Deceased/Not Found PA - Karen, 11, & Michael Reinert, 10, Ardmore, 22 June 1979 *W. Bradfield guilty*

[wendybtn]

I just read the full story on crimelibrary. What a long and bizzare story. I hope the childrens bodies are found soon. Do you know what ever became of the children's father? Were Jay Smiths daughter and son in law ever found?

Ken Reinert, the children's father died about 10 or more years ago. No, Stephanie and Eddie Hunsberger have never been found.
Jay Smith is very fond of the saying,"no stone unturned," which gives pause to the Bradford/Smith connection, for non-believers. I personally do not believe the picture of the rock marks where Karen and Michael are buried. Smith would never let anyone know what he did with the bodies especially not a blabbermouth that loved the sound of his own voice like Bradfield.

 

[wendybtn]

Anybody think that the kids were killed while Susan Reinert was still alive? It just occurred to me that this might be the case-I always assumed they were killed after their mother was murdered and disposed of. For some reason, when I read again how she (Susan) was found, I thought that she was beaten and chained because she resisted as she watched as her children were murdered. May not make any difference in finding the children's final resting spot, but maybe they disposed of them first, and then Susan after. I do think Valley Forge is an interesting possibility.

I think many of the detectives involved in the original investigation believe part of her torture at the hands of Smith was watching Michael and Karen die, knowing it was all her fault. I have followed this case since 1986 or whatever year Wambaugh published his book in paperback, "Echoes in the Darkness."

 

[wendybtn]

The problem is there is so much country out there...

I was thinking of them this morning. I don't know why. After watching a crime show it triggered a memory as since I am local to philly it was big news.

I don't see how these children were never found. Acid or not.. This was not a master mind..

It would be so nice to find them and have them laid to rest by people who love them.

Jay Smith would have never left them anywhere that easy to find. He did not want Susan to be found, but Bradford had to have her found for the insurance layout. Karen and Michael would have just given more evidence. Smith would not leave those stones unturned.
Only if the second Mrs. Reinert is still alive, I do not know who would bury them.

 

[wendybtn]

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/joe-owens/index.ssf/2009/05/jay_c_smith_is_dead_while_the.html

Interesting point of view written by someone who was there through the whole thing.

 

[AGettler]

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/mainline_murders/7.html
You are in: NOTORIOUS MURDERS/TIMELESS CLASSICS



THE MAIN LINE MURDERS


Fatal Weekend




Bill Bradfield planned to spend the summer of 1979 taking courses at the prestigious St. John's college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Before he went there, however, he wanted a relaxing vacation on the beach. All this business of protecting Reinert from Smith was wearing him down. Moreover, there was another reason for him to get out of town, he claimed. Smith was going to prison for the Sears robberies and was planning to murder her right before incarceration took her out of his reach. "If he murders her and I'm around," Bradfield complained to his friends, "I could be a suspect because of that silly will." His friends already knew of the sad woman's attempts to entrap the bearded teacher by naming him as beneficiary in her will.

He simply had to have people around him that weekend. So Meyers, Pappas and Valaitis agreed to accompany him to the shore on the evening of Friday, June 22, 1979.

Earlier that day, at Bradfield's request, Wendy went to their safety deposit box and made withdrew all the money in it

That same Friday, a neighbor saw Susan Reinert and her kids hurrying to their car, about 15 minutes after hearing the phone ring in Reinert’s home. It was a gloomy evening at about 9:20. A hailstorm had just begun, and the neighbor remembered hoping nothing would happen to Reinert and her kids as they drove in such terrible weather.

Where Susan Reinert drove to will probably never be known for certain. It is known that she met with at least two people. They beat her brutally, leaving massive bruises and scratches on her body including a deep black eye, stripped her naked, then bound her with chain. She may have been dragged a small distance with that chain. She was not immediately killed. Indeed, medical estimates would place her death at 24 to 36 hours after the beating.

During that time, she may have seen her beloved children being murdered. Perhaps she even witnessed the destruction of their bodies. The physical and mental torment she must have endured during those extraordinary hours of bondage defies imagination.

Finally, she was killed with a lethal injection of morphine between 12:15 and 6:15 a.m., Sunday, June 14, 1979.

Late Friday, June 22, 1979, Vince Valaitis was having dinner with Sue Myers at the apartment she shared with Bill Bradfield. Bradfield’s son Martin and the young man’s girlfriend were also present, but Bill Bradfield had not yet shown up. After dinner, the group trooped down to Valaitis’ place to enjoy a movie. As the hours wore on, Myers decided that Bradfield was not going to show up for the trip to Cape May after all. She went back home and to bed.

It was about 11:15 p.m. when Bradfield knocked on Valaitis’ door. He asked after Myers and was told she had gone to bed.

Bradfield exchanged some formalities with Martin and his date before the couple left, then turned to Valaitis. “Get some gas for the car,” he said. “Let’s get it packed. Let’s go.”

It was after midnight when Bradfield, Myers and Valaitis drove to Pappas’ house to pick him up. Pappas took over the driving.

On the way, Bradfield exploded with apprehension for Susan Reinert. “I’m afraid this is it!” he shouted. “I’m afraid this is the weekend Dr. Smith could kill Susan Reinert! I tried to protect her I followed him toward her house! I circled the house fourteen times! I lost him in the hailstorm!”

“You don’t know that,” Valaitis said to reassure the older man. “You don’t know that he’s going to do her any harm.”

Bradfield seemed to give up. “It’s in God’s hands,” he said.

At about 5:00 a.m., the quartet arrived at the Heirloom Apartments in Cape May, New Jersey. They were dismayed for both of the rooms they had ordered were locked and one was occupied. The tired group sat in the corridor with their baggage, griping about their bad luck.

A 4 hour drive from Philly or it's outskirts to Cape May? Really?
Was their a traffic jam?
Even in the rain it does not take 4 hours. They needed to do better than that.

I just finished Echoes... and Engaged... and have read about the case online. Nowhere have I read that Sue is known to have met up with 2 unsubs that Friday night. The link to crime library does not work in this post. I am wondering where that information came from?

 

[kemo]

It's been a long time since I read Echoes but I recall having the clear impression that there must have been someone else involved. I recall questioning the guilt of Smith. My overall impression was that Smith could have been the accomplice but there was no real evidence. I was surprised that he was convicted and I understood the reversal.

Murdered children are more likely to have their bodies effectively hidden because their bodies are light enough to be carried long distances. It will be a fluke if their bodies turn up. I can't see any way to figure out where they might be.

It was a totally bizarre story. It would have never worked as fiction.

 

[Murkywaters]

This case was just profiled on ''Death by Gossip'' with Wendy Williams.

[video=youtube;qXgL67bP-V4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXgL67bP-V4[/video]

 

[wendybtn]

I noticed from the link the kids father died in 2002. Does anyone know his age or what he died of?

Heartbreak. Actually, heart disease.

 

[wendybtn]

No longer the case; I entered them today. I didn't have birthdates, heights, or weights and didn't know Michael's eye color. Anyone who knows this information please say so.

Have you tried the Joseph Wambaugh book, "Echoes in the Darkness?" His coverage is very thorough.

 

[wendybtn]

It's been a long time since I read Echoes but I recall having the clear impression that there must have been someone else involved. I recall questioning the guilt of Smith. My overall impression was that Smith could have been the accomplice but there was no real evidence. I was surprised that he was convicted and I understood the reversal.

Murdered children are more likely to have their bodies effectively hidden because their bodies are light enough to be carried long distances. It will be a fluke if their bodies turn up. I can't see any way to figure out where they might be.

It was a totally bizarre story. It would have never worked as fiction.

I am still convinced Smith killed all 3 Reinerts. Susan had to be found so Bradfield could claim the insurance money. There was no need for Michael and Karen to be found. Bradford perjured himself to help out Smith in the Sears robberies trial. Bradford was all talk, no action and could not kill that family himself. Smith gets to have a sex slave to torture for the weekend and a couple of kids to kill. He was too smart to leave real evidence. Two sociopaths who recognized each other one day at work. I am also convinced Stephanie & Eddie Hunsberger were murdered by Smith and disposed of in a similar fashion to the Reinert children. I was stunned when Smith's convictions were overturned but even I could see the evidence was circumstantial at best. I think he did an excellent job of not leaving direct evidence. If Bradford had done the actual murders, he would have been arrested within 48 hours of Susan's body being found. And probably his little gang of naive admirerers, too. It still defies belief that Bradford told so many that "Smith was going to kill Susan" and no one tipped police, Smith, or Susan. Smith would have probably put Bradfield out of his misery if he realized how much of a gossip girl Bradfield was. This story has always repelled and fascinated me. Disgust and pity for Susan, sorrow for the kids and their dad, disbelief at the naivete and idiocy of Bradford' s little gang. Always sorry for Stephanie Smith, Jay' s wife, who died of breast cancer in the middle of all this. Sorrow for Eddie and Stephanie Hunsberger and Eddie's parents. He was their only child. The hurt goes on and on and on . . .

 

[wendybtn]

I just finished Echoes... and Engaged... and have read about the case online. Nowhere have I read that Sue is known to have met up with 2 unsubs that Friday night. The link to crime library does not work in this post. I am wondering where that information came from?

I think the writer was implying the unsubs were Smith and Bradfield, IMO.

 

[wendybtn]

They found him with acid in his car. But....... He didn't use acid on Susan's body..... So why would he have used it on the children but not on her? Was it because he "Meant" to kill Susan and was willing to get in trouble for that, but not willing to get in trouble for the children too, because he claimed he didn't mean it for the kids? I dunno.... Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Susan needed to be found to collect the insurance money. The kids were disposed of because all they would do is possibly give law enforcement more evidence. There was no insurance on the children with Bradfield as the beneficiary.

 

[AGettler]

The text I am interested in is: It is known that she met with at least two people. I have not come across this information before reading this. I want to know the source of this statement. Was there a witness or was an assumption made, or ...?

 

[scriptgirl]

Ridley Park might be another locale where the kids could be buried.

 

[kemo]

I have read all I could on this case and I there is really no evidence that Smith was Bradfield's accomplice. He was a candidate; a probable sociopathic killer but there is no evidence that he was with Karen and the kids that weekend. Would he have committed a triple murder in exchange for Bradfield's testimony that didn't even help him?

I wonder if Bradfield's stories about Smith were to deflect suspicion among his "circle" that he might have been involved in Karen's death and somebody else actually committed the murders.

 

[joejs89]

Joanne Aitken was a frequent visitor of Bradfields while he was incarcerated. I have no doubts she could shed plenty of light on this case...should she ever care to do so. I think her soul is too dark to do so.

 

[strawberry]

I think if these kids quite a bit. I really wish we knew where they are


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[wendybtn]

Some of the original investigators believed the children's bodies were disposed of by Bradfield or his 'other' girlfriend/student as they made their way to a summer study course in New Mexico, summer 1978. But, if Smith was involved, would he have let Bradfield be in charge of something so important as hiding or disposing of Karen's and Michael's bodies? He was a bit of a control freak, IMHO; that may have been too much evidence for Smith to let Bradfield handle. Smith died a free man.

 

[strawberry]

I think Smith dissolved the poor kids in acid and he did the same to his own daughter


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[kemo]

The thing that always bothered me about this case is that there was no real evidence that Smith was involved at all. Yes, he was a sociopath who almost certainly killed his daughter but his ties to Bradfield and Reinert were pretty weak. I couldn't see any reason he would comitt triple homicide for such a sleazy guy as Bradfield. I wonder if Smith was just a fall guy and Bradfield had someone else working with him we do not know about.