In a quiet Schuylkill Township home near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, the life of 40-year-old Wesley Fletcher, a white female, came to a violent end on the evening of May 2, 2016. A domestic argument with her live-in boyfriend, 43-year-old Keith Smith, escalated into a tragedy that would leave a lasting scar on their family and the community. Fletcher, a mother of two, had made the decision to leave the home with her children, a move that preceded the fatal confrontation.
As the argument intensified in the living room, Fletcher had the foresight to activate an audio recorder on her cellphone. The recording captured the chilling moments that followed. Smith could be heard uttering, 'You want to record it now, b----?' before the sound of a single gunshot from a 12-gauge shotgun reverberated through the room. The shot struck Fletcher in the chest, proving to be fatal. In the immediate aftermath, Smith's voice was captured on the recording again, stating, 'F--- you! How's that? That's where we just went.' After shooting Fletcher, Smith turned the shotgun on himself in a failed suicide attempt, inflicting a gunshot wound to his own face.
The horror of the scene was discovered by Fletcher's children, who were all under the age of 14 and had been upstairs during the shooting. They came downstairs to find the devastating aftermath and immediately called 911. When police arrived, they found Smith conscious, and he admitted to shooting Fletcher before being transported to a hospital for his injuries. The audio recording from Fletcher's phone became a critical piece of evidence in the investigation.
Keith Smith was arrested and faced a series of serious charges, including first-degree murder, third-degree murder, possessing an instrument of a crime, and endangering the welfare of children. Following his arrest, he was held without bail. Court records indicate that a Keith Robert Smith appealed a court order in 2019 related to his case, which was dismissed in 2021, and also filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in 2022. This incident marked the first homicide in Schuylkill Township in decades, deeply affecting the community. In the wake of the tragedy, a GoFundMe campaign was established to support Fletcher's two children.
