NEW YORK (PIX11) — A New York man was sentenced Thursday in the killing of Destini Smothers, a 26-year-old mother of two, and stuffing her body in the trunk of a car, officials said.
Kareem Flake, 31, of Troy, New York was sentenced to 22 years in prison, according to District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Flake and Smothers dated before her death, and she was last seen alive in a car with Flake after leaving a bowling alley on Nov. 3, 2020. Her decomposing body was found in the truck of an abandoned car in March, 2021. She died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to an autopsy report.
Flake was arrested on April 9, 2022, in Florida and was later extradited to New York.
“The depravity of this man’s actions left Destini Smothers’ family to agonize for months about her whereabouts and her two young children to grow up without a mother. I hope this sentence will afford some peace to Destini’s loved ones,” said Katz.
Charline Charles is a digital journalist from Brooklyn who has covered local news along with culture and arts in the New York City area since 2019. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.
