5 Months & 600 Miles Away: The Unsolved Case Of Judy Smith

On the morning of April 10th, 1997, a man named Jeffrey Smith woke up in his room at the DoubleTree hotel, located at Broad and Locust streets, in the heart of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though a native of Massachusetts, the 51 year old corporate lawyer was in town for a 3 day work event which was put on by the Northeast Pharmaceutical Conference, an organization of primarily New England-based pharmaceutical researchers and executives, which Jeffrey represented.

Noticing that his 50 year old wife Judy was still asleep, Jeffrey got out of bed quietly so as not to disturb her. Unlike him she wasn’t involved in the pharmaceutical conference, so there was no need for her to wake up just yet. With a bit of time still to go before the day’s scheduled events started, Jeffrey decided to head downstair’s to the hotel’s main floor to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast that was provided. He finished up shortly before 9 am, after which he returned to his room to grab what he needed for the day.

Upon entering the room, Jeffrey was greeted by the sounds of the shower running. Judy had gotten up in his absence and was now also getting ready to start her morning. Unlike Jeffrey though, Judy’s day was going to be filled with taking in the sights — it was her first time in Philadelphia, and she planned to hit as many of the local tourist attractions as possible.

After going into the bathroom to say good morning to Judy, Jeffrey told her that she should try the hotel breakfast before heading out because it was actually pretty decent. Judy joked that she would go right that minute, still soaking wet and unclothed from her shower. The two shared a laugh and went over their plans for the day once again — Jeffrey was scheduled to monitor a few of the conference’s sessions that day, but he should be done by the late afternoon. Judy, rattled off a list of places she might visit that day in the meantime, including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. They would meet back up at the hotel when Jeffrey was done and head to the conference’s cocktail party for 6pm. With that, Jeffrey left the room, and went on his way.

Little did Jeffrey know, though, that this seemingly innocuous encounter would be the last that he would ever have with his wife. In the intervening hours Judy would abruptly disappear, leaving behind little more than a bizarre series of unconfirmed and conflicting witness sightings. The mystery would only deepen when a horrific discovery was made — several months later, and several hundred miles away. This is the unsolved case of Judy Smith.

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