Chester County DA: Woman Recorded Sound Of Own Slaying On Phone
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (CBS/AP) — A woman killed by a shotgun blast in a domestic dispute last week recorded the sound of her own killing on her phone, authorities said.
Just before 40-year-old Wesley Webb was killed on May 2, prosecutors said, she activated an audio recording program on her phone, capturing events from the shooting to the arrival of police officers at the home she shared with her killer. On the recording, they said, the sound of the gunshot can be heard and then Webb's killer's voice uttering an expletive followed by, "How's that? That's where we just went."
Prosecutors announced murder charges Wednesday against Keith Robert Smith in connection with Webb's slaying at their home in Phoenixville, near Philadelphia, where three children were present.
"This was a savage, selfish and cowardly murder," Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a statement. "The defendant was focused on killing his girlfriend. He callously ignored the fact that he was killing somebody who was a mom, a sister, and a daughter."
Smith and Webb had gotten into a fight, and Webb had decided to leave and take two of the children, authorities said. While Webb was sitting on a living room couch, Smith grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and shot her in the chest, killing her, and then tried unsuccessfully to kill himself, they said.
"The defendant did not hesitate to kill his girlfriend," Hogan said. "But he flinched when it came to killing himself."
Smith, who was hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday, is charged with murder, criminal homicide, child endangerment, reckless endangerment and a weapons crime. He couldn't be reached for comment while hospitalized, and court documents don't list an attorney for him. A message left at a phone number listed in his name wasn't immediately returned.
The audio recording Webb made of her killing would have been inadmissible in court until very recently under the commonwealth's wiretap act, but the law was changed in 2012, Hogan said.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
