Left: Phonesia Machado-Fore (Marion County Sheriff’s Office). Center: Jaremy Smith (New Mexico State Police). Right: Officer Justin Hare (NMSP).
A man described as a “cold-blooded killer” from South Carolina who is accused of forcing a paramedic to wear a dog shock collar before walking her into the woods to gun her down “execution-style,” as well as the murder of a New Mexico police officer who he allegedly shot while on the run, has learned his fate for the cop slaying.
Jaremy Smith, 33, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday with no possibility for parole in his federal cop-killing case, according to court records.
He was handed down the punishment after entering a guilty plea in January to the murder of New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare, who had stopped to help Smith with a flat tire that he got while driving on Interstate 40 in March 2024. Smith had been driving the vehicle of South Carolina paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore, 54, who was reported as a missing person by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in the Palmetto State on March 14, 2024.
Smith, who is still facing charges in the Machado-Fore case, was accused of going on a cross-country crime rampage after her death, traveling from South Carolina to Texas and New Mexico, where he killed Hare.
Smith’s sentencing memorandum outlines the allegations against him, including how he allegedly murdered the officer and kidnapped Machado-Fore, who was found dead on March 15, 2024, after allegedly swiping some guns from her home. Smith is said to have taken Machado-Fore hostage in a BMW that she owned following the theft and drove her out to a wooded area about a half-mile away, before taking her life.
He later gunned down Hare after the cop stopped to help him with a flat tire.
