Melissa E. HolsmanTreasure Coast Newspapers
STUART — A Jensen Beach woman remains in jail on a $2 million bond related to her arrest Thursday after she told Martin County Sheriff’s officials she fatally shot a man and dumped his body on a rural county road.
Lori Beth Hart, 46, was charged with felony tampering with evidence and failure to report a death to the Medical Examiner’s Office, court filings show. Smith’s address was not available Friday.
Martin County Sheriff’s deputies on Thursday discovered the body of Chester Smith in some bushes just yards from the 1000 block of Southeast Darling Street and less than half a mile west of Southeast Willoughby Boulevard.
Court records show a public defender was appointed to Hart’s case but it’s unclear who will be assigned to represent her.
What happened Thursday?
According to a 12-page arrest affidavit released Friday, the incident began Thursday when deputies received a 911 call shortly before 10 a.m. from Joseph Cruz, 57, saying “he was in a brown Dodge Ram with a female who stated she had shot somebody in self-defense,” investigators reported.
Deputies went to Home Depot in Jensen Beach, where they met Cruz and Hart inside the Ram truck.
Asking about a reported fatal shooting, Hart told deputies, “He went crazy, and I shot him.”
When asked if she shot in self-defense, Hart told deputies she was “scared.”
The shooting happened in the dark, she said, “in the truck, and then I got scared and I pushed him out,” investigators reported. “Ms. Hart confirmed ‘he’s dead.’"
Hart said she drove around for a while with Smith inside his white 2023 Ford truck before she called Cruz.
She told deputies Smith’s body could be found off Southeast Darling Street, in Stuart.
“Ms. Hart stated that she was in the truck with him for a long time, because she was scared and did not ‘know what to do,’” an arrest affidavit stated.
Deputies found Smith in the 1800 block of Southeast Darling Street, west of Southeast Taylor Drive on the north side of the road.
He was dressed in dark pants, short sleeved khaki shirt and “had a white-in-color pillow around his head.”
Medical examiners at the scene reported finding injuries consistent with gunshot wounds to the right side of his head, his left forearm and left abdomen.
Questions remain
Sheriff William Snyder at the scene Thursday said the fatal shooting happened during a scuffle but investigators didn’t know who started it. Hart knew the man, but Snyder was unable to describe the specific relationship.
The driver’s side window of Smith’s truck had been shattered “consistent with a gunshot,” and investigators reported finding “a major amount” of blood within the driver seat area.
A loaded Taurus 9mm gun was found in the driver’s door, but it’s unclear from available records whether it’s the weapon used to shoot Smith.
Reached Friday, Chief Assistant State Attorney Steve Gosnell declined to confirm whether Hart will face charges related to Smith’s homicide.
“In conjunction with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, we are fully evaluating the homicide that has happened,” Gosnell said. “When the investigation is complete, we will proceed accordingly.”
‘I shot him’
When investigators questioned Cruz Thursday, he said Hart had been his girlfriend on and off for about a year.
Hart called him around 7 a.m. from Smith’s cell phone, Cruz said, and she was driving his truck. Cruz drove from his Jensen Beach home to meet her at Hosford Park, on Southwest Gaines Avenue in Stuart.
Cruz told investigators while looking at Smith’s truck, he “observed a bullet hole within the driver window.”
When he asked Hart, she replied, “I shot him,” and stated that “he (Mr. Smith) was going to kill her kids and her family,” Cruz recalled, according to investigators.
Cruz said Hart has three adult children who live in New York, and she has a brother living in Stuart. He said he saw a gun in the truck, but Hart said it wasn’t the one she used to shoot Smith.
Hart told him she needed to get rid of Smith’s truck, so he began following her and she stopped at Southeast Darling Street.
She then collected her keys, cigarettes and a cream-colored jacket from Smith’s truck and joined Cruz. He then drove around to keep her calm, he told investigators.
While pretending to need to buy a tool, Cruz entered a store and called 911, he said.
Hart is accused of trying to conceal Smith’s death and altering evidence surrounding his death, arrest records show.
“Ms. Hart moved Mr. Smith’s body following his death, altering the scene of his death, and proceeded to then dispose of the firearm used to kill Mr. Smith” investigators concluded. “Ms. Hart also disposed of her clothing worn when Mr. Smith was killed, preventing the collection of trace evidence from the scene.”
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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms,"a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
