On the evening of September 13, 2018, Samuel Algarin, a 31-year-old man from Quarryville, Pennsylvania, finished his shift at a local car dealership and met his mother and two children. After attending a martial arts class with his children and grabbing dinner, his mother dropped him off at a Starbucks parking lot where he had left his GMC Terrain. Tragically, he never made it to his mother's house as planned.
Later that night, his body was discovered on the side of Limestone Road in West Fallowfield. An autopsy would later confirm that he had died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. His car, wallet, and phone were all missing.
The investigation into the death of the young father quickly identified a suspect: Hakeem Smith, a 30-year-old from Oxford, Pennsylvania. Earlier on the day of the murder, Smith had been involved in a domestic dispute and was removed from his mother's home, leaving him on foot with his belongings. Investigators believe that in a desperate need for money and transportation, Smith encountered Algarin. Surveillance footage from a nearby gas station captured Smith driving Algarin's SUV just minutes after Algarin was dropped off by his mother. Further evidence tying Smith to the crime included his palm print on the victim's recovered vehicle, which had been abandoned and wiped down, and his fingerprints on Algarin's discarded cell phone. Blood was also found on the driver's seat of the SUV.
Following an intensive investigation, Hakeem Smith was located and arrested. He was charged with homicide, robbery, and other related offenses. In December 2021, after a four-day trial, a jury found Hakeem Smith guilty of second-degree murder and robbery. Prosecutors described the crime as a 'senseless and cold-blooded killing,' stating that Smith took an innocent life for a car and money. While the jury acquitted him of the more serious charge of first-degree murder, the conviction for second-degree murder in Pennsylvania carries a mandatory life sentence.
