#7 - Keith Smith Roughly half an hour past midnight, on December
the 1st of 2018, Maryland police were dispatched to a home in the 1000 block of Valley Street,
Baltimore, after they’d received reports of a violent altercation on the premises. Upon their
arrival, officers learned that 52-year-old Jacquelyn Smith had been fatally stabbed
after stopping to give money to a panhandler. The victim’s husband, Keith, told investigators that
they’d been returning home after celebrating their daughter’s birthday. He went on to say that he and
his wife had driven by a woman carrying an infant in one arm and in the other a sign that read
“Please help me feed my baby”. According to Keith’s account of the incident, he pulled up
next to the woman so that Jacquelyn could hand her $10 through the car window. In the moments that
followed, she was allegedly attacked by a man who was described as being in his 30s. Initial reports
on the matter portrayed Keith as a traumatized victim who’d been an eyewitness to his own wife’s
murder. However, it emerged during the course of the police’s investigation that his original
testimony had been filled with inconsistencies and lies. His grieving husband façade, much like the
rest of the story, had been a fabrication meant to distract investigators from the fact that he’d
actually been responsible for Jacquelyn’s death. As was detailed by the Baltimore City State's
Attorney, the woman was actually asleep when the fatal stabbing occurred, and Keith himself had
carried out her killing in order to secure a life insurance payout. The couple’s adult daughter,
Valeria, had allegedly helped her father cover up the murder by corroborating his false report about
the panhandlers. In exchange for a lighter prison sentence, Valeria ultimately agreed to testify
against her father in court. In December of 2021, Keith was found guilty of first-degree murder
and carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to injure and he was consequently sentenced
to life in prison plus 3 years. #6 - Edawn Louis Coughman
After receiving reports of a burglary in progress, on the night of September the 11th of 2019,
police in Gwinnett County, Georgia, headed to a local business called Create and Bake Restaurant
and Coughman's Creamery. The 9-1-1 caller had told the emergency dispatcher that a suspect
driving a black Chevrolet Silverado with no license plate had broken into the bakery and was
damaging the property inside. Officers searched the surrounding area and eventually came upon the
vehicle described by the witness. Its driver, former professional football player Edawn Louis
Coughman, reportedly had several television sets in the bed of the truck as well as inside the
cabin. Coughman was identified as the owner and operator of the bakery that had been reported
as burglarized. Upon inspecting the purported crime scene, investigators saw that a number of
racially derogatory phrases and symbols had been spray painted onto the walls and booth cushions.
Among the messages written during the extended act of vandalism were the initials “MAGA”,
in reference to former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again”. Law
enforcement found shattered mirrors, sliced wires, and a destroyed video surveillance system as well.
Coughman claimed to have noticed the damage to his business earlier in the day,
but had neglected to call the police. Following further investigation, however,
it was determined that the destruction had occurred much later than Coughman had initially
stated. The authorities therefore concluded that the business owner had caused the damage himself
in order to make it appear as though he’d been the victim of a hate crime. The fraudulent
course of action would’ve allowed him to file a claim with his insurance company. Coughman
was ultimately arrested on charges of filing a false report of a crime, insurance fraud, and
concealing a license plate. As of recent updates on the case, the charges levied against Coughman
were still pending, and he’d also been charged with aggravated assault and robbery for incidents
unrelated to the burglary hoax. #5 - Sabrina Belcher
In 2020, South Carolina rapper Sabrina Belcher ran to be the first African American mayor in the town
of Sumter. During the 29-year-old’s campaign, reports surfaced that she’d been kidnapped,
beaten, and robbed by an unknown assailant. The incident was streamed in its entirety via Facebook
Live, shortly before 11:30 pm, on August the 18th of 2020. Belcher was taken to Prisma Health Tuomey
Hospital, where she was treated for the injuries she alleged to have sustained during the assault,
which had also resulted in her car windows being shattered. Much of the footage depicting
the altercation was obscured by darkness, but Belcher’s supposed attacker threatened to kill her
multiple times before striking her in the stomach with a metal bat. The video came to
an abrupt end as Belcher was being forcibly dragged from the car. A few days later,
it emerged that Sumter police had actually taken Belcher into custody on charges of conspiracy
and filing a false police report. The charges accompanied the revelation that the woman had
staged her kidnapping in an effort to portray herself as an oppressed victim and in effect
gain sympathy votes from the general public. The man pretending to be her attacker in the Facebook
Live clip was identified as Christopher Eaddy, who was also arrested, according to the resulting
police report. In the immediate aftermath of Belcher’s detainment, she chose to remain in
the race for Sumter’s mayor. However, in November of 2020, former City Council member David Merchant
won the election. In September of the following year, Belcher reportedly pleaded guilty to
the charges levied against her, and she was consequently ordered to serve 3 years of probation
and perform 80 hours of community service. #4 - Leah Jumeaux
In October of 2020, pictures of British woman Leah Jumeaux bound and gagged next to a gun were sent
to her ex-boyfriend. The messages, purportedly coming from the 20-year-old woman’s kidnapper,
indicated that she would only be returned unharmed in exchange for a ransom of approximately $2,500.
When the police were notified of the situation, investigators quickly uncovered
multiple inconsistencies in the story, as it had been presented to Jumeaux’s ex-boyfriend.
It subsequently emerged that the young woman had staged her own kidnapping in order to
swindle her former partner out of money, which she reportedly intended to use to buy
Christmas presents for her family. Jumeaux was consequently arrested and charged with blackmail
and fraud by false representation. In January of 2022, she reached a deal with prosecutors
in which she admitted guilt to the lesser charge of fraud in exchange for a sentence of 34 weeks
in jail. Jumeaux was also reportedly ordered to pay $200 in restitution to her former boyfriend.
#3 - Rebecca Palmer In 2015, Rebecca Palmer made
a series of allegations, including of assault, fraud, and blackmail, against a soldier based
at the UK military installation in Tidworth. The soldier, who reportedly served with the
King's Royal Hussars and was aged 20 at the time of his alleged crimes, was detained and questioned
for more than 19 hours. After he was released on bail, 26-year-old Palmer accused him of violating
the conditions of his discharge by stalking and harassing her. She also allegedly sent
threatening messages to the man’s mother and her friends. Shortly thereafter, the police determined
that each of Palmer’s allegations against the soldier had been completely fabricated.
Subsequent reports detailed how she’d pretended to be a victim of the man’s abuse, thereby making his
life a “living hell”, in an act of retaliation against him. The woman’s anger reportedly
stemmed from the unnamed soldier rejecting her romantic advances. Following a criminal trial
at Winchester Crown Court, Palmer was convicted of four counts of perverting the course of justice as
well as 5 additional counts of sending malicious communications, to which she pleaded guilty. She
was consequently sentenced to spend 5 years behind bars, a term deemed excessive by her lawyers
as they felt it didn’t take into account her reported “significant mental health difficulties”.
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#2 - Chris Hollingsworth
Louisiana State Trooper Chris Hollingsworth died after crashing into a highway guardrail,
in Monroe, in the early morning hours of September the 21st of 2020. Days earlier, the
46-year-old police veteran had been interviewed by internal investigators about the 2019 arrest
of motorist Ronald Greene. The latter had reportedly been shocked with a Taser and beaten
to death with a flashlight following a high-speed chase in northeast Louisiana. As was captured by
Hollingsworth’s body cam, he’d initially boasted to fellow officers about brutally beating the man
to the point of him being bloodied and barely conscious, in spite of the fact that he’d been
apologetic and cooperative with the police. Upon being formally questioned about the incident,
Hollingsworth's self-assured demeanor shifted to one of trepidation as he attempted to convey that
he’d acted out of fear upon ruthlessly attacking Greene. He attempted to portray himself as the
victim in the situation, claiming to have been “scared” of what Greene might do to him if left
unrestrained. Detectives investigating the matter ultimately determined that Hollingsworth’s revised
version of the events didn’t align with the facts of the case deduced from body and dash cam
footage. Due to his sudden death, the officer was never criminally charged in connection to Greene’s
killing. Some theorized that Hollingsworth had actually crashed his car on purpose in
an effort to end his own life and avoid having to face the consequences of his past actions.
#1 - Samantha Alonso Luna Shortly before 8:30 pm, on
June the 16th of 2018, officers from the Humboldt State University Police Department
in Arcata, California, initiated a traffic stop after witnessing the passenger of a vehicle
recklessly hanging their head out of the sunroof. In a series of videos later posted to Facebook,
five members of law enforcement were shown getting into an altercation with another one of the car’s
occupants, 20-year-old Samantha Alonso Luna. As indicated by subsequent reports, she’d refused
to properly identify herself to Officer Janelle Jackson, which led to a heated verbal exchange
between them. As tensions escalated, Alonso Luna was pulled from the front passenger seat of the
vehicle, at which point a second officer assisted Jackson in subduing her. Alonso Luna proceeded to
shout a barrage of profanities at the officers as she kicked and fought them “hysterically”. At one
point, the young woman allegedly grabbed the hair of one officer and refused to loosen her
grip until she was finally placed in handcuffs and forced into the back of a cruiser. Court
records detailed how, in the incident’s aftermath, Alonso Luna was charged with seven misdemeanors,
including giving false information to a police officer, public intoxication, battery on a peace
officer, and four counts of resisting officials. As of the latest updates on the case, it was
reported that a plea deal was being negotiated between Alonso Luna and state prosecutors.
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