A man identified as Justin Smith has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his 21-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Dianna Brice, who was 14 weeks pregnant when she was killed.
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Brice disappeared in March 2021 after she was reportedly last seen leaving a laundromat while crying and getting into Smith’s car.
Six days later, her body was discovered wrapped in rubbish bags and buried among debris on an abandoned lot.
According to prosecutors, Smith murdered Brice inside his vehicle before seeking help from his best friend, Tylydia Garnett, to dispose of her body and destroy evidence connected to the killing.
Investigators said phone records placed Smith and Garnett at a garage following the murder. Surveillance footage allegedly showed Garnett visiting a petrol station to purchase a container of fuel.
Prosecutors also presented surveillance footage showing Smith and Garnett loading a heavy object into the back of Garnett’s vehicle.
Brice’s blood was later discovered inside the boot of the car, according to investigators.
After dumping Brice’s body, Smith reportedly set his own vehicle on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence. Investigators later recovered cartridge casings from the burned-out car that matched a casing found in Brice’s clothing.
Smith and Garnett reportedly fled to Miami on the same day Brice was killed.
Four years on the run
Smith remained a fugitive for approximately four years before he was arrested in March 2025.
He was eventually taken into custody after being stopped by police in Atlanta, Georgia.
A jury later convicted Smith of first-degree murder, third-degree murder of an unborn child, arson, conspiracy to commit arson, firearms offences, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
He has now been sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment without parole, followed by an additional 40 to 80 years for the other convictions.
Garnett, who prosecutors said assisted Smith after the killing, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson, tampering with evidence, hindering apprehension and abuse of a corpse.
She has already been sentenced and is currently on probation.
Brice was already a mother to her four-year-old son, AJ, at the time of her death.