“THE GUN WENT OFF REPEATEDLY BY ACCIDENT DURING OUR STRUGGLE”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PROSECUTORS SAY JUSTIN SMITH SHOT HIS PREGNANT GIRLFRIEND ELEVEN TIMES IN THE HEAD INSIDE HIS CAR BEFORE FLEEING THE STATE… AND HE HAS NOW BEEN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE PLUS FORTY TO EIGHTY YEARS.
On March 30, 2021, a pregnant woman vanished after leaving a laundromat in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.
She had been at the location with her boyfriend.
Her body was later found in an abandoned lot in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors said she had been shot multiple times before her body was discarded.
Authorities identified the victim as 21-year-old Dianna Brice.
Brice was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
She was carrying her boyfriend’s child.
Her boyfriend was identified as then-23-year-old Justin Smith.
Brice was last seen crying in the back seat of a vehicle outside a laundromat situated on the 500 block of Church Lane.
Smith was with her in that vehicle.
Brice and Smith had been scheduled to attend a medical appointment together on that date.
When Brice disappeared, her mother reached out to Smith to find out where she was.
Smith told Brice’s mother that he had last seen the 21-year-old after letting her out of his vehicle following an argument in West Philadelphia.
Investigators later determined that Smith’s claim was completely false.
Detectives analyzed cell phone records and surveillance footage to determine the true movements of the pair.
That evidence tracked Brice and Smith traveling from Delaware County into Philadelphia.
The tracking continued toward a garage that Smith used in the Kensington neighbourhood.
Prosecutors stated that Smith shot Brice 11 times in the head at close range while she remained inside his vehicle.
He also shot her once in the right shoulder.
Evidence introduced during court proceedings revealed that an argument had taken place between the couple.
The dispute arose after Brice discovered she had tested positive for herpes.
Brice accused Smith of transmitting the infection to her.
Then, according to prosecutors, Smith went directly to the Kensington garage following the fatal shooting.
Smith contacted his friend, Tylydia Garnett, to assist him in disposing of Brice’s body.
Surveillance camera footage recorded Garnett purchasing a gasoline container before she returned to the Kensington garage.
Smith and Garnett placed Brice’s body inside trash bags.
They loaded her bagged body into Garnett’s vehicle.
Investigators subsequently discovered Brice’s blood inside the trunk of that vehicle.
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Brice’s body was transported to an abandoned lot situated on the 5800 block of Eastwick Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia.
Her body was discarded there.
And Smith and Garnett then traveled to the Cobbs Creek section of Philadelphia.
Prosecutors stated that Smith set his Ford Fusion on fire in Cobbs Creek to destroy evidence connected to the killing.
Investigators processed the burned vehicle and recovered a fired cartridge casing from the interior.
Forensic examination determined that the casing matched another fired cartridge casing recovered from Brice’s clothing.
On the very day Brice was killed, Smith and Garnett fled Pennsylvania and traveled together to Miami, Florida.
In April 2021, law enforcement officers arrested Garnett.
Garnett subsequently entered a guilty plea to charges of abuse of a corpse, arson and related offenses.
The court sentenced Garnett to serve 11½ to 23 months in custody, to be followed by a period of probation.
Smith evaded capture and remained a fugitive for nearly four years.
In March 2025, authorities in Atlanta, Georgia, encountered Smith during a traffic stop.
Investigators stated that Smith gave officers a false name during the encounter.
Smith then fled from the scene before officers successfully apprehended him.
Smith went to trial in 2026.
During the 2026 proceedings, Smith took the witness stand in his own defence.
Smith testified that Brice pointed a firearm at him and then pointed it at herself.
Smith claimed that he attempted to grab the weapon from her hands.
He testified that the gun accidentally discharged multiple times during the ensuing physical struggle.
The jury rejected his account.
On August 28, 2026, the jury returned its verdict against the 28-year-old defendant.
Smith was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Brice.
He was found guilty of third-degree murder in the death of her unborn child.
The jury also convicted Smith of arson.
He was convicted of conspiracy to commit arson.
He was convicted of abuse of a corpse.
He was convicted of tampering with evidence.
He was convicted of multiple firearm offenses.
The court sentenced Smith to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of Brice.
The court ordered an additional consecutive term of 40 to 80 years in prison for the remaining convictions.
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