The Plot Thickens

Police in North Carolina have new potential eye witnesses to interview in the perplexing Judith Smith disappearance and murder case, thanks to the Saturday night installment of the Fox network's America's Most Wanted series.

The Smith case is just the type these true-crime shows thrive on. A nurse from Newton, MA, Smith was reported missing by her husband Jeffrey in Philadelphia in April 1997; Jeffrey says she had joined him here on a business trip. Five months later, her badly decomposed body was found on a remote hillside in North Carolina. She was dressed for the terrain, and by all appearances had gone there voluntarily.

Last April, investigators re-examined the site and turned up Judith's wedding rings, allowing them to rule out robbery as the motive. Still, questions about how she got there and why have stumped police as much as the circumstances of her death.

Detective James Sweeney of the Philadelphia Police Department appeared on the America's Most Wanted segment to explain why he isn't convinced Judith Smith was ever in the city (no one other than her husband is sure about seeing her, and there seemed to be little evidence of a woman having spent the night in Jeffrey's hotel room).

Lt. Sam Constance of the Buncombe County, NC, Sheriff's Department noted Sweeney's doubts, but didn't indicate what he believes.

In a phone interview on Wednesday, however, Constance said, "We've always felt like she was in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Police Department thinks that it could go either way, but in our opinion, she was there.

"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."

Though the North Carolina chief medical examiner's report failed to list a specific cause of death, Constance says that cut marks found on her clothing may be indicative of a stab-type wound.

AMW talked to witnesses Constance and his officers found—two women who believe they saw Judith in Biltmore Village, a tourist attraction not far from where her body was found, shortly after she was reported missing. Saturday's show, says Constance, has turned up at least one more witness who can place Judith Smith in Asheville, NC, with another person.

"It seemed to be a friendly situation," says Constance, who would not say if Smith's companion was male or female.

Constance adds that Jeffrey Smith is refusing to take a polygraph, despite requests from his department and Philadelphia police.

"He has been very cooperative with anything we haved asked [aside from the polygraph]," Constance says. "We would like for him to take it, because it would put [suspicions about him] to rest." (Smith has said he's been on medication that could affect the results of a polygraph.)

Constance dismisses speculation that Judith Smith came to Asheville after meeting someone on the Internet.

"As far as we know she had no access to the Internet," says Constance. "That was one of the first things we looked into. Her friends tells us that she was computer illiterate."

Detectives from the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department were in the studio, and spoke directly with some of these callers, Stack says.

The show also received "two or three" calls from the Philadelphia region, Stack adds, but those folks generally seemed less sure of themselves.

Constance, however, says he has received no calls from Philadelphia as a result of the show, but would like to. He can be reached at (828) 250-4436.

-Frank Lewis and Howard Altman