Texas State Police on Sunday arrested the husband and stepdaughter of Jacquelyn Smith, a Baltimore woman who was killed in December. At the time of her death, her husband, Keith Smith, said she had been stabbed by a panhandler who asked her for money while they were driving.
Keith Smith, 52, and Valeria Smith, 28, were arrested in Harlingen, near the Mexican border, acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said. They were attempting to flee the country, hours after warrants charging the pair with first-degree murder were issued. "The information and evidence points it wasn't a panhandler," Harrison said. "People take advantage of Baltimore. We want to make sure the truth comes out and justice is done."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jacquelyn Smith's brother, Marcel Trisvan, and other relatives were skeptical of this story, Trisvan told The Baltimore Sun. "All the questioning has been specific to Keith," he said. "That kind of sums it right there. It never made sense. I told [detectives] from the very beginning there are no suspects out there."
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Mall World: why are people dreaming about a shopping centre?Under The Radar Thousands of strangers are dreaming about the same thing and no one sure why
-
Why scientists are attempting nuclear fusionThe Explainer Harnessing the reaction that powers the stars could offer a potentially unlimited source of carbon-free energy, and the race is hotting up
-
The countries around the world without jury trialsThe Explainer Legal systems in much of continental Europe and Asia do not rely on randomly selected members of the public
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
