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

[McSpy]

I'm not sure. At first, when I read your post, I thought yes that's strange. After reflecting on it a while, I'm not so sure. Mr. Smith tried (or certainly appeared to try) to find her in Philly and continued his efforts while she was officially missing. Once the body was found, there was no further point in talking to LE. She was murdered, buried, and dug up by animals, and nothing was going to change that.

I suppose if it were me, I'd have gone to NC to see if there was any info I could share that would help local LE find the killer. But Smith may have figured he didn't have anything to offer. As for seeing where the person died, I don't know. I would want to visit the place, but I can understand that many people might not want to do so. Does every mother and father really want to go to Iraq or Afghanistan to see the exact spot their son died?
He may not have been able to face it.

In Smiths mind, the case may have been "over" at the point where he learns
she's dead. His experience as a lawyer may have told him the probability of finding the killer was low. Finding the killer wouldn't bring her back anyway. I can understand him just giving up at that point.

I bolded the above question.

The family of a soldier killed in action usually know the reason their loved one was in the foreign country and how or why they were killed. In the case of Judy, no one knows who killed her or why she was there. It is unexpected for a civilian to disappear and show up dead miles and miles away.

It is possible her husband was exhausted and depressed over his wife's
disappearance and murder. Maybe, he wasn't emotionally ready to see the scene of her murder. I wonder if her children visited the area?

 

[Chrishope]

I bolded the above question.

The family of a soldier killed in action usually know the reason their loved one was in the foreign country and how or why they were killed. In the case of Judy, no one knows who killed her or why she was there. It is unexpected for a civilian to disappear and show up dead miles and miles away.

It is possible her husband was exhausted and depressed over his wife's
disappearance and murder. Maybe, he wasn't emotionally ready to see the scene of her murder. I wonder if her children visited the area?

Sure, in the case of soldiers, the reason for the death is known. I'm just asking about wanting to see the place of death. What is that going to accomplish? I don't think everyone would want to see it. I probably would, but others might not.

 

[JeannieC]

Did they move? Was that mentioned in one of the articles?

In one article it said something about a nearby house where lesbians lived at the time Judith was killed stands empty now. I didn't copy the article because it was basically the same thing every other article had said. Wish I had now. I'll try to find it.

 

[JeannieC]

Sure, in the case of soldiers, the reason for the death is known. I'm just asking about wanting to see the place of death. What is that going to accomplish? I don't think everyone would want to see it. I probably would, but others might not.

You are right..imo. Some people would want to see the place or at least the surrounding area. Others would not. He wasn't in good health so it might have been both physically and mentally too much for him to handle.

I stand humbly corrected. Thanks, Chrishope.

 

[twinkiesmom]

Did you notice in one of the articles that it stated that Judith was known for taking hiking trips alone? She might have gone to the Piscah National Park alone to go hiking. That didn't seem to be against her nature but the big question is how did she get there?

On the devious side....her husband was at a Pharmaceutical convention. Lots of drugs and drug samples were probably given out. That was before the FDA quit allowing samples to be given out.

They don't give out free samples at a pharmaceutical convention...The rules that were recently tightened impacted distribution of pens and totebags with company/drug logos. I doubt she died of a paper cut from pamphlets!

 

[JeannieC]

They don't give out free samples at a pharmaceutical convention...The rules that were recently tightened impacted distribution of pens and totebags with company/drug logos. I doubt she died of a paper cut from pamphlets!

The tightening of free drug samples didn't happen until 2007, 2008, and 2009. Prior to that free samples were given out like candy.

 

[McSpy]

Since Jeffrey passed away, I don't think LE will solve the case without someone pushing the case. Hopefully, Judy's kids are putting some pressure on LE to find the murderer.

 

[JeannieC]

I thought the same thing. I hope they are too. Without pressure it will just go into a cold case file and that will be the end of it.

 

[xLiqoricex]

I think animals dug her up from a shallow grave and in the process her bones became scattered around. It is interesting that her shirt was buried with over 80 bucks in the pocket. It sounds like it was buried separately from her body. Could she have been sexually assaulted? One thing I have found odd-- most women don't put money in their shirts--that's a guy thing. I wonder if she was found with long underwear tops on as well as bottoms and if the shirt had cut marks or the long underwear top had cut marks. Also, why would she bring a blanket up there. Was it for a picnic? Perhaps that is where was going to eat
the $30. worth of sandwiches with someone else. They didn't say if the backpack was buried or if it was just sitting there in the so called "campsite."

Sorry, I'm rambling here, I'm just trying to warp my head around this case.

It's totally fine. Never thought of that..where the money was located in her shirt. If she was assaulted they should have found DNA unless they couldn't check at the time. But they should check now. I think you could be on to something. The 30 dollars worth of sandwiches could have been for someone else or she could have bought them for herself to eat to hold her over for a few days. But not entirely sure.

It's so frustrating and this case stuck with me through the fourth of July. Nothing makes sense. I can't seem to put it together and it's just frustrating.

 

[xLiqoricex]

Anybody know if Judy suffered from demetia by any chance? Sometimes people who suffer from that don't know where they are or who they are with. Someone who has demetia can wander off because of confusion. Maybe this happened to Judy and she ran into foul play. I have known some people in person who had similar cases of wandering off and then being found, mostly because of demetia. Also, drugs can also make demetia worse...especially if someone is being over dosed on medications. So all this talk about medication makes me want to point to the husband. And the fact that he refused a lie detector test.

And if the animals dug up her bones, then she certainly could not have burried herself. Someone else had to have done it.

 

[JeannieC]

It's totally fine. Never thought of that..where the money was located in her shirt. If she was assaulted they should have found DNA unless they couldn't check at the time. But they should check now. I think you could be on to something. The 30 dollars worth of sandwiches could have been for someone else or she could have bought them for herself to eat to hold her over for a few days. But not entirely sure.

It's so frustrating and this case stuck with me through the fourth of July. Nothing makes sense. I can't seem to put it together and it's just frustrating.

I wonder what kind of sandwiches she bought. Meat or fish would spoil so she would need to eat them quickly. That makes me think she had someone else with her. Of course we don't know how much each sandwich cost and $30 would buy more sandwiches in 97 than today.

 

[xLiqoricex]

I wonder what kind of sandwiches she bought. Meat or fish would spoil so she would need to eat them quickly. That makes me think she had someone else with her. Of course we don't know how much each sandwich cost and $30 would buy more sandwiches in 97 than today.

I agree with you that there most likely was someone else with her and this person could have been her killer. It has been the only scenario that has stuck with me the entire time. It's either her husband had her killed or she met someone who happened to be a murderer. But I really think it's one or the other. I've said before that if her bones were most likely dug up then someone had to have burried her. It's extremely difficult to burry ones own body. Unless someone digs a hole and crawls in then pushes rocks over and even that sounds insane. Maybe she met someone from online in secret from her husband. I wonder if her Judy had a computer..maybe it can be tested to check e-mails or sites that were looked up. This person could be anyone.

I thought I read that her husband died? Can someone please verify this?


Judy Smith - Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums Here is an article I found. Someone posted in there that a friend of Judy said that said that she believed Judy and her husband got into an argument and she wanted to spend some time alone away from her husband. In addition, it was said by the police believed that the blue and black backpack left at the scene was left by her killer and not by Judy. There was also a pair of sunglasses found that they also did not believe they belonged to Judy. Don't know how much of this is true or if anyone else can confirm this through other opinions or article. If it's true, I don't know why any killer would leave their stuff behind. Unless it was to throw off the whole crime scene. Maybe a killer really set up the crime scene.

 

[McSpy]

I agree with you that there most likely was someone else with her and this person could have been her killer. It has been the only scenario that has stuck with me the entire time. It's either her husband had her killed or she met someone who happened to be a murderer. But I really think it's one or the other. I've said before that if her bones were most likely dug up then someone had to have burried her. It's extremely difficult to burry ones own body. Unless someone digs a hole and crawls in then pushes rocks over and even that sounds insane. Maybe she met someone from online in secret from her husband. I wonder if her Judy had a computer..maybe it can be tested to check e-mails or sites that were looked up. This person could be anyone.

I thought I read that her husband died? Can someone please verify this?


Judy Smith - Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums Here is an article I found. Someone posted in there that a friend of Judy said that said that she believed Judy and her husband got into an argument and she wanted to spend some time alone away from her husband. In addition, it was said by the police believed that the blue and black backpack left at the scene was left by her killer and not by Judy. There was also a pair of sunglasses found that they also did not believe they belonged to Judy. Don't know how much of this is true or if anyone else can confirm this through other opinions or article. If it's true, I don't know why any killer would leave their stuff behind. Unless it was to throw off the whole crime scene. Maybe a killer really set up the crime scene.

Supposedly, she was not computer literate. It was not unusual for someone her age (50) to not have a computer back in 1997.

Yes, her husband died a few years ago (a shocker). I think I posted a link on this forum a page or 2 back.

Maybe she did take off on her own, because she was angry with he husband, but why would her husband say that she arrived with flowers and an apology in Philly? Why would she take off to NC after apologizing? Seems very odd she would take off after they made up.

 

[JeannieC]

I agree with you that there most likely was someone else with her and this person could have been her killer. It has been the only scenario that has stuck with me the entire time. It's either her husband had her killed or she met someone who happened to be a murderer. But I really think it's one or the other. I've said before that if her bones were most likely dug up then someone had to have burried her. It's extremely difficult to burry ones own body. Unless someone digs a hole and crawls in then pushes rocks over and even that sounds insane. Maybe she met someone from online in secret from her husband. I wonder if her Judy had a computer..maybe it can be tested to check e-mails or sites that were looked up. This person could be anyone.

I thought I read that her husband died? Can someone please verify this?


Judy Smith - Sitcoms Online Message Boards - Forums Here is an article I found. Someone posted in there that a friend of Judy said that said that she believed Judy and her husband got into an argument and she wanted to spend some time alone away from her husband. In addition, it was said by the police believed that the blue and black backpack left at the scene was left by her killer and not by Judy. There was also a pair of sunglasses found that they also did not believe they belonged to Judy. Don't know how much of this is true or if anyone else can confirm this through other opinions or article. If it's true, I don't know why any killer would leave their stuff behind. Unless it was to throw off the whole crime scene. Maybe a killer really set up the crime scene.

Hi xLiqoricex. I read the message board and the poster appears to have some things confused. I think this person probably got all their information from a tv show. Most of this information is assumptions. The argument with her husband, the backpack belonging to someone else, all of this is part of the mystery. I believe they did say the sunglasses were not her's, the backpack was new and she always carried an old red one. The money was right. I believe her jewelry was missing and LE later recovered it. The crazy woman they mentioned in NC was a homeless woman not Judy.

Jeffrey Smith did pass away.

Judith Smith wasn't computer savy according to her husband and son. I don't think the crime scene was staged. Someone might have left in a hurry and left their backpack behind or Judith might have purchased a new one. IMO LE would have tracked it down on her credit cards so I'm inclined to believe it wasn't her backpack.

I'm inclined to believe she met someone while nursing a patient. Same way she met Jeff Smith. If LE has any suspects or leads they are sure keeping it quiet.

 

[xLiqoricex]

The person could have definitely left in a hurry. And thanks for clarifying things about the article. If they didn't think the sunglasses were not hers then I'm sure they couldn't do much testing back in 1997. I hope they look into testing it now if they still have the glasses. I don't know. I'm sure people are working on solving this confusing mystery. I thought about how computers weren't as popular back in the 90's as I typed my last post before this one. But I thought I'd just throw it out there. I guess I'm wishing that one bit of information that someone reads or learns of from somewhere can solve this whole mystery for good.


Wow, I honestly did not know that she met Jeff through nursing him from the sounds of it. She could have met someone through nursing for sure. Thanks for sharing this bit of info because now I have an even bigger open mind about what might have happened.

I haven't found any articles that haven't been posted yet. But I will keep my eye out for any.

 

[McSpy]

The person could have definitely left in a hurry. And thanks for clarifying things about the article. If they didn't think the sunglasses were not hers then I'm sure they couldn't do much testing back in 1997. I hope they look into testing it now if they still have the glasses. I don't know. I'm sure people are working on solving this confusing mystery. I thought about how computers weren't as popular back in the 90's as I typed my last post before this one. But I thought I'd just throw it out there. I guess I'm wishing that one bit of information that someone reads or learns of from somewhere can solve this whole mystery for good.


Wow, I honestly did not know that she met Jeff through nursing him from the sounds of it. She could have met someone through nursing for sure. Thanks for sharing this bit of info because now I have an even bigger open mind about what might have happened.

I haven't found any articles that haven't been posted yet. But I will keep my eye out for any.

To clarify, Judy met Jeff when she was taking care of his ailing father. She could have met someone else doing the same type thing after she was married to Jeff.

 

[OneLostGrl]

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.

What bugs me about the rings is- Lt. Constance and his investigators really seem to have searched for evidence long and hard in and around the area where Judy was found and didn't find her rings. (sourcehttp://archives.citypaper.net/articles/100997/cb.buncombe.shtml ) Then last April they re-searched the area and found the rings. (source http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/073098/om1.shtml )

Makes me wonder if the rings could have been placed there after the initial searches.

 

[OneLostGrl]

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.

Too bad they didn't check for her prints/DNA in the hotel room

 

[OneLostGrl]

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.

See post and link above.. they found her rings at the scene where her body was found.

 

[OneLostGrl]

I wish I knew a little bit more about her personality and habits. Maybe, she was too trusting. Perhaps, she was a flower child from the 60s at heart and didn't think twice about taking off to commune with nature. I'd like to hear more from her relatives and friends about her life. I don't trust her husband's version. He thinks she may have gone crazy, which could be true, but wouldn't there have been proof of it before the Philly trip?

As for the ex-husbands, she had been with her present husband for 10 years and her children were adults as far as I know, so it seems unlikely one of these husbands would have a motive to hurt her. However, it would be a good idea for LE to question them about her personality and habits. There could be some insight to gain.

I don't think *he* thinks she went crazy.. he very clearly states she was fine mentally when he saw her that morning. I think he's saying that based on the "witness" statements, she seems to have been "not in her right mind" during the time she was missing but before she was found dead.

http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/071797/article010.shtml