Susan Reinert Murder – Part 2

Part 2 continues with the investigation into Susan Reinert’s murder.  Susan’s body has been discovered in the trunk of her abandoned car in Harrisburg, PA, but where are the children?

The Investigation

Jack Holtz, a criminal investigator out of Troop H in Harrisburg arrived two hours after the body was discovered.  He noted that the hatchback was parked in the third row, just a few spaces east of the main entrance. He believed that Larry Brown had most likely left the hatchback open and that the killer had done everything to call attention to the body.

The body had abrasions and bruises on both of her forearms. There was dried blood in the mouth and nose. The right eye had discolored bruises around it. There were abrasions on both knees, behind the neck, and on the ankle.  There were also bruises on the buttocks and between the shoulder blades. No clothing, purse, or keys were found with the body.

The car looked to have been wiped down on the outside and on the inside driver’s side.  The rearview mirror was missing. The car was registered to Susan Reinert from Ardmore, PA.

Some items that were found in the car were: a pamphlet from the First Presbyterian Church of Ardmore, a deck of playing cards, some soft-drink containers, hamburger wrappers, a cub scout pamphlet, a road map, a hairbrush, some candy wrappers, a matchbook from a Carlisle motel, a girl’s barrette, and three stuffed animals.  A lion, a duck, and a monkey. Nothing that you would not expect.

What wasn’t expected to be found in the car:  a rubber dildo under the front seat. Beneath the body in the trunk was a brand-new blue comb inscribed with the 79th USARCOM.  Also beneath the victim was a green plastic trash bag.

Jay C. Smith

Elsewhere in Harrisburg Jay C. Smith was being sentenced to weapons, drug, and stolen property charges.  He was 20 minutes late for court that morning. Smith was sentenced to 2 to 5 years in a state correctional institution in Dallas, PA.  He gave his lawyer his keys and was taken to jail.

The Autopsy

Susan Reinert’s autopsy was completed by Dauphin County Coroner William Bush or Robert Bear depending on what article you read. A blue fiber was found in the hair of her temple and another blue fiber behind the knee. The pathologist found a white sticky substance (probably from adhesive tape), stuck to her mouth, hair, and around her nose. There was an absence of rigor and post-mortem lividity producing bluish discoloration where the blood had settled. Rigidity from rigor mortis lasts about 24 hours.

There was fixed lividity on the front and back indicating she’d lain about 8 hours on each side after death. She looks to have died 24 to 36 hours after her beating. Abrasions on her back looked like marks from the links of a chain. There were no signs of intravenous injection sites, but the pathologist could find no needle marks. It could have been missed due to the number of contusions on her body. The pathologist made a ballpark guess that she died late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. ** remember that the two men spotted her vehicle Sunday around 7 pm **

The pathologist took a guess that the cause of death was asphyxiation. The report came back that she died of a morphine overdose. Ken Reinert was asked to come to Harrisburg to identify the body. Once he identified Susan he asked where the kids were. ** this is the first time the police found out missing children were involved**

What About the Children?

As the ex-husband Ken Reinert was on the suspect list but was eventually cleared.

Sharon Lee reached out to William Bradfield when she heard the news on Tuesday. Bradfield was in New Mexico at this time. Sharon asked him when he planned to see Susan again. Bradfield told her at the start of the school year. This shocked Sharon as she had talked to Susan about them moving to England and getting married. Bradfield denied this stating that Susan had been pursuing him, but he was not interested.

She asked about who was taking care of the children if he knew. Bradfield played it off like he didn’t even know how old the children were stating “Oh yes. How old were the children?” Sharon knew he was pretending not to know. She had been at Susan’s house on one occasion when Bradfield stopped by unexpectedly. He engaged in a conversation with Karen over an autograph book he had given her for her birthday.  After she hung up she realized that he had spoken of the children in the past tense.  

Lies, Lies, Lies

The police realized that the murder didn’t seem to have much to do with the Harrisburg area. That is only where her body had been left so they focused on the King of Prussia area where Susan had lived and worked. The police had heard about the fight in the faculty lounge and their first stop was to talk to Sue Myers. Susan was home with Vince Vallitis when the police arrived at her Phoenixville apartment. Vince was on the phone with William Bradfield who kept telling him to keep his mouth shut and let Sue talk to them. Susan had Vince finish the phone call in another room.

Sue then told the cops the lie she’d been ordered to tell. That they all left for Cape May at 4 pm Friday afternoon.

** REMEMBER THEY DID NOT LEAVE UNTIL AROUND MIDNIGHT**

Vince also was questioned and repeated the same lie. He also told the cops that they were wrong to think that any of them would do anything to hurt Susan. She could have easily gotten herself killed because she was sex crazy. She was known to make passes at strange men per William Bradfield. Cops didn’t find Vince believable since he couldn’t look them in the eye when speaking. He kept looking up.

When a police officer went to retrieve the tape containing the voice of Larry Brown he was told that he would need a court order. Once he obtained the court order he found that the tape had been reused as there had been a shortage of tape. So that evidence was lost.

Susan’s Body is Cremated

The second problem arose when the autopsy was completed on Monday (June 25th) and her body was released to the funeral home on Tuesday. The police did not want the body to be cremated. Susan Reinert’s brother requested cremation thinking the police were done. There was a miscommunication and Susan’s body was cremated on Wednesday, June 27th. Joe Van Nort was trying to arrange for a more experienced forensic pathologist to look over the body.

Following the Money

By Thursday, June 28th news broke all over the Philadelphia area along with the information that Susan had been heavily insured. By July the police began to think that all of the Cape May crowd had all conspired to orchestrate the Susan Reinert murder for the insurance money.

The police went to New Mexico to question both Bradfield and Chris.  After they left Bradfield went to the home of Jeff Olson. He gave him papers in a metal box to hide and also the red typewriter. Upon another visit, this time with Rachel in tow, he used the fireplace to burn what he told them was school papers and other things belonging to Susan. He also asked him not to cooperate with the police should they want to speak to him.

After returning from New Mexico Chris Pappas started to get a clue about saving his own neck.  He read about Susan not being able to withdraw $25,000 at one shot. Also, he realized Bradfield’s sudden $28,000 life savings might actually be Susan’s money.

The FBI entered the case upon the pretext that the children may have been kidnapped.  Don Redden was assigned to the case. The FBI looked into the Jay Smith connection due to the blue comb found beneath Susan’s body.  The Pennsylvania State Police felt that William Bradfield was responsible, describing him as a “hugger-mugger.” The kind of man who picks up plain or homely women and turns on the charm and gives them some cuddles all the while picking their purses.

Sex Rings and Rumors:

A co-worker of Stephanie Smith (the mother not the daughter) gave the press Stephanie’s diary. It had a lot of salacious information on sex rings.  One headline read: SEX RING LINKED TO MURDER. SWINGERS GROUP PROBED.

The rumor was that Susan’s knowledge of the “love cult” may have been a motive for her murder. Another rumor was that Jay C. Smith was a cult member made up of intellectual professionals  worshiping Satan and Susan was sacrificed.

The children were seen all over the eastern half of the US. Unfortunately, none of the sightings turned out to be true.  One rumor had the children living with Stephanie and Eddie Hunsberger.

FBI Goes to Work

The FBI went to work on Susan’s car thinking it may be able to tell them something more. There was debris jammed under the bumper. When it was analyzed it was found to be slag – stony waste matter separated from metals during the smelting or refining of ore. The car still contained half a tank of gas. Since she filled the car on Friday they determined that the car had been driven straight to Harrisburg – unless the killer or killers stopped for gas along the way with 3 bodies in the car.

The task force (FBI, Pennsylvania State Police) found statements in Susan Reinert’s home showing a deposit of $30,000 in December of 1978 (this was her inheritance).  Then there was a series of withdrawals adding up to $25,000. Money was shown to be shuffled between various banks. They also found a “credit memo” dated February 24, 1979. It stated that Susan Reinert owned 25% of a $100,000 certificate that drew 12% interest plus or minus and would pay in 6 months  (August 1979). This transaction was handled by Bache and Company, a reputable securities firm. Bache and Company did not have any of the employees involved with this transaction and had never heard of Susan Reinert.

Susan Was Never Going to Marry Bradfield

Police found out that a week before her death Susan had told a friend that she was never going to marry Bradfield. He kept canceling appointments with a lawyer. Two days later she called back and said everything was smoothed out. She told her friend that she wouldn’t be able to contact her anymore stating “getting too close to the time that Sue Myers might do something”.

What was Bradfield telling her? That Sue was wanting to kill her and he was trying to stop that from happening? At the same time, he was telling everyone else that Jay Smith wanted to kill Susan and he (Bradfield) was trying to stop that from happening. Same story, just different actors.

Sue, Chris, and Bradfield each took private polygraph exams for $125 each. They were found to be telling the truth, but when the FBI had Chris take one he was found to be deceptive.  He later admitted that during the private exam he had been lying. At one point, Vince Valaitis confessed to a priest all that he had been told by William Bradfield over the years. By the end, the priest told him to call the cops. The Pennsylvania State Police and FBI interviewed Vince, he was the first one in the group to come clean. He was interviewed for nearly 100 hours.

September 1979 – William Bradfield Tries to Set the Record Straight

William Bradfield contacted the FBI wanting to set the record straight. He was unaware that Vince had already been talking to them. They arranged to meet at the Howard Johnson’s restaurant in King of Prussia. Sue Myers and Vince Valaitis came along with Bradfield. Bradfield said that he was surprised by being named in Susan’s will and on her life insurance policy. What he really wanted to do was put up a reward for the children’s safe return. He was advised not to on the advice of counsel. He also was starting to believe that Jay C. Smith was probably the actual killer.

Vince told the task force about a letter that Bradfield had received while at school with a note that said “please come see me” signed by Deirdee Paxton. Bradfield said it was from Jay Smith and he had borrowed Vince’s car and left campus for 45 minutes. He also told them about the convoluted phone system that Bradfield and Jay Smith had set up.

Bradfield confronted Vince who admitted that he had been talking to the FBI.  At the end of their conversation, he told Vince that he had betrayed him and broken his solid oath. Two members of the task force traveled to California to talk with Wendy Zeigler. She told them the version of events that she had rehearsed with Bradfield.

Philadephia Grand Jury

The task force used the power of the federal grand jury that was in session in Philadelphia. They subpoenaed the phone records, credit card information and bank records of Jay C. Smith, William Bradfield, and his friends. Vince testified to the grand jury. When he got done one of the jurors asked him why he didn’t warn Susan Reinert. His reply was “I….just did not…deal with it.”

Around this same time, parents and community members of Upper Merion SD demanded that these teachers (Bradfield, Sue, and Vince) be fired, but the district could not legally fire them so they were removed from direct contact with students and assigned to non-teaching duties. Essentially they showed up to an off-campus building, sat in the basement office, and did busy work.

The FBI found out that Jay Smith had been late to his sentencing hearing on June 25th. He claimed that a friend was supposed to give him a ride, but at the last minute, he had been unable to. The FBI contacted this friend who reported that Jay C. Smith had contacted him earlier in the weekend but had never mentioned needing a ride. They also looked at Jay Smith’s phone records and saw that he had called his attorney Friday afternoon around 3:50 pm and then again on Sunday at 8:37 pm. 

At this time they did not know about the two men who had seen Susan’s car in the Host Inn parking lot on Sunday evening. The FBI had checked into Jay C. Smith’s whereabouts and alibis that weekend, but they could not find anyone who had seen Jay C. Smith from Friday until late Sunday afternoon.

The Task Force Forms a Theory

The task forces theory was that Susan had been called away from her home suddenly. When she and the kids arrived at some destination they were met by more than one person because they felt it would take two people to control the other three. Susan was beaten, her mouth was taped and she was put in chains that were so tight they left indentations around her body. They believe that she was kept alive at least 24 to 36 hours before she was murdered so that the killer or killers could establish their alibi.

From pictures that were taken of Susan in the trunk they were able to determine that the link size of the chains appeared to be a match for the chains found in Jay C. Smith’s basement from his arrest on weapons and drug charges

The theory of being lured was bolstered by information from a friend at Parents Without Partners. This friend claimed that Susan told them that she was going to meet with an attorney on Saturday, June 23rd to “sort out” legal matters with William Bradfield. The police felt that Susan had gotten a call from Bradfield saying that they needed to meet with the lawyer that night and to bring along her copy of the will and investment certificate. It would also explain why Susan had pulled Michael from his cub scout event that night without him saying goodbye to his father and had changed his shirt. She had changed into a blouse from when her ex-husband had seen her earlier from when she had picked up Michael.  They were dressing up to meet with a lawyer.

1980 – Bradfield Attempt to Probate Susan’s Estate

William Bradfield attempted to probate the estate of Susan Reinert after the murder and as soon as he filed Ken Reinert and Pat Gallagher filled to block him. Their case was held in the Orphans Court in the Court of Common Pleas in Delaware County. A court-appointed deputy district attorney was appointed to safeguard the rights of the missing children.

A hearing was held where William Bradfield testified that he had never dated Susan Reinert and that she was very troubled and put herself in unsafe situations involving other men. He also testified that he had never spent the night at her home and she had never invested any money with him. He also claimed that he was unaware that he was named as the beneficiary of her estate and insurance policies. Since Bradfield made so many false statements under oath the police had enough to charge him based upon theft of the investment money.

August 1980 – Police Uncover More Evidence

The police obtained a search warrant for Jay C. Smith’s car. They found red fibers that may have come from a carpet that had previously been in the Smith home. Police also found a pin under the right front passenger seat. They dusted it for prints, but couldn’t lift anything. In trying to track down where the pin came from the police discovered that Karen had taken a field trip to a Philadelphia museum in the spring of 1979. Classmates identified the pin as the one they received that day.

Around this time, Chris Pappas reached out to the task force with what he knew. More specifically, what he knew about the money. He implicated Wendy Zeigler in criminal activity since she kept the money hidden and had gotten rid of a gun and silencer. Pappas also told the task force of what William Bradfield had told him about Jay Smith. Some of it tied into the evidence they had collected so far.  He also gave the task force documents he had gotten from both Bradfield and Sue Myers. One was a note in Bradfield’s handwriting that detailed what should be addressed in the event a grand jury probe was conducted and specific things they had to worry about.

The Note

Chris gave the task force the note. It was a small piece in a circumstantial case connecting William Bradfield with Jay C. Smith, but the next document they were provided seemed to cement that connection. This was a note written by Jay Smith to William Bradfield two years earlier. It was around the same time that Bradfield had told Stephanie that he had met Jay Smith in Ocean City, MD during the time of the first Sears robbery. The letter laid out what phones should be used if contact was necessary. He also laid out what they did that weekend when they were at the shore. They were scripting their alibi. They were able to lift fingerprints off the note from Chris Pappas, William Bradfield, and Jay Smith.

February 1980 – Police Get a Search Warrant

Police got a search warrant to seize material relevant to the case from the attic of the apartment building Bradfield, Sue and Vince lived in. Sue even helped them search and mentioned a few things she hadn’t told them before. She had seen a stack of $100 bills in a file drawer. They had matched up with Susan Reinert’s $25,000 investment that turned out to be a fraud.

Sue also told them that she had seen Susan Reinert’s will with Bradfield named as beneficiary prior to Susan’s death. She wished she had kept Bradfield’s jogging diary because she saw an entry that he’d like to murder Susan Reinert. She turned over all the rough draft letters that Bradfield had written. One of them detailed through a cipher questions such as:

• Does the FBI know Rachel has it?
• Has Rachel removed the ball and destroyed it or better yet claim the whole thing was stolen?
• FBI must not get it.  

May 1981 – William Bradfield Arrested

William Bradfield was placed under arrest for theft by deception and theft of fraudulent conversion. Theft by conversion occurs when a person lawfully obtains possession of the personal property or funds of another and then converts the property into funds for their own use and without the person’s permission.

August 1981 – William Bradfield’s Trial Begins

The trial began in Media, PA for William S. Bradfield, Jr. in August of 1981. Wendy Zeigler flew from California to surrender herself to authorities.  She was released to her parents after they posted $10,000 bail. Wendy agreed to become a witness for the state if all the charges against her were dropped and she was granted immunity.

It was a 3-day trial. William Bradfield did not take the stand in his own defense. The prosecution had bankers testify about Susan’s maneuvers to get the $25,000 in cash that she told them she needed for an investment. Chris Pappas took the stand and told of witnessing $28,500 in cash in the trunk of William Bradfield’s car. He talked about wiping down the money at Bradfield’s insistence and hiding the money then moving it to a safety deposit box.

Sue Myers took the stand and testified that since they moved in together in 1973 she paid all the bills. They did not have a savings account at Elverson National Bank (where the safety deposit box was opened and held). Wendy took the stand and testified to taking the money from the safety deposit box and hiding it at her parent’s house.

William Bradfield’s mother testified that she had written him three checks over the years that totaled about $17,000. When the prosecutor questioned her she admitted that the money had been repaid and was not money he could have saved. The jury was out less than 2 hours and found William Bradfield guilty on both theft charges. The prosecution asked for his bail to be revoked. Instead, the judge increased his bond to $75,000 which was guaranteed by his mother.

Meanwhile at the SCI – Dallas, PA

Meanwhile, inmate Raymond Martray, contacted the state police. He claimed to be a friend of inmate Jay C. Smith and had something to share. He claimed that Jay Smith told him that William Bradfield had asked him to help with the Susan Reinert murder because she knew that William Bradfield had suborned perjury at Jay Smith’s trial. When asked about what happened to the children he replied “I took care of it.”

On another occasion, he claimed that Jay C. Smith got upset when discussing the Reinert case and blurted out “I killed the fucking bitch.”

October 1981 – Police Find Note

Jack Holtz of the Pennsylvania State Police, found a note that was missed. It was about the two guys from S.C. who had been working at 3 Mile Island. They had seen the hatchback open and called the police when they saw the news article about the murder.

Jack nailed down that Reinert’s body had been left at the Host Inn as early as 7 pm on Sunday evening. He realized why Jay Smith made that call to his attorney’s office around 8:37 pm when he was away from Harrisburg. When the police drove the route it was a 90-minute drive from the Host Inn in Harrisburg to Jay C. Smith’s house on Valley Forge Road.

November 1981 – William Bradfield Starts Jail Sentence

William Bradfield begins serving a four-month jail sentence in Delaware County Prison in November 1981. After one month in he gets released from jail on $150,000 bail pending his appeal. A fellow inmate of Bradfields, Proctor Nowell, met with the police and agreed to speak to the grand jury to tell him what he knew.

December 1981 (2 ½ years after the murder)

The task force was reduced based upon an FBI report that the Susan Reinert murder case was unsolvable and it was reduced to just three people:  Jack Holtz, Pennsylvania State Police, Lou DeSantis, and Deputy Attorney General Rick Guida.

April 6, 1982 – Bradfield Arrested Again

William Bradfield was arrested on three counts of conspiracy to commit murder with a person or persons unknown in 1982. He was sent to the Camp Hill Correctional Institute outside of Harrisburg, PA.

October 1983 – Bradfield Goes to Trial Again

William S. Bradfield Jr. went on trial for the second time in 1983. This time for more serious offenses against Susan Reinert and her children. The trial lasted for 2 weeks.

Proctor Newell took the stand and relayed conversations that he had with Bradfield while in jail. He testified that Bradfield told him that “you know, if I wasn’t in a financial bind I wouldn’t be here nor would this have had to happen to Susan.”  “I was there when they were killed but I didn’t kill them.” “None of this was meant for the kids, only for Susan. But there couldn’t be a stone left unturned. You have to tie up all the loose ends.” Bradfield had used the same words with Vince and Chris describing what Jay Smith had told him. 

This time William Bradfield took the stand in his own defense. He testified that he had never dated Susan Reinert. Their relationship, like all of his relationships, was not romantic, but artistic. Bradfield admitted to babysitting her children on one occasion. He also testified that she never admitted to dating Jay C. Smith and that he did not know who killed her.

The defense got all of Susan Reinert’s friends to admit that William Bradfield never said he was romantically involved with Susan and never even hinted about getting married although she had told them all the exact opposite. In addition, various law enforcement professionals testified. But the saddest testimony came from Ken Reinert and the children’s grandmother.

William Bradfield Closing Arguments

The defense hit hard on the fact that no one had ever seen Bradfield in any type of romantic relationship with Susan and attempted to downplay the forensic evidence.

The prosecutor asked the jury “do you know why the body was exposed?”

Because this body was worth $7,000 per pound to one person in the world. It had to be found during the alibi weekend so that he can say to the world, “I couldn’t possibly have done it.” No one benefits from this unless the body is found except for the person who is the sole beneficiary of Susan’s estate and insurance policies. He ended with “today is October 28, 1983. Five years ago today Susan Reinert’s mother died and the plan to murder her began.  And today the conspiracy ends and we are going to leave this to you.”

The jury was out for 75 minutes and came back with a guilty verdict on first-degree murder. Bradfield was sentenced to three life sentences to run consecutively.

December 1983 – Prison Snitch

Charles Montione, a prisoner who was in the same prison as Jay C. Smith talked to Detective Holtz and DeSantis. He shared with them that Jay Smith had talked to him about how to murder. He said that you should use drug injections to overdose your victims. It was best to let a body lie around for a couple of days so the blood could coagulate before you started cutting it up and disposing of the parts in different places. He said the small parts fit nicely in drums or buckets. You could weigh the pieces down with chains before dumping them in rivers or lakes.

Jay C. Smith also talked about putting in place an escape plan for himself. Jay allegedly told Charles that nearly five years had passed. In only two more years Susan Reinert would have been declared legally dead. William Bradfield’s greed in making her body appear had caused all these problems. He was also furious that William Bradfield was trying to set him up and he wasn’t worried about him making a deal with police because he didn’t know where the bodies were.

Jay Smith offered a theory to Montione that William Bradfield had probably had someone call Susan Reinert on the evening she was murdered to say that he’d been in a bad accident and was dying. That was why she rushed out of the house without leaving a note for anyone.

June 25, 1985 (6 years after the murder to the day)

Jay C. Smith was transferred to Camp Hill State Correctional Institution until his preliminary hearing. A search was done of Jay Smith’s cell where they found a letter he had written to a private investigator named Russell Kolins. The letter outlined his alibi on the murder weekend. The problem for Jay Smith was that it totally contradicted what he told the FBI in 1979.

July 30, 1985 – Jay Smith’s Preliminary Hearing

Jay Smith’s preliminary hearing was held and was found that there was sufficient cause to bind him over for trial. Jay Smith had a court-appointed attorney by the name of William C. Costopoulos.

April 1986 – Jay Smith’s Trial

A few days before jury selection began Jack Holtz found the connection between the circumstantial case between Jay Smith, Susan Reinert, and her children. When he was reviewing some files he came across an interview with Elizabeth Ann Brooks in 1979. She was the granddaughter of the next-door neighbor. She had given a description of the clothing she had last seen the children were wearing. No one had ever asked her about the green pin.

Elizabeth, who was now 22, was contacted and she confirmed that Karen had been wearing the green pin when she last saw her that night.

The trial occurred in Courtroom #1 in the Dauphin County Courthouse. Judge William W. Lipsitt presided. Rick Guida was the prosecutor for the state. Defense attorney Costopoulos opened by stating the “Jay Smith was targeted by a man who was very good at deception. He was made a target of exploitation by a man who was a master of exploitation.”

The Evidence

The physical evidence was up first. Both sides got a lot in and the trial seemed to move along fairly quickly. At one point, the prosecutor reenacted the testimony from William Bradfield’s trial with himself portraying William Bradfield and reading the official transcript.

A representative from Bell Telephone testified that Jay C. Smith had placed a call to his attorney over the weekend, but there was a gap between 3:43 pm Friday to 8:37 pm Sunday, which was 97 minutes after the men from Three Mile Island saw Susan Reinert’s car in the parking lot.

If you polled reporters who were covering the trial the consensus was that Jay Smith would be acquitted. They did not believe the blue comb evidence and thought that William Bradfield or a disciple of his had planted it. It was also shared Jay Smith had arrived late to his sentencing hearing with his hair disheveled and when he felt around his pockets for a comb there was none so he had to smooth it down with his hands.

The tiny green pin that Karen had gotten from the Philadelphia Museum of Art was brought in with testimony by Susan’s neighbor’s granddaughter.

April 30, 1986 – Jay C. Smith’s Verdict

The jury reached a verdict that morning after 5 hours of deliberations.  The clerk took the forms from the jury foreman and said, “in the case of The Commonwealth Versus Jay C. Smith, number 1677, the charge of murder, how do you find the defendant?”

Guilty!

The penalty phase quickly followed. More questioning followed by both the defense and the prosecution. The jury once again deliberated. The sentencing took 6 hours to deliberate and the jury didn’t return to the courtroom until 8:15 PM that night.

The judge asked the jury if they had reached a verdict of life or death? The verdict was recorded at 8:18 PM and the clerk said, “Ladies and gentlemen, will you stand, please.  Hearken to your verdict, as the court has it recorded. You say that Jay C. Smith should receive death. So say you all.”

The defense requested that the jury be polled. Each juror was required to utter the verdict in Susan Reinert’s murder and the murder of Karen Reinert and Michael Reinert. Each jury member repeated the word “death” three times.

Not the End of the Story

In 1986 William Bradfield’s appeal was denied. He tried to argue that he had ineffective counsel during his trial. In 1987 both Reinert children were declared dead. Kenneth Reinert died in 2002 never knowing the whereabouts of his children.

In 1988 defense attorney William Costopuolos discovered that the prosecutor had withheld evidence supporting defense claims that Jay Smith had been wrongly convicted. This evidence was found during the last week of Jay Smith’s trial but never turned over to the defense until mid-1988. 

Particles of sand were found on two adhesive strips that had been used to gather evidence from Reinert’s body. The evidence had been taken from the bottom of her bare feet.  Costopuolos claimed the finding of sand cleared his client and only implicated William Bradfield. The evidence supports the defense’s claim that Susan Reinert was murdered by William Bradfield at Cape May, NJ.

Jay C. Smith Gets a New Trial

Jay Smith was granted a new trial in December 1989 in a ruling by the PA Supreme Court. The court stated that Judge William Lipsitt erred by allowing the jury to consider hearsay testimony.

Costopuolos asked the PA State Supreme Court to attach double jeopardy because of the evidence that was discovered by a flea market vendor. The box of evidence was found when he was asked to clean out investigator Jack Holtz’s attic.

In 1992, in a 5-0 decision, Jay C. Smith was freed because of prosecutorial misconduct.  The court said that prosecutorial wrongdoing was so bad that retrying him would violate his constitutional protections against double jeopardy.

In 1998, William Bradfield died in SCI Graterford of a heart attack. A photograph of what looked to be a small statue with overgrowth was found in his cell. People speculate that this may be where the children were buried.

Smith filed a civil rights lawsuit, which was rejected in 1998.  Jay C. Smith died of heart disease in 2009 at the age of 80.

Theories

Bradfield set up Smith for the murders.  Would Smith really be so sloppy as to have left Karen’s pin under the seat of his car, and leave the comb with his Air Force Reserve Unit under Susan’s body?  Also, why would he drop the body in the city he is to report to that morning for sentencing?

Or did they work together and Bradfield double-crossed him by telling his “friends” that Smith was planning on killing Susan for a year and then planting evidence that pointed police to Smith?

Resources

Echoes in the Darkness by Joseph Wambaugh pub. 1984

• CBS mini-series November 1, 1987, starring Treat Williams, Peter Coyote, Stockard Channing, Peter Boyle, Gary Cole, Robert Loggia

Engaged to Murder: The Inside Story to the Main Line Murders by Loretta Swartz-Noble

1987 CBS TV Movie Echoes in the Darkness starring Peter Coyote, Stockard Channing, Robert Loggia, Peter Boyle & Gary Cole

• Evidence Surfaces in Reinert case
• Susan Reinert, teacher and kids killed by ex-principal Jay Smith: notorious murders
• https://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/02/pennsylvania.reinert.murders.police/index.html
• Stephanie Hunsberger
• Karen Reinert
• Photograph could be clue in 30-year-old missing kids mystery
• Ex-Principal Ordered To Stand Trial in Teacher’s Slaying
• Inmate: Former Principal Admitted Killing A Woman
• Jay C. Smith is dead while the Reinert and Hunsberger mysteries live on
• REINERT KILLER APPEALS CONVICTION IN ROBBERY TRY AT NESHAMINY MALL STORE
• Com. v. Smith, 568 A.2d 600, 523 Pa. 577
• SMITH v. HOLTZ
• Com. v. Bradfield :: 1986 :: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Decisions :: Pennsylvania Case Law :: Pennsylvania Law :: US Law
• Differences Between a Psychopath vs Sociopath
• King of Prussia Mall
• Upper Merion Area School District
• HAUNTING TALE OF MURDER ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS
• How Sociopaths Are Different from Psychopaths
• Psychopathic Traits and Characteristics of a Psychopath

Thoughts

• These were highly educated upper-middle-class people involved in murder for financial gain.
• I am baffled by no one saying anything to her or the police about what William Bradfield was telling them.
• He clearly knew who to manipulate like a cult leader preying on the insecurities of these individuals from their loneliness to the men having daddy issues.
• Were it not for William Bradfield I don’t believe that Jay Smith would have carried out the murders.

Wambaugh Interview

”I don’t think in terms of good and evil at all. I think in terms of sociopaths and normal people. Everybody calls them evil, but that`s a moral consideration. It has no relevance to people like that, none. They don’t think in terms of good and evil, they think in terms of what can I get out of it, what will it do for me. Clinically, there’s no conscience there to hold them in check.”

Wambaugh interview in Chicago Tribune on November 1, 1987

Loretta Schwartz-Noble in her book wrote:

“Bradfield displays a seductive persuasiveness of a psychopath” 

She described Jay Smith as a sociopath.

Psychopathy can be thought of as a more severe form of sociopathy with more symptoms. Therefore, all psychopaths are sociopaths but sociopaths are not necessarily psychopaths.

According to the Society for the Study of Psychopathy, psychopath traits include:

Sociopaths have a less severe form of lack of empathy and lack of guilt. It is thought that sociopaths may be able to form some deep bonds (such as, possibly, with family) while a psychopath cannot.

I don’t agree with her. I think they were both psychopaths, but will agree with what she wrote at the end of her book:

“so tragic on so many levels that it can never be fully comprehended”

Loretta Schwartz-Noble

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