The gruesome, poignant death of Lebanon, Pennsylvania native Jacqueline Smith

Who was Jacqueline Smith?

Jacqueline Smith was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States. She was an only child.

On December 24, 1955, Smith died. She was 20.

Smith did not tell her parents about her boyfriend Thomas G. Daniel, who was 4 years older than her. Before she met Daniel in New York City, New York, USA, she dated Conrad Gersuny, an artist who was 2 years older than her.

In 1953, Smith graduated from high school. She moved from Lebanon to New York City to pursue a career in fashion design.

While taking art and design lessons in Manhattan, New York City, Smith worked at a textile firm in Manhattan as a fabric designer. She designed motifs for scarves and handkerchiefs.

In June 1955, Smith started dating Daniel, who was a riding equipment shop sales trainee. She spent most nights in his apartment in Kips Bay, Manhattan but she kept an apartment with two other women.

In November 1955, Smith discovered she was about six weeks pregnant. When she told Daniel about it, he told her he did not want to marry her.

Who was Leobaldo Piquan?

Following Daniel’s instructions, Smith took abortifacient pills but they did not work. On December 24, 1955, he paid $100 to hospital attendant Leobaldo Piquan, then 46, to perform an illegal abortion on her.

When Piquan performed the surgery in Daniel’s apartment in Kips Bay, Smith received 1000 cubic centimeters of sodium pentathol, which caused her to go into shock. Piquan called his friend Dr. Ramiro Mireles.

The doctor declared Smith dead and advised Daniel to call the police just before midnight. Neither Daniel nor Piquan called the police.

On December 25, 1955, Daniel and Piquan hacked Smith’s body to pieces in Daniel’s apartment in Kips Bay. They placed the body parts in 50 plastic bags, bundled the bags with Christmas paper and tinsel cords and drove them to Piquan’s apartment.

From December 27-29, 1955, Piquan systematically cut up Smith’s body in his apartment and wrapped up the parts in Christmas wrapping paper. He disposed of her remains in garbage cans across the Upper West Side in New York City.

On December 29, 1955, Smith’s co-workers notified her father Chester D. Smith that she had not showed up for work for days. On December 30, 1955, he traveled from Pennsylvania to New York City to look for her then reported her missing to the New York City Police Department.

On January 10, 1956, NYPD officers arrested Daniel at his apartment in Kips Bay. After lying about Smith’s whereabouts, he eventually revealed how she died and how he and Piquan disposed of her remains.