to prison for this case i mean correct i feel like very rarely do we we have a hundred percent that confirmation in these cases but we do in this case
But I think it's so hard. You just wanted to believe them so much in their interview. They did seem so shattered. And then just the way it all went about and the lies. And it was weird. It was definitely strange. She was probably shattered because she was having some sort of traumatic experience watching everything. Right. He obviously wanted to kill her. So he, like you said, wasn't really reacting that much. Again, Valeria seems like the odd person.
Yeah, I don't. I don't know. Maybe they had a really close relationship. I don't know. I don't know what I think about that whole part. That part is a little off to me. I think very rarely will you see a husband kill a wife in front of an adult child and the adult child just say, yeah, okay, I'll go along with it. Yeah, just let me know what you want me to say. Yeah, it's so weird. She wouldn't have gotten prison time.
All right, you guys, that is our case for today. We will see you guys next week with another episode and a Patreon bonus episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.