Global InformationKilling of Judy Smith information
 Picture of Judy Smith and her red backpack distributed after her disappearance | |
| Date | sometime shortly after April 10, 1997 |
|---|---|
| Location | possibly near Asheville, North Carolina, US |
| Burial | cremated |
On September 7, 1997, hunters in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest found human bones, clothing, and some other items scattered in the woods near a campground. The remains, most of which were around a shallow grave, were identified as belonging to a woman between the ages of 40 and 55 with a seriously arthritic knee. Due to holes and cuts on her bra, and similar cutting marks on the bones, investigators ruled that the unidentified decedent had been stabbed to death.[1]
Dental records and the arthritic knee soon led the body to be identified as that of Judy Smith (born Judith Eldredge; December 15, 1946, in Hyannis, Massachusetts), a 50-year-old nurse from Newton, Massachusetts, who had last been positively seen alive by her husband Jeffrey at a hotel in Philadelphia almost five months earlier. When she had not shown up after a day purportedly spent sightseeing in the city, he had reported her missing. Until the bones were found, the search for her had been concentrated in the Philadelphia area, where several sightings had been reported, although some of them may have been of a homeless woman who strongly resembled Smith.[2]
The investigation into the killing has been complicated by the unresolved question of how Smith got to North Carolina from Philadelphia, 600 miles (970 km) away, in the first place.[1] She and her husband planned to stay in the Philadelphia area and visit friends after the conference he was attending ended; she had not expressed any desire to visit the Asheville area where her body was found. Yet when found she was wearing clothes more appropriate for hiking than those she had on when last seen in Philadelphia. It has been speculated that she might have been a victim of serial killer Gary Michael Hilton, who had left one of his victims in a similar condition near where Smith's body was discovered.
Philadelphia police initially considered Jeffrey Smith a suspect, casting doubt on the idea that his wife had even been to the city in the first place. However, his involvement was ruled out due to severe health problems making it unlikely that he could have disposed of her body where it was found. Jeffrey died in 2005.[3] The Philadelphia police, the FBI, and the Buncombe County sheriff's office continue to investigate; the case has been the subject of a segment on Unsolved Mysteries.[4]
- ^ a b O'Neill, Marnie (May 14, 2016). "Boston nurse vanished in Philadelphia, found dead in North Carolina". News.com.au. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ Lewis, Frank (July 17–24, 1997). "Missing". Philadelphia City Paper. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
- ^ "Jeffrey M. Smith". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 1, 2017 – via legacy.com.
- ^ "Judy Smith". Unsolved Mysteries. Retrieved September 1, 2017.