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

[McSpy]

Is any chance that it might not be her body just a similar ring and even dental record matches have later proven to be wrong?

I agree. They should do a DNA test if possible.

 

[xLiqoricex]

I have never heard of this case before but it is truly sad. What confuses me is that she said she was going to do some sight seeing...but why was she hiking? It sounds like she told her husband one thing but did a totally different thing and started living elsewhere and doing different things. Unless I read the article wrong, this is truly weird.

Maybe she new of another person she wanted to meet up with but didn't want to tell her husband about it. This person ended up being her killer in the end. I doubt it was a robbery gone wrong because she was found with money on her. If they suspect the husband maybe they should check times and dates to see if anything matches up or doesn't.

I will read other people's posts to learn more information about this case.

If anyone would like to correct me please feel free to do so as I'm sort of confused on some of the contents of the article.

 

[JeannieC]

Homeless woman resembling Judith Smith. Very interesting.


http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/072497/article015.shtml

 

[JeannieC]

Judith was described as a resourceful and assertive woman. She had backpacked across Europe and traveled through Thailand alone. This article says there was no evidence she was ever in the hotel room.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...pg=5714,106324&dq=judith+bradford+smith&hl=en

 

[JeannieC]

I found another thing very interesting. Jeff Smith was a criminal attorney. What was he doing speaking at the NorthEast Pharmaceutical Convention? He was moderating a panel discussion.

Could this have been someone he defended that murdered Judith? Maybe someone with a grudge..........

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=6633,6872895&dq=judith+bradford+smith&hl=en

 

[xLiqoricex]

JeannieC,

Interesting articles!

The Smithspotting article was bizzare. Sounds like the woman they were talking about was insane or on drugs. Maybe it wasn't her. Doesn't make much sense. Maybe she just lost her mind and doesn't who or where she was. Police said that it wasn't her but who knows.

If she was murdered how come there was so much time in between because of the so many supposed sightings. I think if the killer knew her, the person would have killed her immediately got the job done and over with. Unless the sightings weren't her and she ran into foul play while supposedly hiking. I don't see how a murderer could wait to kill someone IF those sightings were really of Judy.

The investigators even believed she was on the campsite voluntarily.
It's weird that before she disappeared she was wearing wedding and engagement rings but when she was found no jewerly was discovered. I think if it was a robbery the money would have been taken. Maybe she didn't want to be with her husband anymore. Or met someone else who was actually a killer who got her isolated far enough to kill her.

 

[McSpy]

Judith was described as a resourceful and assertive woman. She had backpacked across Europe and traveled through Thailand alone. This article says there was no evidence she was ever in the hotel room.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...pg=5714,106324&dq=judith+bradford+smith&hl=en

After reading this article again, I can't help but think she was set up. By who, is the mystery. I don't think she went there, because she was out of her mind crazy. It appears to be a set up. Either the Philly trip was a lie made by the husband or she had gone off with someone she met somewhere. Although, if LE checked any of her phone records, emails, ims or chats and found nothing, it points to the husband.

JMO, which may change at anytime.

 

[McSpy]

JeannieC,

Interesting articles!

The Smithspotting article was bizzare. Sounds like the woman they were talking about was insane or on drugs. Maybe it wasn't her. Doesn't make much sense. Maybe she just lost her mind and doesn't who or where she was. Police said that it wasn't her but who knows.

If she was murdered how come there was so much time in between because of the so many supposed sightings. I think if the killer knew her, the person would have killed her immediately got the job done and over with. Unless the sightings weren't her and she ran into foul play while supposedly hiking. I don't see how a murderer could wait to kill someone IF those sightings were really of Judy.

The investigators even believed she was on the campsite voluntarily.
It's weird that before she disappeared she was wearing wedding and engagement rings but when she was found no jewerly was discovered. I think if it was a robbery the money would have been taken. Maybe she didn't want

to be with her husband anymore. Or met someone else who was actually a killer who got her isolated far enough to kill her.

The rings could have meant a couple of things. Either she took them off to pretend she wasn't married, she took them off on protest against her husband, or her husband took them off in anger. The rings could have been sent to the husband as proof the deed was done or the killer just took them.

 

[McSpy]

I found another thing very interesting. Jeff Smith was a criminal attorney. What was he doing speaking at the NorthEast Pharmaceutical Convention? He was moderating a panel discussion.

Could this have been someone he defended that murdered Judith? Maybe someone with a grudge..........

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=6633,6872895&dq=judith+bradford+smith&hl=en

Hmmm, he was a criminal attorney, His clients were a good source for finding a hired killer.

I could be way off base about the husband, but I have a feeling she could have been set up.

 

[JeannieC]

The rings could have meant a couple of things. Either she took them off to pretend she wasn't married, she took them off on protest against her husband, or her husband took them off in anger. The rings could have been sent to the husband as proof the deed was done or the killer just took them.

I have a few ideas about the rings. Probably all wrong but here goes.
Anytime I do anything outside, go to the beach, to a park, or a vacation I remove my rings. If I travel alone I do the same thing. If my hands get too cold I have had rings drop off. I have lost 3 rings by not removing them.

She might have sold them to get travel money but probably not. He is an attorney and she was a nurse. Probably had money.

If they were pretty nice rings she might have traded them for a car.

The rings could have been stolen by the murderer.

IF (and I don't think she did) she went to the hotel she might have left them with her husband. Or left hem at home. He might not have bothered to tell the police when he found them.

If she was leaving him she might have flushed them. (Sleeping With the Enemy) LOL

I have a friend who threw hers away literally in the trash and another friend who threw hers off the side of a mountain. A NC mountain I might add. lol

 

[JeannieC]

After reading this article again, I can't help but think she was set up. By who, is the mystery. I don't think she went there, because she was out of her mind crazy. It appears to be a set up. Either the Philly trip was a lie made by the husband or she had gone off with someone she met somewhere. Although, if LE checked any of her phone records, emails, ims or chats and found nothing, it points to the husband.

JMO, which may change at anytime.

I might be mistaken but I thought I read in an earlier article that she was not computer savy. She seemed to like the outdoors better than being cooped up. I gathered that from the hiking trips she made on her own.

I wonder if the trip across Europe was with a group. Thailand was alone. Maybe she had friends or a friend from one of those trips. Don't forget the ex-husbands. I think I read that her children were from her second marriage.

That would make Smith her third.

 

[JeannieC]

JeannieC,

Interesting articles!

The Smithspotting article was bizzare. Sounds like the woman they were talking about was insane or on drugs. Maybe it wasn't her. Doesn't make much sense. Maybe she just lost her mind and doesn't who or where she was. Police said that it wasn't her but who knows.

If she was murdered how come there was so much time in between because of the so many supposed sightings. I think if the killer knew her, the person would have killed her immediately got the job done and over with. Unless the sightings weren't her and she ran into foul play while supposedly hiking. I don't see how a murderer could wait to kill someone IF those sightings were really of Judy.

The investigators even believed she was on the campsite voluntarily.
It's weird that before she disappeared she was wearing wedding and engagement rings but when she was found no jewerly was discovered. I think if it was a robbery the money would have been taken. Maybe she didn't want to be with her husband anymore. Or met someone else who was actually a killer who got her isolated far enough to kill her.

LE came back and said the sighting in Philly were not her. In Asheville they thought they were her on the first day. She had asked about parking at one store and sleeping in her car but they wouldn't let her.

I wonder if she parked her car at the National Park and went into the mountains to camp. Maybe someone followed her. She did have a blanket with her and a campsite was set up.

She might have purchased a new backpack and she could have had all her camping items including her hiking boots in her backpack when she arrived. The missing tennis shoes could have been left in the car. For that matter so could her jewelry.

The car is another mystery. Where did it come from and where did it go? Probably the murderer took it. That makes me think it was borrowed or rented in someone else's name and returned to the rental company. Again the murderer would have had to do that.

 

[JeannieC]

I have never heard of this case before but it is truly sad. What confuses me is that she said she was going to do some sight seeing...but why was she hiking? It sounds like she told her husband one thing but did a totally different thing and started living elsewhere and doing different things. Unless I read the article wrong, this is truly weird.

Maybe she new of another person she wanted to meet up with but didn't want to tell her husband about it. This person ended up being her killer in the end. I doubt it was a robbery gone wrong because she was found with money on her. If they suspect the husband maybe they should check times and dates to see if anything matches up or doesn't.

I will read other people's posts to learn more information about this case.

If anyone would like to correct me please feel free to do so as I'm sort of confused on some of the contents of the article.

There are a lot of inconsistancies in this. She missed the first plane from Massachusets to Philly. Her husband took the first flight. She forgot to take her driver's license to the airport and had to go back home. She took a later flight alone. Her ticket was used but no one definitively identified her as being on the plane.

There is no evidence that she was in the hotel room but her husband said she was and was taking a shower when he left for the conference. No female items were found in the room. Not even her dirty underwear. She put the same clothes back on and left.

Its 630 miles to the Pisgah National Forest in Asheville, NC from Philly. At least a 10 -12 hour drive. Buses don't require id's. She might have taken a bus but they didn't find evidence of that. A bus trip could have taken 24 hours........... No plane ride to NC either.

She was sited in NC in several shops. No one mentioned she was with anyone.

She was mistaken for a homeless crazy woman.

It is a real baffling case. Her husband might be totally innocent.

 

[JeannieC]

There was a sleuth named EDWARD GEIGERT, from Philly who worked on the murder of Judith Smith. He worked on Big Name Cases. He was the city's most sought after private investagor.

Another thing she went by Judith Eldridge, Judith Bradford, and Judith Smith. (According to newspaper articles). Her children were Bradford. Her ex-husband was questioned too.

Jeff Smith's daughter or son (I can't remember which) also lived with them. As well as her son Craig and daughter Amy.

 

[JeannieC]

Bad News, EDWARD GEIGERT died of a heart attack April 1998. I don't guess we'll find out what he knew...........

 

[xLiqoricex]

This is kind of far out there but I'm going to throw it out in the open. Maybe someone staged her death to make it look like she left on her own free will to go hiking or to get away from her husband. If this is what happened, the killer had to have known her personality and her hobbies to know that she liked hiking every now and then. I think her idea of sight seeing would have given the person an opportunity to take advantage. This also wouldn't put the husband at the scene so he could have hired someone to do the job for him. He would know the ins and outs of a situation like this. Then again, I don't see how this could work because I'm sure they would have found someone elses DNA on her items. Did they even check for DNA? I mean my theory doesn't really explain the supposed sightings of her. Unless it was someone pretending to be her. Or the sightings were really her and the killer followed her along her trail and then killed her when she was isolated. I don't know. Even my theory has holes in it .


From what others have posted it makes me think that maybe she was never in the hotel since no evidence was found.

I do like the lost ring ideas though. I'm stuck between two scenarios: 1. She took the rings off because she was going to go hiking and left them elsewhere or maybe in the car. Then she was killed and the car was taken with the rings inside of it. 2. She took them off because she no longer considered being with her husband because of a dispute and being angry.

The car deal is what really bugs me too. Where did the car go? Was there a name recorded as to who actually rented the car? There has to be....

It's weird how she supposedly showered but didn't bother to change clothes or change underwear. This makes me want to believe that this part never happened and that her husband lied about it. But yes, he could be totally innocent. But I do think that she left on her own free will up to a certain point starting somewhere.

I guess I'm repeating what a lot of people have mentioned. I hope to find out more information about the car.

 

[JeannieC]

Good theory. A thought crossed my mind when reading your thoughts. Maybe someone did pose as Judith. Her rings were missing.

They found hair on her clothes that resembled horse hair. Judith loved horses so LE thought she had visited a lodge where they had horses. It was written about in the article about the "Boys from Bumcombe" (I might have the title wrong.) LE had the lodge checking the register but It doesn't look like they found her name or I think it would have mentioned.

I don't know if they did DNA or not. I don't believe they did or they would know for certain whether it was horse hair or not. Assuming they kept it. I read one article that said her clothes had slice marks which could have been from a knife. No knife was found at the scene.

Judith was a big woman so she almost had to walk to the camp on her own (or forced). It was a very steep area and carrying her would have been almost impossible. Her husband could not have gotten there at all. He had trouble breathing with normal walking.

I wonder if the hair was tested or could it have been hair from a bear. Maybe she wasn't murdered but attacked by a bear. Maybe it wasn't a shallow grave but an area Judith had dug out just enough to lay down in to protect from the wind and to not be seen by a preditator. For safety. She was an experienced camper. The blanket was in the shallow grave too. Why bury the blanket and not the rest of her things?

Black bears rarely attack adult humans but if she ran into a mother with cubs it might have attacked. A male would attack too. If she fell asleep and woke up to a bear standing over her she didn't have a chance.

If she had food with her (she purchased a bunch of sandwiches) a bear would come to her camp. Maybe she lost the rings during the attack or when other animals chewed on her corpse. Sickening but possible. The bear could have taken her head off in the attack.

My question to LE.......could it have been a bear?

Here is an article about the bears in Piscah that leads me to wonder:
http://www.northcarolinaguide.net/bear-stories-ncs-black-bears/


The next thing is the car. Suppose she rented the car and it was towed as abandoned or picked up by the rental company. They didn't use computers as much in 1997 so it would have been harder to know who towed it or who rented it to her. There were places at used dealerships that used to rent cars for cash off their lots. If it was towed the towing company might have called the dealership and the dealership could have picked it up not even knowing the circumstances. The tow company could have kept it on their lot for a certain amount of time, applied for the title, and sold it.

Remember NC wasn't looking for her..............

 

[crucibelle]

Here's another thought: Did they find dirty underwear in the hotel room? If she had worn the same outfit from the day before, I would think she would have at least changed her underwear.

Not trying to be gross or anything, but maybe she was the type that goes commando? I can see her maybe wearing the same bra again.

 

[crucibelle]

Does anyone know what the motive would have been for her husband to kill her? If he didn't want her anymore, why not just get a divorce? I doubt he would have had to pay her much alimony, if any at all -- they hadn't been married long, and she worked as a nurse. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of a girlfriend or other woman in the husband's life. Did she have a life insurance policy that he collected on, or anything like that?

 

[McSpy]

LE came back and said the sighting in Philly were not her. In Asheville they thought they were her on the first day. She had asked about parking at one store and sleeping in her car but they wouldn't let her.

I wonder if she parked her car at the National Park and went into the mountains to camp. Maybe someone followed her. She did have a blanket with her and a campsite was set up.

She might have purchased a new backpack and she could have had all her camping items including her hiking boots in her backpack when she arrived. The missing tennis shoes could have been left in the car. For that matter so could her jewelry.

The car is another mystery. Where did it come from and where did it go? Probably the murderer took it. That makes me think it was borrowed or rented in someone else's name and returned to the rental company. Again the murderer would have had to do that.

I agree. It was probably rented or owned by someone else. I don't think that LE found any car keys, because it would probably have been mentioned in one of the articles. If she rented a car, LE would have seen it on her credit card statements.

If there was a campsite set up, did they find a tent, sleeping bag and a fire pit? Did they find matches, a lighter or a flashlight? If not, I doubt she was really planning on sleeping there. Maybe, while on her hike, she ran into someone camping and it was their campsite.

Just some thoughts