Jaremy Smith pleads guilty to Florence County paramedic’s murder
A Marion, South Carolina, man already 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 EMS worker, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Jaremy Smith, 35, faces a mandatory penalty of life in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, restitution and a term of supervision, the DOJ said.
A federal grand jury indicted Smith on Jan. 28 of this year on several charges in the death of Phonesia Machado-Fore. Court documents show Smith shot the Florence County EMS worker “execution-style” during his March 2024 crime spree.
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 hadn’t seen her for two days.
Machado-Fore’s roommate said the white BMW was in their driveway at 6:30 a.m. the morning before. By noon, the car was half a mile away, and 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 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 before being sentenced to life in prison without parole three months later. Federal prosecutors in February were seeking the death penalty in Machado-Fore’s killing.
Smith will be sentenced at a later date by U.S. District Judge Joseph Dawson III.
