Joe Weldon Smith

[dynoguy88]

I know this case was solved very long ago, on the night of the original broadcast in 1991. So I doubt I get many responses. But this case was always very freaky to me with Smith killing his wife Judith, his step-daughters Kristi and Wendy and his attempt at killing Frank Allen.

This segment wasn't handled like most of the murder segments during the height of UM's awesomeness. Usually we got backstory on the victim(s) and interviews with family members and friends before getting into the ugliness of their murders. In this situation, UM skipped all that and went straight to the terrifying ordeal of Frank Allen's attack and the quick discovery of the bodies. Insanely scary, yes. But it still made me want to fill in some of the blanks. Like why would a conman turn to murdering his family members in such a horrific way? I was researching online and found the court report for Smith which gives some specifics leading to the murders that I found interesting.

1. Smith and the family had lived in that house for just a few weeks when he killed them all.

2. Frank Allen originally hadn't planned to sell the house (which makes me wonder how they even came into contact in the first place) but Smith offered him $50,000 over the appraised value and Allen agreed to sell him the house. Both agreed that Allen could retain a bedroom for himself for his business trips.

3. Not surprisingly, both of the checks Smith wrote to Allen for a good faith deposit and the October mortgage payment were on accounts that were already closed. Smith told Allen that he would straighten this out and he would have good checks waiting for him when Allen arrived in Nevada on October 5th, which ended up being the day Smith tried to kill him.

4. Wendy Cox was scheduled to get married the month after her murder. In fact, one of the reasons Smith had originally told Allen that he was in a rush to move into the house was because he wanted to make preparations for Wendy's wedding in November.

5. Smith bludgeoned and strangled Judith, Wendy and Kristi as they slept on October 5th. Just a few hours after killing them and the sun rose, Smith called Allen and told him, "I thought you were coming up here this morning." Allen told him that he wouldn't be arriving until later in the day. At that point Smith said he and the family would be driving to California to go furniture shopping and he would leave the two checks on the wet bar with Allen's mail.

Judith's daughter-in-law Yolanda Cook ended up calling the house four times that day between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Each time, Smith answered the phone and said the women were not home because they went wedding dress shopping for Wendy. Looking back at this now, it's insanely scary to think Smith stayed in that house all day long with three dead bodies just waiting for Allen to get home and kill him.

6. Frank Allen didn't end up arriving until around 1:30 a.m. He said the first thing he noticed was that the security system to the house was turned off. That may be why he had such a horrible feeling that something was wrong.

7. Behind the wet bar, Smith had left a note that Allen could find the two checks in an upstairs room. That may have been an attempt to lure him to his murder, but that's just a guess on my part.

8. Allen spotted Smith crouching in the closet with the hammer before he jumped out and started attacking him. His escape was exactly what we saw in the reenactment. He ended up reaching the guard house and yelling for the security guard, "He's after me! He's after me!" While on the phone with the police, the guard turned to his right and saw Smith's Lincoln exiting the gated community with Smith behind the wheel.

9. Smith telephoned Yolanda Cook a few hours later at 5:00 a.m., as seen in the reenactment. But he told her that Frank Allen was the one who killed the family because he was angry at Smith for not being able to pay the rent.

10. After Smith's capture, one of Judith's sons mentioned at the trial that Smith considered himself a 'Lone Wolf' and often say, "I gotta get out of here. Sometimes Smith would say that he just wanted to go away and live on an island somewhere "around no kind of family or nothing like that." The son also remembered Smith telling him that "the worse thing to f*ck up a man was to have a family." (I guess that's the closest we're going to get to a motive. He was just a sick man who wanted out of family responsibilities.)

Smith took the stand on his own behalf and came up with a creative story about some men he owed money to ended up killing the family. He also mentioned that he couldn't afford the house so he paid Frank Allen $200,000 worth of cocaine along with the deposit check. It's a bunch of BS but if you want to read the rest, here's the link...

http://www.leagle.com/decision/19941...H%20v.%20STATE

[tarheelslim]

Coincidentally, this one was on this morning

Thanks for the additional explanation - this case was certainly bizarre and we will never fully understand it

[WishfulDreamer]

Thank you for the article. This case has always bothered me a lot, despite Smith being caught years ago.

The article also shows why, even more so than shown on UM, Allan is lucky to be alive. It's scary to think of how long Smith was waiting for him and just sitting nonchalantly in a house full of the dead bodies of his family. It's really miraculous that he felt something wasn't right and was able to escape unharmed. As for the victims, I always felt queasy seeing the pictures of them during the segment, so happy and full of life. Kristi was only 12 and now learning that Wendy was engaged and set to marry in a month only compounds the tragedy. It's just so senseless. If he really wanted out, he could have taken money or items he wanted and run without harming anyone.

To me, this was one of the most satisfying captures of a UM fugitive.

[Kirk007Anthony]

http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/...vada-Death-Row Completely creepy

[DazzlerSparkler]

Kinda sounds like Amityville Horror meets the Angela Bettis film May.

[dmh412]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

I know this case was solved very long ago, on the night of the original broadcast in 1991. So I doubt I get many responses. But this case was always very freaky to me with Smith killing his wife Judith, his step-daughters Kristi and Wendy and his attempt at killing Frank Allen.

This segment wasn't handled like most of the murder segments during the height of UM's awesomeness. Usually we got backstory on the victim(s) and interviews with family members and friends before getting into the ugliness of their murders. In this situation, UM skipped all that and went straight to the terrifying ordeal of Frank Allen's attack and the quick discovery of the bodies. Insanely scary, yes. But it still made me want to fill in some of the blanks. Like why would a conman turn to murdering his family members in such a horrific way? I was researching online and found the court report for Smith which gives some specifics leading to the murders that I found interesting.

1. Smith and the family had lived in that house for just a few weeks when he killed them all.

2. Frank Allen originally hadn't planned to sell the house (which makes me wonder how they even came into contact in the first place) but Smith offered him $50,000 over the appraised value and Allen agreed to sell him the house. Both agreed that Allen could retain a bedroom for himself for his business trips.

3. Not surprisingly, both of the checks Smith wrote to Allen for a good faith deposit and the October mortgage payment were on accounts that were already closed. Smith told Allen that he would straighten this out and he would have good checks waiting for him when Allen arrived in Nevada on October 5th, which ended up being the day Smith tried to kill him.

4. Wendy Cox was scheduled to get married the month after her murder. In fact, one of the reasons Smith had originally told Allen that he was in a rush to move into the house was because he wanted to make preparations for Wendy's wedding in November.

5. Smith bludgeoned and strangled Judith, Wendy and Kristi as they slept on October 5th. Just a few hours after killing them and the sun rose, Smith called Allen and told him, "I thought you were coming up here this morning." Allen told him that he wouldn't be arriving until later in the day. At that point Smith said he and the family would be driving to California to go furniture shopping and he would leave the two checks on the wet bar with Allen's mail.

Judith's daughter-in-law Yolanda Cook ended up calling the house four times that day between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Each time, Smith answered the phone and said the women were not home because they went wedding dress shopping for Wendy. Looking back at this now, it's insanely scary to think Smith stayed in that house all day long with three dead bodies just waiting for Allen to get home and kill him.

6. Frank Allen didn't end up arriving until around 1:30 a.m. He said the first thing he noticed was that the security system to the house was turned off. That may be why he had such a horrible feeling that something was wrong.

7. Behind the wet bar, Smith had left a note that Allen could find the two checks in an upstairs room. That may have been an attempt to lure him to his murder, but that's just a guess on my part.

8. Allen spotted Smith crouching in the closet with the hammer before he jumped out and started attacking him. His escape was exactly what we saw in the reenactment. He ended up reaching the guard house and yelling for the security guard, "He's after me! He's after me!" While on the phone with the police, the guard turned to his right and saw Smith's Lincoln exiting the gated community with Smith behind the wheel.

9. Smith telephoned Yolanda Cook a few hours later at 5:00 a.m., as seen in the reenactment. But he told her that Frank Allen was the one who killed the family because he was angry at Smith for not being able to pay the rent.

10. After Smith's capture, one of Judith's sons mentioned at the trial that Smith considered himself a 'Lone Wolf' and often say, "I gotta get out of here. Sometimes Smith would say that he just wanted to go away and live on an island somewhere "around no kind of family or nothing like that." The son also remembered Smith telling him that "the worse thing to f*ck up a man was to have a family." (I guess that's the closest we're going to get to a motive. He was just a sick man who wanted out of family responsibilities.)

Smith took the stand on his own behalf and came up with a creative story about some men he owed money to ended up killing the family. He also mentioned that he couldn't afford the house so he paid Frank Allen $200,000 worth of cocaine along with the deposit check. It's a bunch of BS but if you want to read the rest, here's the link...

http://www.leagle.com/decision/19941...H%20v.%20STATE

Did Judith no anything about Joe prior to the marriage. it does seem odd this low level con man would murder his whole family

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by dmh412

Did Judith no anything about Joe prior to the marriage. it does seem odd this low level con man would murder his whole family

I have no idea. Nothing is known about their relationship before the murders or how long they were even married.

[SitcomsAreTheWay]

at those numbered details; each one definitely sums up just how calculating and deranged Smith is.

I'm glad he didn't get the chance to live out his freedom how he desired, and ended up isolated behind bars instead.

[Judyhymesisalive]

Is he still on Death row or has been killed?

[dynoguy88]

I just posted this in the UM Locations thread but I thought I would also put it here. The house where the murders happened is listed on Zillow. The house was bought last year for $890,000 but pictures of every room are still viewable.









The closet door right next to the entrance of the game room was where Smith was hiding in with the hammer to kill Frank Allen...







Not only was the reenactment filmed in the actual house, it was recorded very quickly. The segment aired just 12 weeks after the actual crime. This case scared the hell out of me as a kid and it's eerie to see the reenactment now knowing how authentic it was, filmed so shortly after the real murders.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/22.../7186951_zpid/

[WishfulDreamer]

Thanks a lot, dynoguy. Such a beautiful house, but it's crazy to think about what happened there. The segment still scares the hell out of me.

[xxxxmattxxxx69]

Originally Posted by Judyhymesisalive

Is he still on Death row or has been killed?

He's still in jail
http://167.154.2.76/inmatesearch/form.php

[Cooker3]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

http://www.leagle.com/decision/19941...H%20v.%20STATE

Thanks for that. His explanation for the attack on Frank is tremendous

"At approximately 4:00 p.m. on Friday, Smith took some sleeping pills and lay down on the game room floor by the closet. Early Saturday morning, he awoke to the sounds of someone coming into the game room. He thought that the killers had returned and began swinging the hammer at a man. He did not know it was Allen because it was dark and Allen did not say anything during the attack."

Who wouldn't take a sleeping pill after their family had been slain!

I just watched this and nearly jumped out of bed when Frank Allen was attacked in reconstruction.

I'm surprised nobody was woken up during the attacks.
Such a cold calculating act.

[Perhaps It's You]

So seeing as this thread hasn't had an update in years here it goes
The Nevada Department of Corrections reported that on May 20, 2023 Joseph Smith was pronounced dead at Renown Regional Medical Center, he was 82.
He had also joined a lawsuit against Nevada prison officials 2 years earlier over their choice to use a new lethal injection cocktail in future executions.