Episode 71 | Accused Murderer Jasmine Hartin Had Billions At Her Fingertips

In this podcast, we’re going to look into a suspicious death on the sun-soaked shores of San Pedro in Belize. This tropical paradise is known for its luxurious hotels, wild parties, crystal clear waters, and—as of May 2021—the murder of its police superintendent Henry Jemmott. Jasmine Hartin, partner of Billionaire Andrew Ashcroft is accused of firing the fatal shot that moon-lit night on a pier while having a drink with Jemmott. But was it really murder? Or a devastating mistake? Let’s find out. ★Enjoy!

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Transcript

Case: The Socialite Killer—Jasmine Hartin

Today, we’re leaving our everyday worries at home and beaching ourselves on the sun-soaked shores of San Pedro: an island town off the eastern coast of Belize. This tropical paradise is known for its luxurious hotels, wild parties, crystal clear waters, and—as of May 2021—the suspicious death of its police superintendent. Apparently, even paradise can become a prison. Jasmine Hartin, learned this the hard way when she swapped her lavish lifestyle for a jail cell in one of the world’s toughest prisons. But was it murder? Or a devastating mistake? Let’s find out.

Our story begins on May 7th, 2021, at the grand opening of San Pedro’s newest and ritziest resort, the Alaia Belize. 32-year-old Jasmine Hartin stood with her two toddlers as she and her partner, 43-year-old Andrew Ashcroft, cut the ribbon. She’d spent months buttering up Belizean officials. He’d spent millions of his billionaire father’s fortune. Jasmine looked at Andrew as he waved to the crowd. They’d shacked up years ago in Belize when she was a simple real estate agent but never married, even after having the twins, Charlie and Elle. Thank god for that. Their marriage couldn’t crumble if there wasn’t one to begin with, right? After a long day of schmoozing and small talk, they went to bed in separate rooms. The next two weeks were a blur. Jasmine distracted herself with her duties as the Alaia Belize’s 'Director of Lifestyle & Experience’ but she still lived up to her party girl reputation. The social butterfly often got up to late-night shenanigans at local bars where she could be herself—free from the demands of dating Lord Michael Anthony Ashcroft’s youngest son. Must be nice. Unfortunately, her next shindig sparked the beginning of a scandalous saga that saw her life of luxury unravel. Since Jasmine is the only living witness of a crime that has still not had its day in court, the rest of our story is solely based on her word—so stay skeptical, listeners.

42-year-old Henry Jemmott woke up to the sound of his phone ringing on the night of May 22nd. He was surprised to see that it was his friend, Jasmine Hartin. He was bombarded by a flurry of frantic words. Her voice was thick with fear, so he told her to stay put and wait for him. Henry arrived at the party an hour later and found Jasmine waiting in the road. She quickly hopped into his car and thanked him for coming to her rescue. She was a wreck. Clearly, the assault had been more serious than he’d thought. Jasmine explained that a man had followed her into a room, thrown her onto the bed, and aggressively kissed her while trying to take her pants off. She fought him off but was obviously shaken. As the superintendent and coastal executive officer of the Belize Police Department, Henry Jemmott knew that bar-hopping ex-pats like her were as vulnerable as they were loaded. He supposedly encouraged Jasmine to get a gun license for protection. Then, he dropped her off at her five-bedroom beachfront condo at the Grand Colony Resort next door to the swanky hotel that her longtime boyfriend, Andrew, had recently opened.

Just four days later, on Wednesday, May 26th, Henry was supposedly dealing with his own dilemma. Jasmine had seen a Facebook post saying he was single after 14 years. Whether this was true or not, she offered him a room at the neighboring Alaia Belize to blow off some steam. The next morning, Henry went fishing with his friend, Penny. According to Penny, Henry never mentioned his apparent breakup. However, when Penny asked what Henry’s plans were for the night ahead, he said that he had a date. Surprised, Penny got nosey, digging for more juicy details about the mystery girl. But Henry was tight-lipped, saying he would take this secret to his grave. The poor guy didn’t know how right he was! That night, on May 27th, 2021, Officer Henry Jemmott had planned to meet Jasmine and her partner, Andrew, for a drink at the Alaia Belize—not my idea of a hot date, but I don’t judge. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Andrew bailed last minute, leaving Jasmine and Henry to chat over cinnamon whiskeys alone. Later that night, they decided to ignore the COVID-19 curfew and head down to the nearby pier to bask in the beauty of the moon. As they stepped onto the worn wooden planks of the boardwalk, she asked the off-duty cop why he’d brought his gun. Henry replied that he always had his gun.

The unlikely pair sat under the moonlight with their feet dangling above the rippling water. Officer Jemmott turned to Jasmine with a serious look in his eyes. It was then that he supposedly emptied his semi-automatic Glock 17 of its bullets and handed her the gun. He allegedly told her to practice loading the magazine to get comfortable handling a firearm for self-defense. Jasmine saw Henry place the bullets beside him as she took the gun. After a few attempts, he reportedly asked her to massage his back—so she did. Completely normal for platonic friends, right!? While she was rubbing his bearish shoulders, Henry asked the socialite for his gun and magazine back to put the bullets away. Jasmine obliged from behind him, picking up the gun and trying to get the magazine out as she’d just practiced. However, with the moon as her only light source, she struggled. It seemed to be stuck. As Jasmine fumbled with the gun, Henry unknowingly enjoyed his last moments alive as he watched the waves lap against the pier. Suddenly, the gun fired. At 12:45 am on Friday the 28th of May 2021, the modestly paid police superintendent and beloved father-of-five, Henry Jemmott, was shot behind his right ear with a 9mm round from his own service pistol by Canadian socialite, Jasmine Hartin. His behemoth body fell backward onto Jasmine, pinning her to the pier. She felt a warm, wet sensation soak her clothes as she struggled beneath his bulk. Her flailing eventually freed her but caused Officer Jemmott’s body to slip into the dark waters below.

San Pedro police arrived to a gruesome and confusing scene. They found a petite blonde covered in blood and the dead body of the town’s toughest, most respected cop floating face-up 30ft from shore. Jasmine Hartin was taken into custody that Friday morning for further questioning. She initially claimed that Henry had been gunned down by a passing boat. This was pretty plausible considering Belize is a hot spot for cocaine ‘wet drops’, where traffickers leave parcels in the water to be picked up by local dealers. However, Jasmine would bitterly regret this incriminating lie as her involvement was obvious. She finally fessed up, describing in detail how the gun went off accidentally as she handled it, killing her friend and protector, Officer Henry Jemmott. But Jasmine’s deceptiveness coupled with the coke found in her purse that ‘wasn’t hers’ made her seem untrustworthy. The wealthy socialite was sent to Belize Central Prison—a slammer so notorious it was featured on the Netflix documentary series, “Inside the World’s Toughest Prisons.” 

Here we have the conundrum of this case. Was it murder? Or a grave mistake? On the surface, she doesn’t seem to have any motive to murder the Belizean cop. There were rumors that the two may have been having a saucy affair but they were exactly that—rumors. These allegations only surfaced after the fact, and many locals—including Henry’s family—denied them. And if there truly was some hidden motive, why would the famous socialite take him out in public with her own hands? The idea seems strange but any true crime connoisseur worth their salt would know that murder doesn’t always make sense. If Henry’s death was truly an accident, then why did Jasmine try to deceive San Pedro detectives? Did she lie out of fear that the shady circumstances would see her wrongfully accused of murder? Was she trying to distance herself from a scandal that would inevitably make international headlines? Or did something more ominous occur that Friday night on the pier? That’s the million-dollar question—one we hope to see answered in court.

Jasmine Hartin’s first court date was on Wednesday, June 9th, 2021 at the San Pedro Magistrate’s Court. The tiny blonde stood before the judge and firmly maintained that the shooting was an accident. She blamed the misfire on poor visibility, a potentially jammed magazine, and her lack of experience with firearms. Social media posts of her handling shotguns make her story seem dubious. However, David Katz, a former DEA agent and veteran firearms instructor, stated in an interview with CBS News that the way Jasmine claimed to have handled the Glock 17 could have easily caused an accidental discharge—especially if alcohol was involved. Henry Jemmott’s older sister and assistant superintendent, Cherry, didn’t buy it. She was adamant that her brother would never handle his gun after drinking let alone allow someone else to. In fact, she fully believed that he was shot ‘execution-style’ in cold blood. The prosecution, on the other hand, didn’t. They opted against a murder or full-blown manslaughter charge based on the evidence and Jasmine’s witness statement. Instead, Jasmine Hartin was charged with manslaughter by negligence—an offense that carries a maximum sentence of 9 months in prison or a $10,000 BZD fine ($5,000 USD).

Jasmine was bailed out that same day by her friend and general manager of the Alaia Belize, Frank Habet. She was ordered to pay almost $15,000 USD, surrender her passport, report daily to the court, and adhere to a strict curfew. No more late-night booty shaking for this party girl! Where was her billionaire boyfriend, Andrew Ashcroft, during this fiasco, you ask? Staying the hell away from her. I can only assume that he was scared of the bad press that came with Jasmine’s case—unless something more sinister was at play. Regardless, the couple’s relationship died with Henry and gave life to more scandal as Andrew apparently unlawfully barred Jasmine from entering their apartment or seeing their kids. Almost 3 weeks later, she was caught making a scene at the Grand Colony Resort where the couple lived at the time. She filmed herself following Andrew and asking him why he wouldn’t let her see her children. Allegedly, she pushed a hotel employee in the commotion, which led to her being rearrested on Tuesday, June 22nd for assault. Her behavior also made the Alaia Belize’s general manager, Frank Habet, doubt that she would show up for her trial, so he withdrew his bail money. Jasmine Hartin found herself cut off from the Ashcroft dynasty’s wealth and back in one of the world’s toughest prisons until she was bailed out one week later by a family friend and notable lawyer, Wendy Auxillou.

Aside from stories covering the custody battle with her now ex-boyfriend, Andrew Ashcroft, Jasmine Hartin managed to stay out of the prying eyes of the press. That is, until May 19th of this year, when she was accused of ordering a hit on the Belizean Commissioner of Police and the Magistrate overseeing the estranged couple’s custody case. You can’t make this stuff up! Apparently, rumors started circulating amongst locals that a woman had hired a Belizean street gang to take the officials out. This led to Jasmine—understandably—being arrested on Thursday, May 19th. But the plot continues to thicken. The gossip was traced back to Jasmine’s ex-security guard, Lionel Neal. Two days before her arrest, she had filed a complaint with the police accusing Neal of trying to sexually assault and blackmail her. Apparently, he had come into her room, pulled her pants down, and tried to rape her. She fired him but Neal retaliated by vowing to lie to the police about her unless Jasmine paid him off. Unsurprisingly, he did exactly that when he was arrested, telling police that he and Jasmine were having an affair. The ex-security guard also said that he’d overheard her saying she wished that the Commissioner of Police and Magistrate would die. Neal’s claims seemed to be unfounded, as he was charged with burglary and attempted rape before being granted bail. However, his allegations stirred up the contract kill rumors that got Jasmine arrested again as she fulfilled her routine daily report at the police station that Thursday. 

She stayed in their custody until the evening of Friday, May 20th, when her new lawyer, Dickie Bradley, bailed her out. Bradley was astounded that Jasmine had been arrested on allegations that he called “preposterous” and blasted the Belizean police for believing an accused rapist. Jasmine’s penniless family was just as outraged. They blamed her biased treatment and the one-sided press coverage on the power and influence held by her ex-boyfriend’s father, Lord Michael Ashcroft, who owned the Belize port, phone system, and several of the country’s banks. Considering Jasmine and Andrew were deep in a vicious custody battle at the time, these allegations are pretty intriguing. Was this all a ploy to ruin Jasmine’s reputation and get the twins who held the Ashcroft title far from the bad press surrounding her? Whether rumors or reality, it worked. Jasmine Hartin’s name was dragged through the mud once again and on May 25th, 2022 she lost the battle for her five-year-old twins. Andrew Ashcroft was awarded sole custody of the toddlers before moving with them to the Turks and Caicos Islands, leaving Jasmine Hartin broke, alone, and childless. Currently, she’s still in Belize waiting for her June 2022 trial date for the shooting of Officer Henry Jemmott.