The Mysterious Murder of Judy Smith

On April 10, 1997, Jeffrey Smith kissed his wife goodbye in the lobby of the DoubleTree Hotel in Philadelphia, Pa; that was the last time he would ever see her.

Judy had met Jeffrey while working as an in-home nurse, she was caring for his father, who had recently had throat surgery, and the two of them became close.

At this point, Judy had already had two marriages, two divorces, and two adult children. Jeffrey was also divorced with a grown child, and they began dating. Both took things slow due to failed marriages and were in no rush. It took them seven years before moving in together and another three until they were married in 1996.

The trip to Philadelphia was for Jeffreys's work; he was a lawyer representing the Northeast Pharmaceutical Conference. Judy decided to go and explore the city of Philadelphia while he was at the conference during the day.

In the evenings, they would attend the gatherings of the conference together, as well as meet up with friends. The conference lasted from April 9-11, 1997.

Problems with the trip began when they got to the airport, and Judy realized she forgot her ID to fly. However, she encouraged Jeffrey to go along without her, and she would take a flight later in the evening.

Judy met Jeffrey in Philadelphia later that night and even brought Jeff flowers as an apology. Judy and Jeffrey lived outside of Boston, so it was a short flight, with multiple daily flights. Jeffrey also was not bothered, and he was happy that she made it, even if it was a bit later than planned.

The next morning Jeffrey had a day full of work at the conference, and Judy planned to see some of the tourist sights in Philadelphia, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. They had both agreed to be back at the hotel around 5 pm so they could attend a cocktail party that evening.

That morning, Jeffrey kissed Judy goodbye; that was the last time he saw her. Jeffrey returned to the hotel after his conference a little later than planned, but Judy was away. He thought maybe she went down without him, so he went to the cocktail party, but no sign of Judy.

After about an hour, she still had not appeared and did not call. It was not normal for her; she always kept in touch, especially if she was running late. Most of her belongings were still in the room except what she had brought with her that day, including her wallet, silver wedding band, diamond engagement ring, and red backpack.

She never carried a purse and often opted for her red backpack. It was also believed that she brought roughly $200 cash. When Judy did not come home, Jeffrey got into a cab and went the same route as Judy did earlier in the day, thinking he could retrace her steps and find her.

However, he did not see her, and when it was around midnight, he decided to call the police and file a missing person report; they dismissed him as it had not yet been 24 hours. Jeffrey, however, had connections and went to the mayor of Philadelphia, Ed Rendell, and Pennsylvania House Rep, John Perzel.

They both happened to be at the conference and requested an investigation into Judy's disappearance. As the husband, Jeffrey was naturally a suspect, and some even believed she was never in Philadelphia, with very few eyewitnesses that she was there.

However, that theory was short-lived, as she was listed as being on the plane the night before. As well as, hotel employees reported telling her what bus to take for her sightseeing tour, and the bus driver recalled picking her up and dropping her off near the hotel at 3 pm.

Those were the usual eyewitness reports; they get a bit bizarre from there. Some eyewitnesses reported they saw her near the Greyhound station, and some reported seeing her leaving on a Greyhound bus.

Others said they saw a woman that could have been Judy, seeming disoriented, delusional, and speaking in tongues. However, this theory has been debunked as someone who did resemble Judy but was not her, it was a homeless woman who looked like Judy and lived in the area where she disappeared.

The woman looked so much like Judy that her son thought it was his mother when he saw her. But, unfortunately, it was not Judy. At this point, the news had spread about the disappearance of Judy and even, at one point during the investigation, made it onto Unsolved Mysteries.

A woman came forward who worked as a cashier at Macy's in the Deptford Mall in New Jersey stated that she encountered Judy. The woman even commented her daughter never liked the clothes she picked out for her, and according to her daughter, this sounded like her mother.

The woman also stated she had a red backpack on, the shopping center was only 22 miles from Philadelphia, and she even mentioned her husband was at a conference.

However, according to the cashier, if it was Judy, she appeared confused and tried to get a young woman in the store to leave the mall with her. She stated it was her daughter, but it was not.

That was the last sighting of Judy recorded; no other leads came forward as to the whereabouts.

After that, only speculations, some saying Judy was having a midlife crisis and left her husband, and others say she met a man online and met up with him. Jeffrey did not believe them and continued hiring private investigators to search for her.

Jeffrey took it hard, and her daughter even stated that Jeffrey was an ¨honest man¨. Yet, it was never a question that he was involved. Only one woman reported their marriage was ¨tenuous¨, a friend named Carolyn Dickey.

"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."

However, that story never had merit; why would she not tell anyone else and leave even her children?

Then on September 7, 1997, 600 miles away in North Carolina, two hunters were in Mount Pisgah National Forest when they found human skeletal remains near the Stoney Fork picnic area. A wild animal appeared to have gotten the body, and bones were scattered around.

The bones that were not scattered appeared to be wrapped in a blue blanket, partially buried in a shallow grave. About 170 USD were found along with the bones, as well as a blue and black backpack, hiking clothes, boots, a wedding ring, and sunglasses.

The clothing appeared to be cut as if the victim had been stabbed to death. An examination determined it was a woman between 40-55 and had an arthritic knee, killed months earlier.

A doctor in Franklin, NC, had read an article about Judy's disappearance and contacted authorities to investigate further. The body fits the picture of Judy, as she had an arthritic knee, and then it was identified by dental records that it was Judy.

As well as her wedding ring was found with the remains. However, the clothing and backpack were reportedly not hers, and the sunglasses were not hers, and they never found her red backpack.

• Questions remain how did she get there?
• Who killed her?
• Some theory is that Gary Hilton, aka ¨The National Forest Serial Killer, ¨ murdered her because it was near where he had left a previous victim.

As well as, people reported seeing her in Ashville, NC. Yet the stories don't line up unless Judy leaves the city of her own free will, but why? Did she have a mental crisis? Was she abducted and dropped in the woods?

Jeffrey died in 2005. The case remains unsolved and still an open case file. RIP Judy and Jeffrey.