Christopher Smith allegedly shot his girlfriend in the head outside a Florida bar and ran over her body while his 5-year-old daughter sat in the car, cops say.
NY Post reported that Christopher Dodge Smith, 40, is accused of hunting down Jessica Antolini, 30, outside Harbor Bar in Safety Harbor, Florida, on Oct. 13 around 9 p.m., shooting her, and then driving over her body as he fled.
Smith’s young daughter and pet dog were in the vehicle. Neither was injured. Antolini was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died. Smith now faces first-degree murder and child abuse charges and is being held without bond at the Pinellas County Jail.
The case rests on witness calls, an arrest affidavit, and statements from the child who saw what happened.
According to the affidavit obtained by PEOPLE and described in the reporting, Smith followed Antolini to the Harbor Bar that night. Witnesses said he was acting “extremely strangely” and walking around as if “possessed” while looking for her.
The pair argued in the parking lot. As Antolini followed him toward his vehicle, Smith pulled a handgun and fired.
The affidavit describes the shot path in blunt terms.
“in the face, through her left eye, and out the rear of her skull”
Smith then fled. The affidavit says he ran over Antolini’s body as he left the lot with his daughter still inside the car.
After leaving the scene, Smith called his mother. He said he was bringing the girl over because he had “messed up” and “shot Jess.”
When police spoke with the child, she repeated the same line multiple times.
“Daddy shot Jess”
Those words put a 5-year-old at the center of a homicide case her father is accused of creating. Prosecutors added a child abuse charge alongside first-degree murder, tying the girl’s presence in the car to the alleged crime.
Multiple 911 callers pointed deputies to Smith’s vehicle. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said officers found the car and tried to stop it.
“Deputies located the vehicle, attempted to stop it, and when Christopher did not pull over, the vehicle was immobilized.”
Smith was taken into custody after the stop. He remains held without bond.
Antolini, described as Smith’s girlfriend, was 30. Smith is 40. The affidavit’s “hunting down” language frames the sequence as pursuit, not a random parking-lot clash: follow her to the bar, confront her, fire, then drive over her body on the way out with a child in the back.
Open questions remain on the full legal charging language, the hospital name, and the affidavit’s formal case details. What is already public is enough for the core account: a shooting outside a local bar, a body struck by a fleeing car, a dead woman, and a little girl who told police her father did it.
When a father turns a family car into the getaway from a killing, the law’s job is simple, remove him from the street, protect the child, and make the case stick.
