PA PA - Judy Smith, 50, Philadelphia, 10 April 1997

[McSpy]

I believe she took a Greyhound and went to NC in spite of what Hubby said. That's my opinion. I also believe she had more money than he thought she had. Maybe he gave her $200 to spend in Philly but she had more of her own. jmho..........

She might have used her old license to get the car....that might be the license she went back to get.

She rented a car in NC and pre-scheduled the auto rental co to pick up the car. They picked it up as scheduled and never noticed she was missing. Just thought she kept the keys.

LE looked for her under her married name (Smith) not her previous name and they missed it.
She went for a hike, was planning to spend the day in the mountains and she was murdered. She might have met up with a rapist/killer in the mountains or saw something she shouldn't have seen and was murdered because of it.

Mountain people don't want strangers getting into their business. They still have moonshine, pot growing, illegal hunting, and people hiding from the law. She might have run into the wrong person or seen something she shouldn't have seen.

Interesting! I wonder if LE checked to see if she used her maiden or previous married name to rent a car, etc. She did have separate accounts from her husband. Although, she was married to Jeff for 10 years, which means a license from her old life, with another name, would have been very old and expired. Maybe I'm wrong that she was married to him for 10 years? I'll have to look into that.

 

[xLiqoricex]

She didn't buy 30 sandwiches. She spent $30 for sandwiches and a toy truck. Did I mess up and say 30 sandwiches..............lol If I did I apologize.

Well someone messed up because I read somewhere someone said she bought 30 sandwiches. Wtf. :banghead:

 

[xLiqoricex]

Seems like we now have even mores questions than answers! :waitasec:

Haha, yes!

 

[xLiqoricex]

Well the dementia does fit right in and the cause of the dementia could be from long term drug use. Was she taking medication to lose weight, or for her pain with arthritis?

Alcoholic's also will have memory loss and become disoriented. I would imagine toxicology would have uncovered any drugs she would have ingested right? Unless she was taking some form of drugs and stopped using them, then wouldn't there be some kind of withdraw and could this be why nothing showed up on autopsy?

I do not believe a stranger abducted her in then took her down to NC. No way, a stranger would go through all that trouble. Unless she picked up a homeless person.

This case is so baffling and I wish I knew more that LE knew.

THANK YOU- I agree with you.

 

[JeannieC]

Robert Stack did a show about Judy Smith

Her daughter was on the show. Go to this link and click on Judy Smith to ready the script.

A couple of new facts. Not much except her Daughter was on the show too.

http://www.unsolved.com/ajaxfiles/une_judy_smith.htm

http://www.unsolved.com/index_search_progress.php

 

[JeannieC]

Interesting! I wonder if LE checked to see if she used her maiden or previous married name to rent a car, etc. She did have separate accounts from her husband. Although, she was married to Jeff for 10 years, which means a license from her old life, with another name, would have been very old and expired. Maybe I'm wrong that she was married to him for 10 years? I'll have to look into that.

They had only been married about a year. They had gone together for 10 years. Lived together 3 years. It was mentioned on several sites that she was AKA as Judith Bradford.

 

[JeannieC]

If anyone wants to read this transcript it is from the TV Series, "The Haunting"

http://www.livedash.com/transcript/...away)/5712/TRUTVP/Monday_July_26_2010/385340/

 

[xLiqoricex]

JeannieC,

I was going to post that transcript but I thought I would get attitude or ignored. So I didn't bother posting it. Now I regret it. I'm just going to ignore people who ignore my posts. Simple as that.

Anyway, I have seen all of those links above but didn't bother posting any because I thought people might have already done so. I've read the transcript and it's just too confusing to me.

 

[xLiqoricex]

http://sharetv.org/shows/haunting_evidence/episodes/236945

There's a link I think you can watch the episode for free but you have to download this weird thing. I don't know.

Here is another article about Judys disappearance/ death. http://articles.philly.com/1997-10-02/news/25540322_1_mystery-novel-camping-backpack

 

[McSpy]

It would be interesting to know if the NC police showed the family the clothes in the blue backpack. At the time, they should have been able to identified them as hers or not.

One of the weird aspects about this case is that there seems to be no proof of purchases such as the blue backpack. That would have been something I would have charged on a credit card. Not because I can't afford it, but for the convenience. I don't usually carry wads of cash. Maybe enough for lunches, coffee and a cocktail or two (pocket money.) Apparently, she may have had a different style of how she handled money. Unfortunately, there is no paper trail of her purchases and therefore it is making it extremely hard to trace her travels.

 

[JeannieC]

Her family traveled to NC after her body was found. It was a few months after. They had never seen the backpack and the clothing was new.

She was reported to have been seen in Macy's in Philly shopping but the family didn't believe it was her. She might have shopped in Philly and purchased everything she needed. I believe she went to NC willingly and went on a bus. JMO

I really believe it is possible that Gary Hilton murdered her in the mountains.
He killed a couple in their 80's in the mountains of NC. He killed all over the US in the mountains.

I believe there will be more bodies located in years to come and they will be his victims. He admitted killing one girl for money and she had $40 on her.

I believe Judith had more money in her wallet. I think she had saved some money for this get away. Maybe she intended to call her husband the next day and didn't get the chance.

Its hard to say what went on in the hotel between them. They might have had a big argument and she left after her shower. That might be why he didn't want to take a poligraph. Of course, it really could have been because of his health and medication but he went back and forth about taking one so that seems strange.

No facts, just an opinion.....lol:floorlaugh:

 

[xLiqoricex]

It would be interesting to know if the NC police showed the family the clothes in the blue backpack. At the time, they should have been able to identified them as hers or not.

One of the weird aspects about this case is that there seems to be no proof of purchases such as the blue backpack. That would have been something I would have charged on a credit card. Not because I can't afford it, but for the convenience. I don't usually carry wads of cash. Maybe enough for lunches, coffee and a cocktail or two (pocket money.) Apparently, she may have had a different style of how she handled money. Unfortunately, there is no paper trail of her purchases and therefore it is making it extremely hard to trace her travels.

This is very well put. I am quite the frustrated one over this whole fact that there isn't a place where LE can truly trace her travels and anyone for the matter. Which is why I have been trying to put my own timeline together but with little evidence and heresay it is difficult creating it.

 

[xLiqoricex]

Her family traveled to NC after her body was found. It was a few months after. They had never seen the backpack and the clothing was new.

She was reported to have been seen in Macy's in Philly shopping but the family didn't believe it was her. She might have shopped in Philly and purchased everything she needed. I believe she went to NC willingly and went on a bus. JMO

I really believe it is possible that Gary Hilton murdered her in the mountains.
He killed a couple in their 80's in the mountains of NC. He killed all over the US in the mountains.

I believe there will be more bodies located in years to come and they will be his victims. He admitted killing one girl for money and she had $40 on her.

I believe Judith had more money in her wallet. I think she had saved some money for this get away. Maybe she intended to call her husband the next day and didn't get the chance.

Its hard to say what went on in the hotel between them. They might have had a big argument and she left after her shower. That might be why he didn't want to take a poligraph. Of course, it really could have been because of his health and medication but he went back and forth about taking one so that seems strange.

No facts, just an opinion.....lol:floorlaugh:

This is an excellent theory, JeannieC. Can't rule it out. I think Judy also went there on her own. I wish Judy could tell me something! In a dream! I don't care anywhere!

 

[JeannieC]

This is an excellent theory, JeannieC. Can't rule it out. I think Judy also went there on her own. I wish Judy could tell me something! In a dream! I don't care anywhere!

Gary Hilton was smart. He went undetected for years. They will never know how many people he murdered. He had no conscience.

He said the only thing he was sorry about is that he got caught.

 

[kemo]

Gary Hilton is known to have killed two women and an elderly couple he met on the trail. His motive was robbery. What little we know about the Judy Smith case is certainly not inconsistant with what we know about Hilton's MO but we don't really know all that much.

There is no indication that Hilton started killing before 2005 but we can't be sure. There is speculation that he is involved in many murders but nothing solid. LE does, however, have a lot of information about Hiltons comings and goings over the years; what car he drove, when he had steady work and regular housing. It would seem worth while to take a good look at him.

 

[JeannieC]

Gary Hilton is known to have killed two women and an elderly couple he met on the trail. His motive was robbery. What little we know about the Judy Smith case is certainly not inconsistant with what we know about Hilton's MO but we don't really know all that much.

There is no indication that Hilton started killing before 2005 but we can't be sure. There is speculation that he is involved in many murders but nothing solid. LE does, however, have a lot of information about Hiltons comings and goings over the years; what car he drove, when he had steady work and regular housing. It would seem worth while to take a good look at him.

I believe and so do most people in LE that Hilton killed long before 2005. It would be a first for a serial killer to begin killing at age 60.

He was smart and killed people in the mountains all over the south and west. People just disappeared and he was good at disappearing too. If you read all that he said in my opinion he told why he never got caught. He even admitted murder victims left in the mountains would be eaten by bears in the spring and coyotes.

He bragged about his ability to go up the side of the steepest mountain and drew a sketch for LE to show how to do it the right way. He enjoyed killing and that really came across in all that he said.

I don't think he just hated women. I believe he hated people in general. Every life was expendable in his eyes. Killing a couple in their 80's!

I want to know if LE has any DNA from Judith. I know Codis has Hilton's.

 

[JeannieC]

Article. Gary Hilton took a bus from S Fla. abducted 26-year-old Rossana Miliani.

The man in Rossana's company told a clerk at the general store where they purchased the sleeping bag that he was a traveling preacher who visited campsites in and around the Appalachian Trail to spread the word of God. The man also apparently said that he had taken a bus from the South Florida area, where Miami is located, and traveled to North Carolina. When the clerk described the man, he said that he seemed nervous, and appeared to have been in his late 50s or early 60s

http://blogs.discovery.com/bizarre/2009/07/gary-michael-hilton-and-missing-miami-woman.html#more

 

[JeannieC]

He rode buses, hiked in the mountains, bought one sleeping bag,......lol He's guilty!

Now all we have to do it tell Buncombe County LE. :floorlaugh:

 

[kemo]

Hilton was never charged with the murder of Rossana Miliani in 2005 but he does fit the description of the suspect. Hilton has been suggested as a suspect in many murders that go back to the early 1990's but there is no compeling evidence in any of them. There are a number of people in the South East who had either been killed or disappeared in a "hiking area" or were abducted from a rural area and witnesses has reported an unidentified middle aged man in the area.

 

[JeannieC]

Hilton was never charged with the murder of Rossana Miliani in 2005 but he does fit the description of the suspect. Hilton has been suggested as a suspect in many murders that go back to the early 1990's but there is no compeling evidence in any of them. There are a number of people in the South East who had either been killed or disappeared in a "hiking area" or were abducted from a rural area and witnesses has reported an unidentified middle aged man in the area.

I knew he wasn't charged with it. Lack of evidence and no DNA. He was tried and convicted on 4 killings and got away with more. imho

I'm hoping there is DNA on Judy. Probably not but maybe. Of course, they might have already checked it.

I'm going to write them a letter. See if we can get any further information on her case. Even invite them to come to WS and talk about the case. It can't hurt!

He might not have done it. It just fits his MO. I wonder what kind of car he was driving at that time. She was seen in a dark colored sedan that had a lot of things in the back seat and "looked like someone lived out of the car" according to witnesses.