Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘Deadly Intersection’ of NBC’s ‘Dateline,’ the primary focus is on the tragic killing of a 54-year-old engineer and mother of two named Jacquelyn Smith in Maryland in late 2018. What was first thought to be a robbery gone wrong turned out to be a deadly familial betrayal, with the investigators apprehending the perpetrator/s a few months later. The documentary features exclusive and insightful interviews with Jacquelyn’s loved ones and the officials who helped solve the case.
Jacquelyn Smith Was With Her Family When She Was Attacked
Born on July 4, 1964, to Anna Trisvane, Jacquelyn Smith grew up in Rhode Island with her siblings, including brother Marcel Trisvan and sister Yvonne Saab. A graduate of Providence’s Classical High School, Jacquelyn was known for her compassionate and kind nature. For her higher studies, she majored in engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where she crossed paths with her first husband. Together, the couple shared two sons — Kendall and David. Since her husband was in the army, the family frequently moved to different places, including Germany. Later, their marriage fell apart, and Jacquelyn moved to Maryland with her two sons. Besides working as an engineer, she also loved writing poetry in her free time.
In 2013, the engineer crossed paths with Keith Smith at a mutual friend’s birthday party. The two fell in love, and Keith proposed to her in less than three months, during the holidays. The following year, they made their relationship official in the eyes of the law by tying the knot surrounded by their loved ones, including Jacquelyn’s sons and Keith’s daughter, Valeria Smith. In the following years, the couple joined the church and purchased multiple cars and a yacht, leading a luxurious lifestyle. The resident of Aberdeen, Jacquelyn was employed at Aberdeen Proving Ground’s Edgewood campus and Huntington Ingalls Industries. As per reports, she was a contractor for the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense.
Around 12:30 am on December 1, 2018, the police received a harrowing 911 call from Keith Smith, who told them that his 54-year-old wife had been stabbed at North Valley and East Chase streets by panhandlers, after they went dancing at American Legion Post 19 on Madison Avenue, accompanied by Valeria. After the paramedics arrived, Jacquelyn was rushed to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was pronounced dead of multiple stab wounds in her chest. Immediately, the authorities launched a homicide investigation to get to the bottom of the case and catch the perpetrator.
Jacquelyn Smith’s Killer Staged the Scene as a Botched Robbery by Panhandlers
The investigators spoke with Jacquelyn Smith’s husband of four years, Keith Smith, who was driving in the 1000 block of Valley Street at the time of her demise. He told them that after noticing a woman on the street with a baby in her arms and holding a cardboard sign that read “Please help me feed my baby,” Jacquelyn allegedly wanted to donate some money to the woman. He told WMAR-2 News, “So at the stop sign, she waved her over to come on over to the car, and out of nowhere some guy came over while walking with her. I hit my window and Jacquelyn went to hand the money out and the guy leaned over and said can I thank your wife? I said you can thank my wife and, within that split second, this guy commits to stabbing my wife.”
He claimed that the man “snatched her necklace, and before I knew it, the girl snatched the little pocketbook from the seat and they both ran. I jumped out the car to run, but I heard my wife screaming, so I came back to the car.” From the get-go, Jacquelyn’s brother, Marcel Trisvan, and her mother, Anna Trisvane, doubted Ketih’s account of what happened to the 54-year-old engineer. Keith also gave an emotional plea after the tragedy: “The last thing I thought they were going to take my wife’s life, and so now I got to live with that, I got to live with that every day.” He also reportedly advocated for making panhandling a crime. As the detectives dug deeper into Keith and Valeria Smith, they found inconsistencies in Keith’s story after reviewing surveillance footage of the roads where he claimed she was stabbed and their cell phone data.
The authorities became more suspicious when the medical examiner concluded that Jacquelyn’s left hand contained an overwhelming amount of Keith’s DNA. As part of the investigation, they also focused on her marriage to Keith. The detectives learned that Valeria didn’t see eye to eye with Jacquelyn, and that she was reportedly escorted from the wedding reception after an argument. It got worse after the wedding as Valeria was forced to find a place to live after the engineer reportedly convinced Keith to sell his house. On February 14, 2019, a major break in the case came when an anonymous tipster informed the police that Jacquelyn had been considering divorcing Keith, whose brother, Vick Smith, was aware of it. Furthermore, Keith was the sole beneficiary of Jacquelyn’s $804,000 life insurance policy.
Related
Someone Close to the Killer Testified Against Him in Court
Shortly after the investigators questioned both Keith and Valeria Smith about the suspicious information, the two fled to Texas and made arrangements to cross the US-Mexico border. Finally, on March 3, 2019, the father-daughter duo was arrested in Harlingen, Texas, before they could leave the country. While Keith was charged with first-degree murder, Valeria was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Both of them were held at the Cameron County, Texas, jail without bond.
Not long after the arrest, Valeria turned on her father and agreed to testify against him in court in exchange for lesser charges. Thus, she pleaded guilty to covering up the crime by disposing of Jacquelyn’s pocketbook and the murder weapon. Valeria was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her involvement in the gruesome crime. On December 9, 2021, Keith Smith was found guilty of killing his wife. A few months later, on February 28, 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder conviction and an additional three years for the use of a deadly weapon.
You must be logged in to post a comment.