Carjacker sentenced to 95 years in prison for attack on grandmother and her daughter in Baltimore County

A man convicted of carjacking a Baltimore County grandmother and her daughter has been sentenced to spend 95 years in prison. 

Darius Wolfe, of Brooklyn, Maryland, was convicted earlier this year in connection with the August 2024 carjacking of 87-year-old Edna Smith and her 66-year-old daughter, Valarie, in Pikesville. 

Baltimore County Judge Robert Cahill handed down the 95-year prison sentence Friday and called the defendant "irretrievably depraved."

Both victims provided emotional impact statements, telling Judge Cahill how their lives changed forever because of the violence. 

Wolfe had a lengthy juvenile record, which included 29 different placements by the Department of Juvenile Services between 2019 and 2024.

The 2024 carjacking

Valarie Smith, then 66, was delivering groceries to her mother's home on Brattle Road when she saw a masked man wearing all black approach her.

Smith said she fought back and punched Wolfe, the then-19-year-old who prosecutors said put a gun to her head. 

Her mother, Edna, rushed to help her. 

Prosecutors said Wolfe shut Valarie's hand in the door of her Acura and then dragged her and Edna down the street. 

The Acura ran Edna over. Valarie hit her head on the pavement, causing bleeding on her brain. 

Authorities were able to track down two of the three suspects. They said Wolfe later tried to sell the vehicle to friends and posted pictures on Instagram of him joyriding through Cherry Hill, smoking a blunt in the vehicle.

Investigators used the Acura's GPS to build their case, even obtaining surveillance video of Wolfe when he went to a Royal Farms convenience store.

A second defendant, Reginald Cornelius Belton, was sentenced earlier this year to 75 years in prison. Prosecutors said Belton used a credit card from Valarie's purse to buy food from DoorDash, also connecting him to the crime.

The third carjacker was never identified. 

Victims speak in court

Both victims told Judge Cahill the injuries left them in pain and changed their lives. 

"Suddenly, I heard her scream for help, and there is no greater instinct than that of a mother hearing her child in danger," Edna told the judge. "Those moments will never leave me. I ran towards her, trying to protect her. I pleaded with the carjackers. I begged them to stop."

The retired teacher described the moment she was crushed by the large vehicle.

"I felt the weight of the car, crushing my bones, my pelvis. I screamed out in pain and disbelief, and in those moments in the street, I truly believed I was going to die. Every time I close my eyes, I relive that night," she said. 

The now-89-year-old must use a walker and has undergone numerous surgeries.

"The peace I once carried so freely has been taken from me. Now, I depend on others for even the simplest things. The loss of independence is something I feel every single day. I grieve the life I once had," she told Judge Cahill. "It is one thing to lose possessions. It is another to lose your independence. It is deeply painful that at this stage in my life, I would suffer such harm from young individuals."

Valarie said, "The fear of retaliation is always in the front of our minds because the third assailant has never been arrested and might return."

She recounted the horrifying moments when the rear tires of her Acura rolled over her mother's body. 

"I still love my car, but I am always reminded of how it ran over my 87-year-old mother," she said.