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

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A real Mindboggler. There are some hinkey things about the husband (the missed flight, no dirty clothing or cosmetics and not taking a lie detector) but it looks like Judy went to the burial site on her own volition. It would be very difficult for a strong, big, fit man to move a body a 1/4 mile. (I couldn't figure out the distance from the parking area but I assume it to be over 1/4 mile) 135 lbs is very heavy to lift and carry)

The only way I can see the husband doing it if he left with her at least 2 days early, drove to NC, took her on a hike and killed her and then returned to Mass and staged the flight to Pa. Can Her kids verify that they saw her a day or two before they left for Pa? If so, I can't see how he could have done it. Sure, he could have hired a hit man (are reliable hit men that easy to find?) but a hired hit that involved luring the victim to go hiking 500 miles a way seems absurd.

That seems to leave the possibility that she just left their hotel with only her makeup and a few toilettries and makeup and had herself an adventure that lead to a hike in NC with a new "friend" and her death. Very strange,

I tend to be skeptical of eyewitness who come out of the woodwork during all high profile cases but if they were well vetted by skilled officers and they know details that were not otherwise reported, they can be very credible. I am a little bothered by the fact that the husband wouldn't take the Polygraph. Lawyers tend to be leary of them but refusing to take one is suspicious. Otherwise, his behavior is pretty consistant with innocence. Men who disappear their wives tend to put on good shows with crocodile tears and televised pleas but they don't tend to waste a lot of time and money searching for their wives. Is it possible that he genuinly did not know what happened to her but he concealed something significant from LE? (a boyfriend, mental illness, drug abuse etc)
 
I figure the husband, being a lawyer knows all the ins and outs of what he can and can't get away with to do with the polygraph. Using the excuse he was on medication and couldn't take the polygraph puts a red flag up for me. The police either didn't question his claim or they verified it.
 
I am torn about Jeffrey. When I read his interviews and read about what he did to try and find his wife I start thinking he didn't have anything to do with it but then when I look at the other facts I start to lean towards him doing it. I just don't know.

I wish there was more info about what LE has confirmed. Was Judy Smith on that later flight? In the first link posted it says that on the morning she disappeared a hotel employee recalled giving Judy directions on where to catch the bus she needed. The bus driver said he remembered picking Judy up. Those two people along with the desk clerk makes three people who confirmed she was there and if you count the convention attendee that makes four. I wonder if any airline stewards were able to confirm it was Judy Smith on the flight.....

From everything I've read and the interviews on the Unsolved Mysteries show I think Judy's kids don't believe Jeff had anything to do with this.

Regarding the polygraph I can kind of understand his point of view. They are not admissable in court for a reason. I'm not sure I would give a polygraph either. You know that feeling when someone accuses you of something you didn't do but you immediately start feeling guilty? I can understand the worry that you might feel too nervous or upset and it would register as a false reading.

The hotel didn't have a guest registry - perhaps they did not have cameras either.
 
http://www.citypaper.net/articles/073098/om1.shtml?print=1

I found the above follow-up article. More good info but nothing to clear this up.

"We have the fact that her plane ticket from Boston was used. There were the right amount of people on the flight. We have a doctor from Chicago who observed her in the proper time frame." It seems that there is a pretty good chance Judith was really on the 7:30 flight. Someone used her ticket. Could it have been a ringer? Could Jeffery have had a GF who looked close enough to Judith to get on the flight with her i.d.? (I flew with my kid, who was about 20 in 2003. He forgot his i.d. and was still able to board after a certain amount of hastle.) It really wasn't necessary for Judith to go back so I don't know what to make of it.

I don't know the last time Judiths kids saw her but the more I think about it, it seems unlikely that Jeffery could have lured her NC before the trip to PA. I'm not sure that both kids lived with the couple but if they didn't, she probably would have let them know her comings and goings. He certainly would not have been sure that she hadn't told somebody. Overall, I have to pretty much rule out the possibility that Judith was dead in NC at the time Jeffery flew to PA.

I looked the area the body was found on Google earth. I couldn't locate the exact spot but it was on a dead-end rural road about 12 miles from Ashville. This is private land and it isn't near any kind of landmark or attraction. I can't think of any reason that someone unfamiliar with the area would go there. It doesn't seem likely that a killer would take someone to that spot for a "fatal hike" without knowing the lay of the land in advance. Now I notice that Jeffery was in some kind of a weight loss program in NC (where Judith visited him) I wonder if it was anywhere near Ashville?

I'm back to the "left on her own from Philly" theory. If she was as "disoriented" as the Philly sightings suggest, how would she make it to NC with new hiking cloths and why would someone take her to the end of Pisgah View Ranch Rd, get her to take a "hike" and kill her? I can't imagine how would this play out.

I think it far more likely that she took off in a more orderly planned manner; probably planning to return to work (but perhaps not to Jeffery) when her scheduled vacation was over. It is possible that an unhappy wife just took a little "vacation from her marriage" and ran into a serial killer. Perhaps the missed flight was a rouse to go back to her home and get some other clothers or make some preparations Jeffery wouldn't know about.

Not taking the poly is problematic. I can see a lawyer just up front refusing to take one and explaining the refusal on his professional knowledge of their "unreliability". Instead he played a cat and mouse game but contantly avoided taking one. This is more suspicious. Realistically, even innocent people have things to hide. That may explain it.

What happened is a real mystery.
 
Thanks for the link Kemo. I had not read that article yet. So LE did confirm her ticket was used and the right number of people were on the plane. I wonder if the couple got into an arguement that night over her forgetting her ID and Judy decided she did not want to spend the rest of her vacation with him.

Biltmore Village seems like a place she would like to visit. It has lots of antique stores, art galleries, etc.
http://www.biltmorevillage.com/

Kemo - where did read about Jeffrey being in a weight watch program in NC?
 
Very good point about the airline ticket. I was a corp. travel agent for 14 yrs, and I remember using old tickets that a client did not use, for another client (from the same company.) For example: The ticket is made out to Bobbie Jones going to New York City. Bobbie Jones does not go on his scheduled trip, but the ticket is nonrefundable. John Smith needs to travel to NYC, so we give him Bobbie Jones ticket. Back in the "old days" airlines did NOT look for ID, so it was very easy to do this with clients--we used to do it all the time. It wasn't until the mid 90's that airlines started to get strict with nonrefundable tickets. It would have been very easy for someone to use a ticket in the name of Judy Smith without it actually being her.

Debbie Miller said:
Smith says he returned to his room from breakfast and suggested to his showering wife that she try it. Judith joked about going as she was, naked and dripping wet.
Smith says he then left the room for the day's hectic schedule, which culminated with his moderating the final session of the day. When he returned to the room, at about 5:30, Judith wasn't there.

How could a clothing description be given if he last saw her (or spoke to her) while she was showering?

I am taking it that her kids lived in Ma. also and had contact with her as well as the friend who is interviewed on the unsolved mysteries link. But the timing of death of the bones is not sitting well with me.

It is verified that the ticket was used from Ma. to Pa. but was it by the "real" Judith Smith?

Something with this whole story isn't adding up for me.

I am wondering if it would be possible to call the PD involved with this and ask some questions.
Click to expand...
 
gaia227
from the second cityview article "Her only connections, he says, were a week-long trip to Raleigh-Durham to visit Jeffrey at a weight-loss facility several years ago"

Raleigh-Durham is 250 miles from Asheville this doesn't connect Jeffery to the murder site. If Judith spent a week in Raleigh-Durham, I would think she was on her own most of the time. Outside of fixed visiting hours, I assume Jeffery would be doing whatever treatment patients receive. Perhaps she rented a car and went up to the Biltmore or explored the Blue Ridge mts in the area?

Thinking about it, it seems real unlikley that amyone but the real Judith took the 7:30 flight. It would require an accompolist that was approx the same height, weight and age who would be close enough in appearence to use her Drivers Lic as i.d. (and what would be the point of the "missed flight"?) I'm pretty convinced that Judith took off from Philly. I'm baffled at how she got from there to the murder site.
 
gaia227 said:
......I could have sworn on Unsolved Mysteries it said they had decided to take their honeymoon in Philly ( I remember that because I thought since they live in Boston Philly doesn't seem like a real exciting place to go on a honeymoon - don't get me wrong, Philly is a great city I just mean it is similar to Boston) and then they said they did it in conjunction with his conference and I thought okay that makes more sense. However, it does not say anything about that on their website.
Click to expand...

I saw this on UM this weekend and they were definitely on their honeymoon. I felt like UM presented this as a case where the wife had some sort of mental break and took off. Maybe that was just my impression though, it wasn't like they directly said that.
 
Interesting how "the honeymoon" isn't mentioned in the interview, though.

I keep rereading the articles of what Jeffrey says, trying to read between the lines.
 
I can't find any references to a "honeymoon" in the Cityview article or the UM web page. It was ceretainly not a honeymoon, it was a business conference that Jeffery was participating in. Judith was just "tagging along". If Jeffery actually refered to it as a "honeymoon", I would find that deceptive, but I'm not sure he did.
 
kemo said:
from the second cityview article "Her only connections, he says, were a week-long trip to Raleigh-Durham to visit Jeffrey at a weight-loss facility several years ago"
Click to expand...

I am hoping that the police verified that he was there. Makes me wonder why he went all the way to NC for a weight loss clinic, wouldn't Mass. or PA. have a clinic of this sort?
 
But if Judy left Philadelphia of her own free will, the question was why. Judy’s friend, Carolyn Dickey, had her own theory for Judy’s disappearance:
“At the time this happened, Jeff and Judy's marriage was very tenuous. I believe that something did happen that triggered her to want to have some time away from Jeff.” This gives credit to the fact that Judy was alive in April, but it still doesn't coincide with the ME's report of one year, possibly two that the remains were in that shallow grave.



ten⋅u⋅ous   /ˈtɛn
thinsp.png
yu
thinsp.png
əs/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ten-yoo-uh
thinsp.png
s] Show IPA Pronunciation

–adjective 1.thin or slender in form, as a thread.2.lacking a sound basis, as reasoning; unsubstantiated; weak: a tenuous argument. 3.thin in consistency; rare or rarefied.4.of slight importance or significance; unsubstantial: He holds a rather tenuous position in history. 5.lacking in clarity; vague: He gave a rather tenuous account of his past life.

I would have to say the meaning of the word related to their marriage would be the second definition.

The marriage is weak.
 
kemo said:
gaia227
from the second cityview article "Her only connections, he says, were a week-long trip to Raleigh-Durham to visit Jeffrey at a weight-loss facility several years ago"

Raleigh-Durham is 250 miles from Asheville this doesn't connect Jeffery to the murder site. If Judith spent a week in Raleigh-Durham, I would think she was on her own most of the time. Outside of fixed visiting hours, I assume Jeffery would be doing whatever treatment patients receive. Perhaps she rented a car and went up to the Biltmore or explored the Blue Ridge mts in the area?
Click to expand...

I was reading somewhere - I'll have to go back and search! - that a reporter was told that she was visiting two nurses who lived in a house near where her body was found. When he told the local LE, they didn't seem interested in that bit of information... I'll search and post the link...
 
Found the article I was referring to: http://www.citypaper.net/articles/100997/cb.buncombe.shtml:

(scroll down to just above 'Epilogue II'..."He is less interested in the story residents of Pisgah View Road told me about Smith being in the area to visit two nurses who lived in a house near where her body was found.

'We don't think there is a connection there,' he says, before heading out the door."
Click to expand...
 
Friday morning, Constance discounts any chance that Judith Smith stayed at the Mountain Springs Cabins and Chalet. But there were two positive sightings.
A woman at a Christmas store at the Biltmore estate says she definitely saw a woman matching Smith's description back in April. Constance says this is a solid witness.
The operator of Big Cove Campground, a few miles west of Pisgah View Road, also reported seeing a woman matching Smith's description. She pulled into the campground in a gray sedan filled with bags and boxes. She wanted to know if she could spend the night in her car and drove away when informed she couldn't.
The information about the gray sedan matches information I gathered when I drove back up Pisgah View Road on my own Friday afternoon.
Diane Crowell, owner of Crowell's Deli, tells me that a woman who looked like Smith stopped by in April, bought $30 worth of sandwiches and a toy truck. She was driving a gray sedan.
"That's her," Crowell tells me as I show her the picture on the cover of our July 11 issue. "I know she came in here."
Back in his office, Constance, now dressed in shorts and about ready to leave for Atlanta, is interested in Crowell's story.

She was said to have only had $200.00 cash on her. How did she obtain a car, you have to have a credit card or bank card to do this. I rented a car in 1996 and I was told it couldn't be cash.
 
Another thought... and it's way out there... but, what if that body wasn't Judy? I've read that dental records were sent down from Boston to NC and that forensics made a positive ID based on that. However, I also read a quote (I read alot of this case last night after drinking 3 Cokes yesterday and not being able to sleep) that someone said that Judy had had extensive dental work and the body they found had also had extensive dental work. I wonder how closely they looked at it? Here what makes me think there is a small chance it's not her:

- the general quote of implying "oh they both had lots of dental work"
- the local LE saying there was animal hair on her clothes that could be from a horse, when my first thought was wild animals (the comment just didn't seem very 'smart' to me - can't think of the right word here - just seems like local LE may not be making alot of connections all around)
- the long underwear, etc, doesn't match time of year
- coronor saying body had been there at least a year, maybe two

The sightings? Well, she doesn't really stand out or anything - could be mistaken identities. For example, MONTHS later, how do you recall that a woman bought a sandwich and spent X amt of dollars, when you see people all day every day? There are just alot of loopholes here. JMHO.
 
belimom said:
The sightings? Well, she doesn't really stand out or anything - could be mistaken identities. For example, MONTHS later, how do you recall that a woman bought a sandwich and spent X amt of dollars, when you see people all day every day? There are just alot of loopholes here. JMHO.
Click to expand...

Your question hits home for me because- I am a cashier/office assistant in a very busy grocery store. There was one day that an incident had happened in the store - some people (they were black) were in the store one was riding in a motorized cart and had a video camera and was taping things inside the store, one of the men in that party had come to the office to receive money from western union. The man stood out with his red windsuit on. Well when they exited the store the guy in the motorized cart had a couple of items that weren't paid for and the manager and I followed them out so the manager could retrieve the stolen goods. Well I remembered that the one guy got the western union and I thought I had recalled the exact one that he got, as I had done 3 in a 8 minute window. When the police arrived, I pulled out the one I remembered as his, they followed the lead and went to the guy's house and it turns out it was an older white guy. So I had confused the information. When you are working in a public place, I would have to say that it is very hard to recall exact times and faces.

Just an example.
 
Forensic dental comparison is a long established method of identifying human remains but a dentist can always make a mistake, I would expect this to be unusual but anything could happen and that would realy throw a wrench in this investigation. I recall once at work I spent hours going over a discrency that suggested employee fraud only to discover it was all a clerical error caused by a dead person and a living person having the same name. I would hope that the forensic identification was "double checked"

I wondered about the possibility that Judith got a rental car in Philly. That would be the logical way for a "runaway wife" to get to NC to do a little hiking. Surley an unreturned rental car would come to the husband's attention. My understanding is that when a rental car in unreturned, the rental company will report it as stolen quite quckly so that it will turn up on a national stsolen car list. That way they will be able to recover it when to come to the attention of LE. (usually it is found abandoned). At that point, the rental co is concerned about recovering damages. If the limits of the credit card will cover the full cost, they will probably just bill the card. Otherwise they will utlize their on ivestigators and local police and attempt to procecute the rentor (and hopefuylly use the threat of prosecution as leverage to obtain payment). You would expect this to come to Jeffery's attention real fast: heafty charges to their credit cards, inquries from investigators or police, demand leters from the rental co etc. The only exception to this would be if Judith had a "secret" credit card, say in her maiden name, at a PO box and took serious efforts to hide it from Jeffery. This is not that unusual. particularly in a "tenuous" marriage. It is possible that a rental car/credit card debt in Judith's name would never be traced back to Jeffery. I wonder if that possibility has been explored?
 
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