An FBI search warrant request reveals disturbing details about the murder of a South Carolina paramedic last March by a man who drove across the country in her car and then killed a New Mexico State trooper who stopped to help him with a flat tire.
Jaremy Smith pleaded guilty in federal court last month to the March 15 murder of Trooper Justin Hare along with four other felonies, as CrimeOnline reported. A sentencing date has not been set, but his plea deal requires that he serve life in prison without parole.
Smith was captured two days after that murder in Albuquerque after he fled in Hare’s patrol vehicle. But two days before the murder, Smith allegedly killed Florence County paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore after kidnapping her from her Marion County home. He has been charged with 17 state charges in that case.
An FBI agent investigating the South Carolina crimes filed a search warrant request in New Mexico on January 29 and provided previously unreleased details about Machado-Fore’s murder, according to WBTW, which obtained a copy of the request.
The document requests access to DNA swabs and fingerprints and suggests federal agents are considering carjacking and kidnapping charges in South Carolina.
According to the document, a missing person report was filed for Machado-Fore on March 14, and investigators tracking her BMW’s GPS found that it was at an abandoned home in Nichols, South Carolina, at about 2 p.m. the day before — the same place where Machado-Fore’s body was found on March 15, which was the same day South Carolina authorities learned the vehicle had been involved in Hare’s death in New Mexico.
The BMW was at the Nichols location for three minutes, the search warrant request says.
“Agents believe Smith abducted and restrained (Machado-Fore) near her residence at 10 a.m., transported her alive in the BMW to the body location, had her walk into the woods, then shot her once in the back of the head execution-style,” the search warrant says.
The victim was wearing bed clothing and slippers and was lying face down, with facial injuries and a dog shock collar around her neck. Her face was wrapped in “blood-soaked bandanas,” and she had plastic tape around her mouth and chin. Cut plastic zip ties were on the ground by her body.
According to the search warrant, an unnamed associate of Smith’s told investigators that Smith approached him that day while driving a white BMW. He asked if the associate wanted a ride to Atlanta, and before leaving town, drove to a spot near Machado-Fore’s home and walked the rest of the way. The two took six guns from inside her home and later sold them. Afterward, Smith conducted an armed robbery in Effingham.
“After the armed robbery, the (unnamed associate) rode in the BMW with Smith from South Carolina to Texas. Along the way, (unnamed associate) indicated Smith displayed a handgun, became disrespectful and threatened to kill him,” the search warrant says.
The associate got out of the car at a gas station in Texas and refused to get back in.
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[Featured image: Phonesia Machado-Fore/Marion County Sheriff’s Office; Jaremy Smith and Justin Hare/New Mexico State Police]
