Naman Shrestha
When the police received a call from the New Falls Motel in Pennsylvania’s Falls Township in 2021, they visited the motel to find 39-year-old Jamie Beighley dead on the floor of a room. It didn’t take long for the police to take the perpetrator into custody as it was someone close to her and present in the motel when the authorities arrived. The entire case is covered in detail, including the investigation that followed, in the episode titled ‘Tragedy in the Township’ of A&E’s ‘Murder at the Motel.’
Jamie Beighley Died at a Falls Township Motel
Born on January 19, 1982, Jamie Leigh Beighley entered Shirley and Ron Beighley’s lives as a little bundle of joy. Growing up in a supposedly loving home, she was accompanied by her siblings — a brother named Ron Beighley and a sister named Jackie Stephens. Known for her generosity and kindness towards strangers and loved ones alike, Jamie was the life of the party, thanks to her contagious laughter, questionable dance moves, and other silly ways.
Apart from being a daughter, Jamie was also a caregiver, a friend, an aunt, a partner, and a mother of three children. At the time of her demise, she had been in a relationship for 18 years with a guy named Evan Marquis Smith. In her downtime, she used to read and ride quad bikes during family vacations. Everything appeared to be going great in Jamie until it turned out to be just a facade. On the fateful night of July 1, 2021, the police received a call from the New Falls Motel at 201 Lincoln Highway in Falls Township about a dead woman.
When the authorities arrived at the scene of the crime, they identified the victim as Jamie Beighley, who was on the floor without a pulse and with blood on her head, face, and hands. Still hopeful, the police sent her to the Jefferson Bucks Hospital to treat her severe injuries. Unfortunately, she never regained consciousness and succumbed to her injuries three days later, on July 4 at 1:51 pm, in her hospital bed. Autopsy reports suggested that she suffered head trauma and a possible brain bleed, but the primary cause of her demise was deemed to be strangulation.
Jealousy of a Loved One Became the Death of Jamie Beighley
The authorities were called to the crime scene by Evan Smith, who was found performing CPR on Jamie Beighley in a desperate attempt to save her. On the call, he frantically asked to send an ambulance to the New Falls Motel and admitted that he and Jamie had been drinking, doing drugs like methamphetamine, and arguing before the latter’s death. Agitatedly pacing around the motel room, Evan made the resuscitation of Jamie all the more difficult as the officials were waiting for the ambulance to arrive. When asked to cooperate, he fled the motel in his parked car with the headlights off and at a high speed.
As he peeled out of the parking lot, he nearly crashed into the ambulance, arriving to take Jamie to the hospital. One of the officers present at the scene began chasing Evan but decided to take the pedal off of the pursuit for public safety. Soon, the police managed to get a hold of Evan, who sat in his car right outside Jamie’s house in Morrisville and charged him with aggravated assault, strangulation, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, and fleeing and eluding. He was held at the Bucks County Correctional Facility while he awaited trial. During his time in prison, he reportedly talked openly about the killing with an inmate he was incarcerated with.
According to his fellow inmate, Evan strangled Jamie at the motel and even had scars on his neck and chest, inflicted by her as she was fighting for her life. Upon interviewing the victim’s close ones, the investigators learned that Evan and Jamie’s relationship was very unstable. Their son, Evan Smith Jr., told them about an argument between his parents that resulted in Jamie being bruised and battered. After the incident, Jamie and Evan separated, but they still remained in touch. When the former allegedly began seeing other men, Evan did not take it well and even threatened to kill her over text messages a couple of days before her death.
Evan Marquis Smith is Incarcerated at a Pennsylvania Prison
More than one year after Jamie Beighley’s murder, Evan Marquis Smith stood on a three-day waiver trial in September 2022. By the end of it, he was found guilty of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, strangulation, fleeing and eluding, and driving without headlights to avoid detection. During the trial, the prosecutors argued that Evan’s motive behind murdering his long-term partner was jealousy, as he did not like the fact that she wanted their relationship to end after years of abuse.
A few months later, in January 2023, he was sentenced to 23 ½ to 47 years in prison for his crimes related to Jamie’s murder case. During the sentencing, the victim’s family members and friends demanded that Evan be given a harsh and maximum sentence. They described him as a threat to society and his kids, as he was manipulative, abusive, and a monster. Apart from his sentence, the killer was also ordered to have no contact with the Beighley family whatsoever. Currently, he is serving his sentence behind bars in a Pennsylvania prison.
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