ROSEDALE, N.Y. (WPIX)—
A man who fathered a child with a Queens woman whose body was found in Uniondale early Monday morning has been charged with her murder, police said.The Nassau County Homicide Unit along with NYPD officials arrested 35-year-old Marvon Jemmott Wednesday around 2:25 a.m. at his home at 135-08 1st St. in Rosedale. He has been charged with second-degree murder.
According to police, Jemmott strangled 36-year-old Jamaica Smith to death. It is unclear whether he had confessed to the crime.
PIX News exclusively spoke with Jemmot Dec. 2, where he appeared to be completely devastated over Smith's sudden disappearance.
"She's the mother of my child ... I love my daughter ... and I do love her," he said. "We may not be married but I still have love in my heart for her."
The alleged killer then becomes visibly distraught on camera and shakes his head in disbelief.
"This is horrible ... I haven't eaten since then," he said.
Smith had been reported missing from her home in Rosedale on Nov. 25. Friends said she suddenly vanished after dropping off her six-year-old daughter off at P.S.156 that morning.
According to a source close to the story, on the Tuesday before her disappearance Smith was walking past a Dunkin Donuts on her way back home, when a maroon Chevy Tahoe pulled up on the sidewalk and blocked her path.
"Some family members were coming around the corner and were calling out to her," a source told PIX News. "The guys didn't do anything they got back in their truck." It is unclear whether Jemmott was involved in that incident.
On Monday, Smith's body was found by a water meter who was walking through a side yard at a vacant home on Krull Street in Uniondale around 8:44 a.m.
Authorities did not reveal how long Smith had been dead and did not disclose details of where they believed she was killed.
Smith had lived with another sibling in Las Vegas and then moved on to Tennessee, where she was involved in a relationship that didn't work out. She then moved back to Queens this summer, where she was renovating a house for her and her daughter.
