PA PA - Judy Smith, 34, York, 27 January 1995

A green plastic tub -- a "Hellam Township Recycles" bin -- holds almost everything police know about the murder of Judy Smith. The 34-year-old York resident, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, vanished around midnight on Jan. 27, 1995.

A township man searching for a lost cat stumbled upon Smith's decomposed remains almost four months later in a softly rolling wooded field just east and south of the Route 30 Hellam entrance ramp.

Now, the recycling bin holds whatever hope there might be in finding Smith's killer...

Click to expand...

Friends last saw the York woman in the early morning of Jan. 27, 1995. They were leaving a birthday party at Degen's Restaurant, 743 E. Market St., York. Smith left the restaurant just after midnight, said goodbye to a friend and started walking down Market Street.

As she walked away, a large, dark car pulled up. Witnesses described it as a Lincoln Continental with a novelty plate on the front. Smith spoke with the driver of the car.

Pam Lake, the friend who left the restaurant with Smith, wasn't sure what happened next, according to published accounts. Perhaps Smith was forced to get in the car, but police think she entered it willingly. There may have been only a driver, or there may have also been a passenger in the car. One thing is sure. It was the last reported sighting of Smith while alive.

Click to expand...