Marion man pleads guilty to Florence paramedic’s killing
A Marion, South Carolina, man serving a life sentence for killing a New Mexico State Police officer has pleaded guilty to federal charges in the 2024 kidnapping, carjacking and murder of a Florence County emergency medical services worker, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Jaremy Smith faces a mandatory penalty of life in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, restitution and a term of supervision, according to the DOJ.
Smith, 35, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 28 on charges in the death of Phonesia Machado-Fore, a Florence County EMS worker. Documents show Smith shot her “execution-style” during a March 2024 crime spree, according to the DOJ.
On March 14, 2024, Marion County deputies were sent to Machado-Fore’s Wildwood Loop home for a missing person’s report after her husband told authorities he had not seen her for two days.
Machado-Fore’s roommate said a white BMW was in the driveway at 6:30 a.m. the morning before. By noon, the car was half a mile away. By 2 p.m., it was at a Jones Drive home in Nichols, the same place Machado-Fore’s body was discovered on March 15.
South Carolina authorities and the FBI that same day learned Machado-Fore’s vehicle was involved in the deadly roadside ambush that Smith orchestrated on Interstate 40 in New Mexico, an encounter that claimed New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare’s life.
Smith pleaded guilty to the charges in Hare’s death in January 2025 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole three months later. In Machado-Fore’s killing, federal prosecutors in February were seeking the death penalty.
Smith will be sentenced at a later date by U.S. District Judge Joseph Dawson III.
