Woman with red backpack - Judy Smith

[Killarney Rose]

Though I had never previously considered it, I have to agree with you all that there is serious doubt these remains are actually Judy’s.

[MegtheEgg86]

It doesn't surprise me that a physician in Franklin would be aware of a body found near Asheville since Franklin is definitely in the Asheville media market and the area around Asheville to the TN border in western NC is kind of one big gaggle of fairly connected communities despite the physical distance they might have from one another. What I do find intriguing is how that physician came across a missing poster for Judy Smith in the first place. Were the posters distributed all over the east coast or nationally? Had the doctor recently traveled? That part of the story seems kind of strange to me. I read that it wasn't that the poster was faxed to the doctor, but that he/she first came across the poster at some point and then faxed the Philadelphia Police a news article about the body being found in Buncombe Co.

[Gelatinous Goo]

Meg,

If you recall, Jeff spoke of sending out thousands of them, so a copy finding its way practically anywhere wouldn't be at all surprising. I'm remembering him using the number 5,000 (without going back to verify). If you wished to revisit the segment, he gave further details on distribution.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by Gelatinous Goo

Meg,

If you recall, Jeff spoke of sending out thousands of them, so a copy finding its way practically anywhere wouldn't be at all surprising. I'm remembering him using the number 5,000 (without going back to verify). If you wished to revisit the segment, he gave further details on distribution.

Thanks, I hadn't seen the segment in a while so I appreciate the refresher.

So that part's not so mysterious. Maybe the found body was fresh on the doc's mind and the detail about the right knee arthritis was what prompted the contact with Philly. But it's so true--arthritic knees are a dime a dozen, especially if you're in the healthcare business.

It's such a weird case.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

It doesn't surprise me that a physician in Franklin would be aware of a body found near Asheville since Franklin is definitely in the Asheville media market and the area around Asheville to the TN border in western NC is kind of one big gaggle of fairly connected communities despite the physical distance they might have from one another. What I do find intriguing is how that physician came across a missing poster for Judy Smith in the first place. Were the posters distributed all over the east coast or nationally? Had the doctor recently traveled? That part of the story seems kind of strange to me. I read that it wasn't that the poster was faxed to the doctor, but that he/she first came across the poster at some point and then faxed the Philadelphia Police a news article about the body being found in Buncombe Co.

The UM segment says that Judy's family believed she suffered some sort of an accident and was wandering around not aware of who she was or where she was and also that some friends thought she ditched her old life to start a new one. The segment says that Jeff created 9,000 flyers and mailed/faxed them "from Maine to Florida", so that's probably where the doctor in Franklin would have seen it.

What is still bizarre to me is that all of the witnesses who claim to have seen Judy in or around Asheville all say she was wearing her red backpack (and IIRC one of the witnesses had a conversation with her about being from Boston and how her husband was an attorney at a convention in Philadelphia), but the remains were found with a blue backpack and thermal underwear. Judy's friend in the segment makes a cryptic remark about there not being another man in her life, but that she could see why Judy would up and leave Philadelphia and travel to get away from Jeff (Judy's daughter is adamant that she would have never done this).

I could see a realistic scenario where Judy is annoyed with Jeff or felt pressured into going to Philadelphia with him and on a whim she decides to travel down to North Carolina where she's seen at various shops interracting with people. What I can't wrap my head around is while she was there, she became acquainted with someone to the point where she would have bought hiking gear and gone for a hike with this person who ultimately murdered her for reasons unknown. The victim was stabbed multiple times, which usually indicates a crime of passion.

[TheCars1986]

I was thinking about this case today and was wondering if there were any missing people closer to the area where the remains were found and came across this woman named Diane Marie Kennedy, who lived about 30 miles west of Asheville. She went missing on New Year's Eve in 1996 and has never been seen again. There's virtually nothing online about this woman but I did find it to be a remarkable coincidence that the remains that were identified as Judy's had "extensive dental work" and Diane had worked in the dental field as a technician her entire career. Diane also lived in Massachusetts at one point, and is 1" off in height and her weight (145-175 lbs.) is within Judy's range (155 lbs. is shown on the missing persons poster in the UM segment).

I'm not saying that this woman was the remains of those identified as Judy's, but I still find it weird that the remains were cremated to where we'll never know 100% for sure if they were hers.