{"id":22359,"date":"2018-09-19T10:03:26","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T14:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=22359"},"modified":"2018-09-19T10:03:28","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T14:03:28","slug":"arrest-announced-in-w-fallowfield-slaying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=22359","title":{"rendered":"Arrest announced in W. Fallowfield slaying"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Hakeem Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrest of an Oxford man in the slaying of a man whose body was discovered in West Fallowfield last week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hogan announced Wednesday morning that Hakeem Smith faces charges\u00a0 for the <\/span>mur<\/span>der <\/span>of Sam Algarin on Sept. 13. <\/span><\/p>\n

Algarin’s lifeless <\/span>body was found <\/span>on the side of the road i<\/span>n West Fallowfield Township, dead from a single gunshot <\/span>wound to <\/span>the chest. During the course of an intensive multi-day investigation, police eventually located video of the defendant with the victim’s vehicle minutes after the murder, the defendant’s palm print on the vehicle after the vehicle was abandoned, and the defendant’s fingerprint on the victim’s phone discarded in <\/span>a field near the body.<\/p>\n

“<\/span>This was a senseless and cold-blooded killing,” Hogan said. “<\/span>The defendant needed a car and money, so he killed an innocent <\/span>victim to get what he wanted. Sam Algarin was a good father to <\/span>his children, a good son to <\/span>his mother, a good worker to his employer, and a friend to everybody he met. The defendant killed the victim and dumped him on the side of the<\/span> road like<\/span> trash<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Now the defendant will face justi<\/span>ce.“<\/span><\/p>\n

Local and county authorities worked jointly to piece together what happened to Algarin.<\/p>\n

“This\u00a0 <\/span>was a great team effort by the West Fallowfield Police Department and Chester County District Attorney’s Office,” West Fallowfield Police\u00a0 <\/span>Chief Charles “Smoke”\u00a0 <\/span>Wilmont added. “West Fallowfield is a quiet and peaceful\u00a0 <\/span>rural area, and we seldom see violence like this. However, the entire team came together to investigate and arrest the defendant. My thoughts and prayers go out to Sam Algarin’s family.”<\/p>\n

Authorities say that that the events leading up to Algarin’s slaying started with a domestic dispute at Smith’s home in Oxford. After a fight with his mother prompting him to be removed the house after police arrived, Harris apparently set off on foot with his personal possessions.<\/p>\n

Police said Harris did not have a car, but was in close proximity to the Starbucks in Oxford.<\/p>\n

And it was at that Starbucks was where Algarin had parked his vehicle, a GMC Terrain, that same evening. He worked until 6 p.m. at a local automobile dealership, where he was a long-time employee.<\/p>\n

The victim then parked his vehicle at the Starbucks. Then Algarin, his two sons and his mother then drove to a martial arts class in his mother’s car, with the class lasting until 9 p.m. They then picked up pizza from a local shop at 9:12 p.m. At approximately 9:30 – 9:40 p.m., Algarin was dropped off at the Starbucks to pick up his parked vehicle. His mother drove the children back to her house, where the victim was supposed to meet them.<\/p>\n

But Algarin never returned.<\/p>\n

Instead, police found the his body on the side of Limestone Road in West Fallowfield Township. He was dead from a single gunshot wound to the chest. His vehicle, wallet, and phone were all missing. Police identified him using fingerprint technology.<\/p>\n

The discovery of Algarin’s body triggered an intensive, around-the\u00ad clock, multi-day investigation by the Chester County Detectives, West Fallowfield Police Department, and multiple assisting agencies.<\/p>\n

Police checked video in <\/span>surrounding <\/span>businesses over a wide area. After reviewing <\/span>hours of recordings, they located <\/span>video from <\/span>a Turkey Hill store <\/span>that allegedly showed Smith showing up at <\/span>the store <\/span>at 9:46 <\/span>p.m. driving the Algarin’s GMC Terrain. This was minutes <\/span>after the <\/span>victim’s mother dropped off the victim at the Starbucks. The <\/span>video showed <\/span>that the defendant was unfamiliar w<\/span>ith <\/span>the vehicle, not realizing what side the gas <\/span>tank was on and exhibiting confusion about how to open the gas <\/span>tank.<\/p>\n

Police recovered the Algarin’s vehicle in Westtown Township, Chester County, on Sept. 16. Police said the\u00a0<\/span>vehicle had been abandoned <\/span>and intentionally wiped down, but <\/span>the police <\/span>located blood on the driver’s<\/span>\u00a0seat <\/span>and driver’s seat belt harness<\/span>. <\/span>The <\/span>police said they also found the <\/span>defendant’s palm print on one <\/span>of the <\/span>door windows.<\/span><\/p>\n

Police engaged in an extensive<\/span> and<\/span> meticulous<\/span> search<\/span> of the<\/span> region around where the <\/span>victim’s body was found. Eventually, they located the victim’s <\/span>phone, discarded in a<\/span> field along<\/span> a road approximately two<\/span> miles from where<\/span> the Algarin<\/span>‘<\/span>s <\/span>body <\/span>was located. After processing the <\/span>his\u00a0phone, <\/span>police reportedly discovered the <\/span>Harris’ fingerprint on <\/span>the discarded phone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harris was taken into custody in West Chester, Tuesday. He was spotted on <\/span>the street <\/span>by a West Chester police <\/span>officer, fled into a residence, but later surrendered <\/span>to the West Chester SWAT team.<\/p>\n

The defendant has been <\/span>charged with murder, <\/span>robbery, and related offenses.<\/p>\n

He is not eligible for bail and <\/span>was remanded to<\/span> Chester County Prison.<\/p>\n

This case was investigated by the <\/span>West Fallowfield <\/span>Police Department and Chester County Detectives. Assistance was provided by <\/span>the Oxford Police <\/span>Department, th<\/span>e <\/span>West Chester Police Department, the <\/span>West Chester SWAT team, <\/span>and the United States Marshals Service. The assigned prosecutor is Brian Burack. Anybody with more information should contact Chester County Detective Bob Balchunis at (610) 344-6866.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrest of an Oxford man in the slaying of a man whose body was discovered in West Fallowfield last week. Hogan announced Wednesday morning that Hakeem Smith faces charges\u00a0 for the murder of Sam Algarin on Sept. 13. Algarin’s lifeless body was found on the side of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3912,2428,1261,8240],"class_list":["post-22359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured","tag-murder","tag-oxford","tag-sam-algarinm-west-fallowfield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22360,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22359\/revisions\/22360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}