A Pennsylvania man will spend the rest of his life in prison after prosecutors said he shot his girlfriend, 21-year-old Dianna Brice, 11 times in the head, killing her and their unborn child in 2021.
Justin Smith, now 28, went on the run after he allegedly killed Brice in Philadelphia and disposed of her body, CBS News reported. He was later apprehended in Atlanta in March 2025.
Brice, who was three months pregnant, had been reported missing from Upper Darby Township on March 30, 2021.
Six days later, her body was found, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said during a Monday, August 31, news conference announcing Smith’s conviction and sentence.
On Friday, August 28, Smith was convicted of first- and third-degree murder in the deaths of Brice, “someone he claimed to love,” and their unborn child, Krasner said.
He’s been sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to Krasner.
At Monday’s news conference, Brice’s mother, Betty Cellini, referring to Smith, said: “I will never, ever forgive this man for what he did to my daughter, my unborn grandson and her son [who] is now 9 years old.”
Brice, a mother to a son named AJ, had been pregnant with her second child, according to her obituary. Ahead of her death, she planned on having a gender reveal party for her unborn baby.
AJ, who was described in the obituary as “her greatest gift of all,” had accurately guessed that she was having a baby boy.
“She couldn’t wait to find out the gender,” her obituary read. “She ordered a kit [through] the mail. The gender reveal was scheduled for April 29th. AJ was right, he was having a little brother.”
During Smith’s jury trial, he testified Brice’s death was accidental, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Smith said that while arguing with Brice in his car, he tried to “pull” a gun away from her and that the weapon “went off,” per the newspaper.
Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Lauren Crump refuted Brice’s testimony at trial and detailed how the defendant had allegedly burned his car, discarded Brice’s remains in trash bags and then went on the run, according to the report.
“That is not panic,” Crump said. “That is premeditation.”
Brice’s body was ultimately discovered in the woods near Eastwick Avenue in Philadelphia, according to CBS News.
Tylydia Garnett, a woman who allegedly helped Smith following Brice’s murder, testified that he had confessed to shooting her, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Garnett was previously sentenced to 11 and a half to 23 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to charges including arson and abuse of a corpse in connection with Brice’s death, according to the newspaper.
