Jack R. Smith

Jack Russell Smith (December 6, 1925 – June 25, 1964) was a 38-year-old photographer who disappeared while on a shopping trip to Alexandria on June 25, 1964 and was likely murdered the same day.[1]

Smith had left his house in Potomac, Maryland at about 3:00 p.m., telling his wife he was going to a lumber yard in Alexandria to pick up some bricks and was then going to stop by the commissary at Fort McNair in Washington, D. C. Two men were spotted in Smith's station wagon in West Virginia about four hours later, and the car wrecked into a utility pole on U.S. Route 11 south of Martinsburg, West Virginia about an hour after that.[2]

Following the crash, a man grabbed a canvas bag from the car and ran screaming into the nearby woods. A witness reported the man said, "My God, help me, they're trying to kill me." before running off.[3]

The West Virginia State Police, "investigating" the crash, concluded the man was Smith, and maintained that position until his corpse was found in Fairfax three and a half months later.

Smith's severely decomposed corpse- little more than a skeleton with a belt and a pair of shoes- was found by hunter Joseph G. Hale in a wooded area off Rugby Road in Fairfax on October 3, 1964.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Man Missing Since June 25 Found Slain in Fairfax Woods." Evening Star, 5 Oct. 1964, Three Star, p. 1. NewsBank. Accessed 3 Oct. 2018.
  2. ↑ "Man's Disappearance Linked to Hitchhiker."Evening Star, 29 Sep. 1964, Three Star NIGHT FINAL, p. 30. NewsBank. Accessed 3 Oct. 2018.
  3. ↑ "Slaying Victim's Wife Kept Faith in Him" Evening Star, 6 Oct. 1964, Three Star NIGHT FINAL, p. 28. NewsBank, . Accessed 3 Oct. 2018.