Lapel videos, reports detail shooting and manhunt for alleged State Police killer

Aug. 18—Hey bud.

That's how New Mexico State Police officer Justin Hare greeted Jaremy Smith when he found the South Carolina man stranded with a flat tire on the side of Interstate 40 in the early hours of March 15.

Twenty seconds later, as Hare told Smith he would get him a ride to town, Smith shot the officer in mid-sentence. The 33-year-old went to the driver's side and opened the door, waiting until an approaching semi passed to shoot Hare twice more.

An hour later, State Police found Hare still alive but fatally injured on the side of the I-40 frontage road near Tucumcari, with his SUV crashed into a tree miles away.

Recently released video, reports and court records detail the slaying of Hare and the manhunt that led to the capture of Smith, who authorities say left a trail of violence that stretched back to South Carolina.

The FBI has charged Smith with carjacking resulting in death and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence in the death of Hare, who was 35. The charge carries the possibility of a death penalty, but on Thursday, the office of U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alexander M.M. Uballez filed notice in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque that federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against Smith.

The maximum penalty he would face, if convicted, is life in prison.

A jury trial on the charges was set to begin Sept. 6 in Albuquerque, but federal prosecutors asked on Thursday for the case to be designated as complex, which would likely postpone the trial date.

"The investigation so far has generated more than 20,000 pages of discovery, which includes videos, phone records, and photographs," stated a motion filed by Uballez's office. Given the nature of the crimes, the motion stated, "hundreds of federal and state law enforcement officers are involved in this investigation."

"Suffice it to say, this investigation is large and complex, involving federal and state law enforcement entities in both New Mexico, South Carolina, and various states in between," the motion states.

The investigation "remains very much ongoing, including...extensive forensic testing of evidence collected in South Carolina and New Mexico." the motion states.

In South Carolina, Smith has been charged with burglary, kidnapping, carjacking, murder and lesser charges in the death of Phonesia Machado-Fore, 52.

Authorities say Smith took Machado-Fore's BMW on a cross-country road trip to see a former girlfriend in Albuquerque — ending with a flat tire and the death of Hare.

The following is compiled from recently unsealed federal court records, lapel and dash camera video and police reports obtained by the Journal through an Inspection of Public Records Act request:

Around 5 a.m. a truck driver reported seeing a man waving his hands frantically near a BMW along I-40. Hare responded and found the BMW at milepost 318, west of Tucumcari.

Dash camera video shows Smith getting out of the BMW and approaching Hare's passenger side, his face hidden under a hooded jacket. The men greet each other.

"I got a flat tire, you can help me?" Smith asks in a heavy drawl, adding that he needs a ride into town for a tire. Hare tells him, "I can get you back to town real quick, but nobody's open tonight."

Smith tells him, "That's fine, I can get to town. I'll just come back and get the car." Hare tells him to go to the front of his SUV "real quick."

"I'll meet you there real quick. I'll get —" Hare says, a gunshot cutting him off.

Smith shoots Hare again once he reaches the driver's side and pushes him into the passenger's seat, driving off in Hare's SUV with the lights still flashing, according to lapel video. Dispatchers can be heard calling for Hare over his radio and then his phone begins to ring to the tune of "Knockin' Boots" by Luke Bryan.

The video shows Smith pull Hare from the SUV and leave him on the side of the frontage road, taking one last look at the officer while standing over him. Dash camera video shows Smith continues driving Hare's SUV down frontage roads — at one point getting out and shooting out the flashing police lights.

State Police vehicles can be seen passing Smith on I-40 going the opposite direction and one of them spotlights the SUV before Smith loses control and crashes into a tree at 55 mph. Officers find the SUV abandoned and then backtrack, discovering Hare on the side of the road near a cattle guard.

An officer kneels beside him, saying, "Hey brother. Hare? Hare?" He calls for an ambulance, telling dispatch that Hare has been shot in the head and neck. Another officer shows up and kneels beside Hare, "Hare we're here, bro. Keep (expletive) fighting brother. You're going to be good."

Hare died at a hospital.

Officers used police dogs to follow Smith's tracks but lost them in the area, finding a torch-style lighter, taser and Machado-Fore's paramedic jacket strewn about. But calls of a suspicious man in the area began to come in.

At 1 p.m. a couple in Cuervo, reported a man fitting Smith's description running through their pasture before they heard gunshots. Another man then reported a burglary at the house he was watching.

The owner said a pair of steel-toed boots, 9mm ammunition and $100 in change was stolen. He told police the burglar also cooked some bacon, ate two cans of tuna and cleaned out the animal crackers before stealing his truck.

State Police contacted Smith's former girlfriend in Albuquerque, and she told them she hadn't seen him. She said they last spoke on March 13, when Smith called and told her he loved her.

The woman told police Smith called again at 3 a.m. on March 15, hours before Hare was killed, but she didn't answer. Police spoke with the woman's parents, and they said Smith often said he was coming back to Albuquerque to hurt their daughter.

With Smith still on the loose, the family told police they were going to stay in Santa Fe until he was captured.

On March 17, an employee at a West Side gas station called 911 to report Smith came in minutes earlier.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office flooded the neighborhood near Coors and Blake and found Smith, shooting and injuring him during a foot chase through multiple backyards. They discovered Smith got there using the truck stolen during the burglary in Cuervo.

Smith was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds.

At the hospital, staff told police they were not comfortable being alone with the injured Smith, who had said "he would kill everyone in the hospital if he could get his hands on a gun."

Smith watched a news story on Hare's death — which mentioned his daughters left behind — as officers stood around the room. Smith told them, "If I was a cop killer or anything, don't you think yesterday I would have shot at (deputies) when they were shooting at me?"

Lapel video showed Smith told the officers, "I didn't shoot that officer," and he said there was another person with him, out of sight, "peeing in the bushes."

"You know we have cameras all around our police vehicle, right?" the officer tells him in lapel camera. Smith replied, "Yeah."

Officers asked Smith how he knew Machado-Fore, back in South Carolina, and he said they were neighbors in Marion County. He told them a man named Josh picked him up in Machado-Fore's BMW to drive to California.

Smith told officers he agreed so he could see his girlfriend in Albuquerque, that she was the only thing keeping him on the right path since he was released from prison in December 2023. Smith told police "he had everything he needed at home and no need to rob anyone."

Recently unsealed court records allege Smith abducted Machado-Fore on March 13, used zip ties and plastic wrap to bind her and shot her in the head. Machado-Fore's roommate, who was having a sexual relationship with Smith, told police her 9mm gun was missing after Machado-Fore disappeared.

The handgun, believed to have been used to kill Machado-Fore and Hare, was thrown over a wall by Smith before he was shot and captured in Albuquerque.

At the hospital, Smith maintained his innocence.

One officer told Smith, in lapel video, "Whatever you want to go with brother, you know what I mean? You're the one that has to see God in the end anyways, it's not me.

"In the end, stuff like that will just eat you from the inside out, so however you want to live — keep lying to yourself and everybody."