Court records detail accused cop killer's flight from South Carolina

Federal authorities say a man accused of killing an officer near Tucumcari began his crime spree days earlier — killing a woman in South Carolina, stealing guns from her home and taking a cross-country road trip with a friend in the woman’s vehicle.

Jaremy Smith, 33, already charged in the March 15 shooting death of officer Justin Hare, is also accused in the death of Phonesia Machado-Fore, 52, days earlier in Marion, South Carolina.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said Smith has been charged with kidnapping, murder and several other felonies in Machado-Fore’s death. Machado-Fore was a mother of two and a paramedic crew chief for Florence County Emergency Medical Services.

Authorities say Smith got a flat tire in Machado-Fore’s BMW outside Tucumcari and used a gun stolen from her roommate to shoot Hare and steal his police unit when the officer stopped to help a stranded Smith.

While much has been released about the killing of Hare, less is known about how he got Machado-Fore’s BMW, her roommate’s gun and how he crossed paths with Machado-Fore to begin with.

A recently unsealed search warrant affidavit filed in U.S. District Court of New Mexico fills in some of those blanks.

Authorities in South Carolina were alerted by Machado-Fore’s husband that she was missing on March 14, according to the affidavit. Machado-Fore’s roommate told authorities she last saw the BMW parked outside early on March 13.

Two days later, New Mexico State Police alerted South Carolina authorities that the BMW had been found after the shooting of Hare, with a manhunt underway for Smith.

Authorities then “intensified the search” for Machado-Fore and her roommate told them Smith had been at their home before the disappearance, according to the affidavit. The initial investigation revealed that Smith had been in a relationship with Machado-Fore’s roommate.

The FBI accessed the GPS tracking for the BMW and found Machado-Fore’s body at the second location it went to after leaving the home. Her body was found behind a home, with a dog collar around her neck, zip ties nearby and her face “partially wrapped in materials.”

“She had a single bullet entry wound to the rear of her head,” according to the affidavit.

Agents said they tracked down a friend of Smith’s, who told them Smith picked him up on March 13 and asked if he wanted a ride to Atlanta. The friend told agents Smith first took him to Machado-Fore’s home, where the pair stole six guns from a safe inside.

The friend told agents that Smith used Machado-Fore’s roommate’s truck to take the guns to a second place, where he sold them, according to the affidavit. Agents seized the six guns days later.

Agents said the friend told them the pair then drove from South Carolina toward New Mexico and GPS showed they traveled through Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana.

The friend said somewhere in Texas, Smith “became disrespectful and threatened to kill him.”

The friend told agents that at a gas station he refused to get back into the BMW and “stood behind the checkout counter with the clerk in fear of Smith coming into the store to harm him,” according to the affidavit.

Agents said the friend told them Smith left in the BMW before police arrived, headed toward New Mexico on a collision course with Hare.

Authorities believe Smith may have used a 9mm stolen from Machado-Fore’s roommate to kill Hare.

Two days later, Smith was found in a neighborhood on Albuquerque’s West Side, where a former girlfriend lived. Bernalillo County deputies chased him through backyards before shooting him multiple times. Smith has since been taken into federal custody, charged with Hare’s killing.

Federal authorities searched the BMW on May 8. Inside, they found a neon yellow hoodie, a white teddy bear and “glass with possible drug residue.”