U.S. | DOJ seeks death penalty for man accused of killing S.C. paramedic

Federal prosecutors will seek capital punishment for the kidnapping, carjacking and killing of Florence County Paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore

FLORENCE, S.C. — Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a South Carolina man charged in the 2024 kidnapping, carjacking and killing of a Florence County paramedic, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina filed a notice of intent to seek capital punishment against Jaremy Alexander Smith, 35, of Marion. A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment on Feb. 24.

Smith is charged with kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death, using a firearm during a crime of violence in a manner constituting murder, possession of stolen firearms and being a felon in possession of firearms.

Smith was indicted in January on 17 federal charges, including murder, in connection with the death of Florence County Paramedic Phonesia Machado-Fore, WPDE reported.

He is already serving a life sentence for the 2024 killing of a New Mexico State Police trooper.

Prosecutors allege that on March 13, 2024, Smith kidnapped Phonesia Machado-Fore from her Marion home and forced her to drive to a remote area where he shot and killed her while she was bound and blindfolded.

Authorities say he then returned to her home, stole several firearms and later drove her vehicle to New Mexico, where he fatally shot Trooper Hare on March 15, 2024.

Source: ems1.com, Bill Carey, March 3, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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