Jacquelyn Smith's Husband Told Mayor Pugh Her Family Didn't Believe Panhandler Story
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Just days after his wife Jacquelyn's killing- Keith Smith met personally with Mayor Pugh.
"He asked if he could stop by, he actually stopped by our office and explained that he had this wonderful relationship with this woman and just was really, could not believe that this had happened," Mayor Pugh said.
He told the mayor that some of Jacquelyn's family members did not believe his story- that the panhandler reached into her window and stabbed her to death in East Baltimore.
"His wife had a heart for people and he even said that the family in some ways blamed him because he had rolled the window down. And you know, it was just hard listening to him because all I could think about was this woman had been stabbed so many times," Pugh said. "But anyway, yesterday, hearing that something like this happened, that this person had actually used our city to do this kind of violence, in a city that's already struggling with its own issues,"
Police said the truth was that Smith and his daughter Valeria staged the killing- and made up the panhandler story.
Monday, they were in a courtroom in Texas where a judge ordered the Smiths be brought back to Baltimore to face charges.
The victim's family said they always believed the husband did it, but did not think the charges would come so fast.
Valeria kept an active presence on social media and mentioned meeting with the mayor after the murder--as well as saying in a video posted three days after the killing what a "hard time" it had recently been for her family.
The sheriff in Cameron County, Texas, said that Baltimore Police have until March 15 to pick up the Smith's and bring them back to Maryland, but they will likely request a five-day extension.
Keith Smith had a criminal background that included a string of bank robberies 20 years ago. He was arrested after he smashed into a police cruiser during a chase in west Baltimore in 2000. He and Jacquelyn were married in 2014.
Jacquelyn's brother Marcel Trisvane said that his sister had a rocky relationship with Valeria and questioned whether that was partly the motive for the killing.
Jacquelyn's mother, Anna Trisvane, said the motive may have been money.
"She had everything and he had nothing," Anna Trisvance said.
WJZ's Mike Hellgren spoke to people on Chase Street where the alleged killing happened.
They said that Keith Smith's story that a panhandler committed the brutal killing demonized the community.
Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook
