PA PA - Brenwanda Smith, 24, Philadelphia, 18 Feb 1997

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THE TWO MURDER charges against Juan Covington - and the investigation into other killings he may have committed - convince at least two crime experts that the former SEPTA employee is a serial killer.

Police are looking into the 1997 disappearance of SEPTA bus driver Brenwanda Smith and the death last year of Temple University nurse Ann Yuille.

Covington's attorney Charles Peruto Jr. - hired by the suspect's sometimes estranged brother James Covington - said, "I can't say whether my client is involved with them [the killings] or not."

But, he continued, "he's truly schizophrenic. He was functional. He would function and he didn't know he did something that heinous. He fooled himself and he fooled others."

Covington has confessed to the May 17 shooting of X-ray technician Trish McDermott and to killing his cousin, the Rev. Thomas Lee Devlin in 1998. The confessions were read in court Wednesday and Municipal Judge Marsha Neifield ordered Covington held for trial for both murders.

Brenwanda Smith worked as a SEPTA bus driver from September 1994 to February 1997, said transit agency spokesman Jim Whitaker yesterday. Smith was based out of the SEPTA Luzerne yard in Hunting Park. On Feb. 18, 1997, she went missing after she left the Midvale yard on Wissahickon Avenue near Hunting Park.

"She was working one day and never came back," Whitaker said. Smith was reported missing on Feb. 18.

The alleged killer also confessed to the murder of Odies Bosket, 36, at a Logan subway stop in March, but another man has been arrested in that case. Covington has not been charged.

The 9mm handgun Covington had on him when he was arrested last week matched the bullets fired into Bosket, a father of four, a source said.
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/12204519.htm
 
Updating this case: Covington pleaded guilty but mentally ill to three murders and two counts of attempted murder and received three consecutive life sentences as well as 20-40 years each for the two victims who survived.

Some have speculated that he may have been involved in the disappearance of Brenwanda Smith. She is still missing:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/smith_brenwanda.html
 
Missing Person Case
Brenwanda C. Smith – The Charley Project

From charleyproject

  • Missing Since02/18/1997
  • Missing FromPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
  • ClassificationEndangered Missing
  • Date of Birth05/31/1972 (46)
  • Age24 years old
  • Height and Weight5'9, 135 - 150 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA gold ring on the middle finger of her right hand, a light blue uniform shirt and dark blue uniform pants. A SEPTA logo was on her shirt sleeve; an image of the logo is posted with this case summary.
  • Distinguishing CharacteristicsAfrican-American female. Light brown hair, brown eyes. Smith's hair was styled in braids at the time of her disappearance. Her nickname is Brennie. Smith's ears are pierced.
Details of Disappearance
Smith worked as a bus driver for SEPTA, the public transit system, in 1997; she had held the job since 1994. She was a hold-down operator, meaning she substituted whenever other drivers were sick or on vacation.

Smith reported for work at 4:00 a.m. on February 18, 1997. At 12:00 p.m. day, she was involved in a minor traffic accident and had to fill out an accident report at the depot. She completed her shift at 1:30 p.m. She was last seen at the Luzerne depot near Old York Road and Luzerne Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 7:00 p.m., several hours after her work day ended.

One of her coworkers offered her a ride home, and she stated she already had a ride she was waiting for. She did not have a car of her own, and usually got rides from coworkers or her father, or took the bus home. Smith apparently never arrived at her apartment and has never been heard from again.

Some have speculated that Juan Covington, a diagnosed schizophrenic, former SEPTA employee, and serial killer, may have been involved in Smith's case. A photograph of Covington is posted with this case summary. He had asked Smith for a date, but she rejected him, and she disappeared shortly after arguing with him at the SEPTA yard.

In 2005, Covington admitted to shooting five people over the course of eight years, killing three of them and wounding two. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three terms of life in prison. It's worth noting that, while he freely confessed to the five shooting incidents, he has not admitted any involvement in Smith's disappearance, and the circumstances of his known murders are much different than the circumstances surrounding Smith's case.

Covington has not been charged in Smith's disappearance, and investigators stated there was no evidence he was involved in her case. The fact that she knew him may have been entirely coincidental.

Smith's case remains unsolved. Her parents describe her as a responsible individual who would not have left without warning. She graduated from Central High School. Prior to taking the SEPTA job, she attended business school and worked at a bank.

Smith worked long hours and saved her money to move from Philadelphia to a new apartment in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania; she completed the move shortly before her disappearance and Cheltenham police are investigating her case.
 
Philadelphia police are hoping a new website can bring justice in some of the city’s unsolved murders.

Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Dennis Wilson and Homicide Unit Capt. Jason Smith will unveil PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com at a Thursday afternoon news conference.

The site, which was not yet live as of Thursday morning, is going to serve as a tool for homicide detectives trying to bring some closure for people devastated by losing a loved one, police said.

“While solving these cases will not bring back those whose lives were taken, it may offer victims’ families and friends some sense of resolution,” the department said in a news release.
Solving an Unsolved Murder Could Now Be Just a Click Away
 
NAMUS Link: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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