One of the great enduring mysteries of the bizarre Susan Reinert murder case likely will go to the grave with Jay C. Smith.
He’s the Chester native who went on to become the principal of Upper Merion High. In the late ‘70s that community was stunned when it was learned Smith was a suspect in the robbery of a couple of Sears stores.
It only got more bizarre from there. A lot more bizarre.
The body of Upper Merion High English teacher Susan Reinert was found in the trunk of a car in the parking lot of a Harrisburg motel on same day Smith was being sentenced there for the robberies. A comb was found under her body bearing the insignia of Smith’s National Guard unit.
Toxicology tests showed she had been drugged.
Eventually, another English teacher, William Bradfield, along with Smith were charged with Reinert’s murder.
Both Bradfield and Smith were convicted. Smith spent six years on death row, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court freed him, citing serious prosecutorial misconduct.
Smith died on Tuesday at a hospital where he was being treated for a heart condition.
Bradfield died in Graterford Prison, where he was serving a life sentence, in 1998.
The sensational case was turned into a best-seller, “Echoes in the Darkness,” as well as a TV mini-series by author Joseph Wambaugh.
After his release, Smith penned his own book, in which he maintained he innocence on the murder charge.
None of which resolves one of the most haunting aspects of this mystery, one that remains unsolved after nearly three decades.
What happened to Reinert’s two young children?
Karen, 11, and Michael, 10, were last seen on Friday, June 22, 1979, in the car with their mother leaving their home in Ardmore. They were never seen again.
They were declared dead in 1987. Both Smith and Bradfield were also convicted of the children’s murders.
But exactly what happened to them has never been revealed, and no bodies were ever recovered.
Echoes in the darkness, indeed.
He’s the Chester native who went on to become the principal of Upper Merion High. In the late ‘70s that community was stunned when it was learned Smith was a suspect in the robbery of a couple of Sears stores.
It only got more bizarre from there. A lot more bizarre.
The body of Upper Merion High English teacher Susan Reinert was found in the trunk of a car in the parking lot of a Harrisburg motel on same day Smith was being sentenced there for the robberies. A comb was found under her body bearing the insignia of Smith’s National Guard unit.
Toxicology tests showed she had been drugged.
Eventually, another English teacher, William Bradfield, along with Smith were charged with Reinert’s murder.
Both Bradfield and Smith were convicted. Smith spent six years on death row, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court freed him, citing serious prosecutorial misconduct.
Smith died on Tuesday at a hospital where he was being treated for a heart condition.
Bradfield died in Graterford Prison, where he was serving a life sentence, in 1998.
The sensational case was turned into a best-seller, “Echoes in the Darkness,” as well as a TV mini-series by author Joseph Wambaugh.
After his release, Smith penned his own book, in which he maintained he innocence on the murder charge.
None of which resolves one of the most haunting aspects of this mystery, one that remains unsolved after nearly three decades.
What happened to Reinert’s two young children?
Karen, 11, and Michael, 10, were last seen on Friday, June 22, 1979, in the car with their mother leaving their home in Ardmore. They were never seen again.
They were declared dead in 1987. Both Smith and Bradfield were also convicted of the children’s murders.
But exactly what happened to them has never been revealed, and no bodies were ever recovered.
Echoes in the darkness, indeed.
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