CA CA - Tera Smith, 16, Redding, 22 August 1998

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Sherri Papini’s family holds out hope in missing ‘supermom’ case
November 11, 2016

snipped...
...The man, whom The Sacramento Bee isn’t naming because he’s never been charged, denied any involvement in Smith’s disappearance. But Smith’s family believed, based on letters and journal entries found in her room, the two were having an affair and that she went that night to end it, according to local media reports.

Smith’s case, which also brought national news crews to Redding, never was relegated to some dusty filing cabinet in the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office. The lead detective still keeps a photo on his desk of the smiling teen. The sheriff acknowledged it’s almost unnerving how much she looks like Papini.

“(Papini) is 34 years old, but she looks much younger,” Bosenko said. “They could probably pass for sisters.”

Even so, there’s no apparent correlation between the two cases, he said.
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http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article114313103.html#storylink=cpy
 
Interesting. None of the pages exist any longer.



lmr said:
Info on Troy Zink:

His Twitter account, notice who he is following
https://twitter.com/charleszink/following

Found posts on Craig's List forum but have since been removed. Poster asking if Troy was still in area and if he owned Chuck's Coins. Answers were, yes. Also, stated that he often goes by Charles Zink (his father's name)
RE: Troy Zink
Zink????
RE Zink????

Troy Zink's business
https://ccpm.com/retail-showroom
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Wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised. There isn't anyone who lives here that doesnt think he is responsible, inlcuding LE. My father was LE at the time and said they KNEW he did it, but there was absolutely nothing at all to tie him to it. There are so many mines, hills, valleys around here- so many places to stash a body. It's horrific to think what her family has suffered and to know there is a good chance they will never be able to lay her to rest. I don't know he lives with himself, let alone still lives here. It's not like we don't know what he did!
MagnoliaMountain said:
Maybe he's reading here...
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suckmykiss said:
Wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised. There isn't anyone who lives here that doesnt think he is responsible, inlcuding LE. My father was LE at the time and said they KNEW he did it, but there was absolutely nothing at all to tie him to it. There are so many mines, hills, valleys around here- so many places to stash a body. It's horrific to think what her family has suffered and to know there is a good chance they will never be able to lay her to rest. I don't know he lives with himself, let alone still lives here. It's not like we don't know what he did!
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They found Erin Corwin in that mine by sending cameras down.

Seems like a cold case rework might be circumstantial enough to convict him. I had not heard her story until the story about SP and it's still clearly obvious he did it to us strangers. What about her scent not being where he said he dropped her off? I feel some very hardcore investigators could Crack this guy and get this solved.

What can we do to try to push her case further along? I'm going to guess there's probably about a 75% chance she's in an old gold mine.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk
 
I don't know, honestly. I'm not a sleuther so I wouldn't even know where to begin. I do know that no one including the cops believed a word of his story. It would be amazing if we could bring this cold case back to life and nail this for what he has gotten away with scot free for the last 20 years.

I do wonder how it would affect her family, though. I am sure they would give anything to have answers but if this didn't produce any it would be like re-opening an old wound. When the Pappini case started getting attention "amateur detectives" started comparing Tera and Sherri and really trying to run with the theory that Sherri is Tera or that the same person who took Tera took Sherri, which is crap. We all know who took Tera and what he did to her. I heard some rumors that as a result of this discussion it really upset the family, which I completely understand.

They own a local mini-golf course/play center and for the longest time when she went missing they had a huge billboard alongside the free way about her disappearance. There was also something along the lines of "Where is Tera? Zink knows" on a billboard. I don't recall if it was the same one or another one they put up.

As I mentioned before, my dad was is retired LE. He worked homicide, and while he didn't catch this case, it's a small enough department everyone was involved whether it was looking for her, discussing the case, running down leads, etc. We talked about this about 6 or 7 years ago and he told me there was never *any* doubt in any of their minds that Zink murdered her. There just wasn't a shred of evidence to prove it. Short of planting evidence at the time, there was nothing that could be done. I remember telling him that day I could understand why someone would want to do that, especially when you know someone is about to get away with murder. He scolded me and told me that is against the oath they take and no decent detetcive would do such a thing. Of course I completely agree, I have little regard for police offers who do that. But on a case like Tera's, I completely understand why someone would.

It would be really amazing if this thread started drumming up some conversation and some of the really knowledge sleuthers that participate on this site were able to find anything that could help bring Tera's family answers. I hesitate to use the word closure, as Jacob Weterling's mother said knowing what happened to him did not bring her closure. It gave them answers, that was all. Her son was still ripped out of their lives, nothing would ever bring them closure.
 
I live in Redding. Although I wasn't here in 1998, like most people here, I am very familiar with the case. The situation was very sad and shocking. A church sponsored " Christian Karate" class was being taught to a group teenagers by a guy who did a year in prison for having sex with a fifteen year old girl. (In California, this is known as statutory rape). The guy knew he would go back to prison for along time if his relationship with Tera came to light.

He admitted that he met up with Tera that night when she told her parents she was going out for a jog. He claimed they talked for a while and then he dropped her of near her home. He then went of somewhere to pray. When questioned, he gave that quick story and then invoked his Faith Amendment rights. He was a criminally sophisticated ex-con.

Anyone familiar with this area knows that there are miles of forest roads that lead to infinite areas where a body could be concealed and never found. Without a body or any evidence that Tera is dead, much less any evidence that Zink hurt her, prosecution would be impossible.
 
I can't imagine how any family deals with the "not knowing" where their loved one is. IMO, it's an added level of cruelty when a perp doesn't have the decency to allow the family to have their loved one returned to them, despite the condition. In this case, it's already been established that TZ was with her, so any DNA found could be disputed and still not necessarily lead to a conviction. The defense could argue that they had spent time together but whatever happened to TS occurred after TZ dropped her off. I'll never understand how he can justify the continued pain to family members rather than submitting an anonymous tip that would lead to finding TS.

On another note, I don't necessarily think TS and SP are related in any way. But I can't dismiss there wouldn't still be some anger on TZ's part for anyone continuing to seek justice for TS. There appear to be a lot of locals pretty convinced that he is responsible for TS's disappearance, which leads me to wonder if there are any support groups for TS (FB or otherwise) that could be a thorn in TZ's side in which he could seek to bring harm to those wanting justice? JMO, but a thought that has crossed my mind if SP belonged to such a group.


suckmykiss said:
I do wonder how it would affect her family, though. I am sure they would give anything to have answers but if this didn't produce any it would be like re-opening an old wound. When the Pappini case started getting attention "amateur detectives" started comparing Tera and Sherri and really trying to run with the theory that Sherri is Tera or that the same person who took Tera took Sherri, which is crap. We all know who took Tera and what he did to her. I heard some rumors that as a result of this discussion it really upset the family, which I completely understand.
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People suspected Sherri to be Tera, really? I just never heard about it before but I'm not too familiar with her case.
 
Yes...to the point it was upsetting to the family from what I understand. Groups were sharing side by side pics of them talking about how it could be her. Then when they got shut down on that, they started the whole BS that the same person who murdered Tera took SP, which obviously is not the case.

I do agree with the other poster who said it would be very hard to convict TZ...but it would be amazing to bring her home to her family. If she could only be found.
 
I was born and raised here, I remember her disappearance very clearly. I was freshly out of high school and it was shocking that something like that could happen in our little town.

You are absolutely right, though. There is so much terrain to cover, I don't know how they could possibly find her without a tip from him. My dad was always certain that he put her down in a mine, which is just foul of TZ and probably exactly where she is. The only problem with that is which mine?? There are so many.

There's written evidence of their affair in Tera's journal and supposedly when she was meeting him she went to break it off. There was also rumor she was pregnant by him and that might be why he killed her. It's hard to say and without having her body the truth can't be known. He is such a .
 
Given what we know about SP's case, it doesn't appear that TZ would've been the one to abduct her. But IMO, not knowing what level of involvement SP could've had in seeking justice for TS, I can't rule him (or anyone) out completely. Given his criminal history towards women, revenge would be a suitable motive for a connection. JMO


suckmykiss said:
Yes...to the point it was upsetting to the family from what I understand. Groups were sharing side by side pics of them talking about how it could be her. Then when they got shut down on that, they started the whole BS that the same person who murdered Tera took SP, which obviously is not the case.

I do agree with the other poster who said it would be very hard to convict TZ...but it would be amazing to bring her home to her family. If she could only be found.
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[video=youtube;uVmd2XDTZfU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVmd2XDTZfU[/video]
 
Does anyone know the name of the RPD officer who reportedly stayed on the case full-time even after the FBI and sheriff’s office stepped in?

Also, did anyone ever look at the officers on duty that evening? Particularly in the East Redding area? The intersection of Old Alturas and Old Oregon Roads was a hotspot at that time where other karate instructors felt safe to take their underage students. They didn’t worry about being caught there. In fact, they felt safe doing pretty much whatever they wanted in their vehicles while parked just off the road, and I know firsthand that Tera’s case was used to threaten other girls who came after her. The instructors who I knew were VERY close to both RPD and the DA’s office, at least two members of which admitted back in 2000 to knowing about their friends’ relationships with minors but never reported anything. I thought it was interesting that a ‘sex ring’ was mentioned in the Papini case because, while that matter appears to be a total hoax, there absolutely was a nonexclusive group of karate instructors who preyed on their underage students during and around the time Tera disappeared, and it appeared to be somewhat of an open secret among those involved, as well as their LE friends. I am terribly disheartened and yet not at all surprised by what appears to be LE suppression of evidence and/or stonewalling, at least with regard to inspecting Zink’s truck and releasing information regarding the nature of his relationship with Tera, which was pretty undeniable from the start. My sincere hope is that her family have managed to find peace despite so many unknowns.
 
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