Aberdeen Woman Fatally Stabbed Was Engineer At APG: Report

ABERDEEN, MD — Police said an Aberdeen woman was killed in Baltimore over the weekend. She was fatally stabbed after trying to help a panhandler who had been holding what looked like a baby and a sign that said: "Please help me feed my baby."

Jacquelyn Smith, 54, offered money to the panhandler and was stabbed after she rolled down her window, according to police. Officials said a man approached the vehicle appearing to thank Smith and instead reached inside and tried to grab her wallet. They struggled, and the man stabbed Smith in the torso with a knife, police allege.

Smith lived nearly 30 miles away, in the 4900 block of Villa Point Drive in Aberdeen, the Baltimore Police Department reported.

Jacquelyn Smith was known as someone who was "hard working," "caring," "loving" and had a "heart of gold," friends told WJZ.

At the time of the stabbing — around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1 — police she said was a passenger in the car in the 1000 block of Valley Street leaving a family gathering.

Smith, an engineer at Aberdeen Proving Ground, had been with her husband celebrating his daughter's birthday, according to The Baltimore Sun; the daughter, who had just turned 28 years old, lived on Valley Street, the newspaper reported.

After being stabbed, Smith was taken to an area hospital, where her husband told reporters she died two hours later. The victim's husband — Keith Smith — said his wife "felt moved" to give to the woman who appeared to be in need.

Her husband had been in the car, and after the man and woman snatched his wife's necklace and purse, the woman said, "God bless you," and they ran, he told Fox 45; he chased after them but heard his wife screaming for him to return to the car. It was when he returned that he discovered in addition to being robbed, she had been stabbed.

Two hours later, she died at the hospital, her husband told Fox 45.

"I'm from Baltimore. The last thing I thought was that they want to take my wife's life," he told the news station. "Now I got to live with that. I got to live with that every day."

Officers from the Eastern District were notified by a local hospital about a walk-in stabbing victim around 12:34 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1, police said.

Interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle joined officers in canvassing East Chase Street at Valley Street on Monday afternoon near where the stabbing occurred.

Tuggle reportedly described the slaying as a "heinous murder."

Investigators are still working to identify those involved and released these descriptions:

• Accused of stabbing Smith with a knife is a black man with a goatee who was in his 30s and stands about 6-feet tall.
• The woman with the sign appeared to be about 20 years old and 5-feet-4-inches tall. She was wearing a brown jacket, police said.

Have a tip? Here is how to submit the information:

• Call Baltimore Police detectives at 410-396-2100 or 410-396-2221.
• Text tips to the Baltimore Police Department at 443-902-4824.
• Call the Metro Crime Stoppers tip line at 1-866-7LOCKUP; callers are anonymous.
• Download the Baltimore Police app to submit a tip online.

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• Harford Woman Killed Giving Money To Woman With 'Baby'
• Panhandling Under Scrutiny After Baltimore Homicide
• Jacquelyn Smith To Be Memorialized In Churchville

Photo of Jacquelyn Smith courtesy of the Baltimore Police Department.