Killer stabbed his sleeping wife - then blamed the homeless

The case of Jacquelyn Smith sparked fear over the "panhandlers" of Baltimore

- GAIL SHORTLAND

Wearing a white, strapless wedding dress, a traditional veil and clutching a bouquet of white and yellow flowers, Jacquelyn smiled happily for the camera.

Her new husband, Keith Smith, stood proudly next to her, coordinating with a yellow bow tie and matching waistcoat. Jacquelyn and Smith had married later in life but still made a picture-perfect bride and groom.

Four years later, in 2018, they were living in Aberdeen, in the US state of Maryland. Jacquelyn, 54, who had two grown-up sons from a previous relationship, was an electrical engineer at an army research facility. She was intelligent, generous and quick-witted.

Smith, then 52, had a grown-up daughter called Valeria and had worked as a driver.

On 1 December, Smith made a distraught 911 call at around midnight from his car, saying he was on his way to the hospital with Jacquelyn - who was bleeding. "You've got to help me," he cried. "They stabbed my wife!"

When he got to Johns Hopkins Hospital with Valeria at his side, doctors fought to save Jacquelyn. She had been stabbed five times in the chest and also had a knife wound to her lower right arm. Tragically, nothing could be done and she died from her injuries.

Distraught, Smith and his daughter described what happened. They said they had been out that night celebrating Valeria's 28th birthday at the American Legion Hall in Baltimore. Smith said he was driving them home when Jacquelyn had spotted a homeless woman begging, holding what she believed was a baby.

He said Jacquelyn, who was in the passenger seat, had asked him to pull up next to her, so she could give her a $10 note. Valeria was in the back seat. Smith and his daughter described how they'd stopped and Jacquelyn had wound down her window.