The wife of a soldier from Gainesville faced a federal judge Tuesday after tearfully proclaiming her innocence to intentionally killing two of her children in an arson fire.
Billi Jo Smallwood, 35, could face the death penalty if convicted of setting fire to the on-base residence she and her husband Wayne Smallwood shared at Fort Campbell, Ky. Her children Rebekah Smallwood, 2, and Samual Fagan, 9, died in the 29th May 2007 fire.
In court documents, federal authorities claim the arson was premeditated, that she knew children would die, and that it was committed for money.
Billi Jo Smallwood, who is separated from her husband, most recently lived in Brunswick but was arrested Tuesday in Gainesville after a federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment against her last week. She was brought by marshals to an initial court appearance Tuesday in US District Court in Gainesville, where her husband and some of his fellow soldiers looked on solemnly from the gallery. Smallwood, with short, reddish hair and wearing a black pantsuit and leg irons, wept through much of the brief court proceeding. Gainesville Times online article 23rd November 2008
SMART, KRISTIN murder: True Crime with Aphrodite Jones TV - NBC News online -
A missing co-ed. A young man hounded by suspicion. An important witness who has never spoken publicly before. It’s the story of how one case changed the way violent crimes are investigated on college campuses across California. True Crime with Aphrodite Jones s3e8: Girl, Gone, ID 2013
May 1996: I believe that Paul Flores already had his eye on Kristen Smart for some time. ibid.
May 25th 1996 was the last time anyone saw or heard from Kristin. She vanished without a trace from the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo California where she was a student. Kristin, 19 at the time, was returning to her Muir Hall dorm room following an off-campus party with fellow student and friend, Paul Flores.
Flores later told authorities that he said goodbye to Kristin a block away from her dorm room. In July 1996, he was named a key witness by police. Although Flores has never officially been charged in connection with Kristin’s disappearance, he has since been the subject of several police inquiries and searches. Most recently, in 2007, police dug up the back patio of Flores’ Arroyo Grande home, but found nothing. NBC News online article 2nd October 2014
SMART, PAMELA et al: Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart TV - Mail online - True Crime Recaps 2023 -
911 Audiotape May 1 1990: Yes um emergency in 4E. Summerhill Condominiums. There’s someone passed out. I don’t know. A girl is hysterical in there. Her husband is passed out. Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart, Sky Atlantic 2017
May 1st 1990: Twenty-four-year-old Gregory Smart has been shot in the head. His wife Pamela Smart is accused of plotting her husband’s death. ibid. news report
The first trial ever captured live on television. ibid. news
Three teenage boys who killed Greg Smart live on the other side of town … The only possible connection is that Pam Smart works at the high-school. ibid. dude
Sex, murder, teenage kids, a teacher. ibid. reporter
Everyone concerned with Pamela Smart’s trial was caught up in a black hole, a black hole of media attention. ibid. media bloke
A cheating newlywed whose plot to kill her husband with a teenage lover became the subject of a Hollywood movie has made a new bid for freedom.
Pamela Smart, of New Hampshire, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, being an accomplice to first-degree murder and witness tampering in March 1991 at the age of 22 over the death of her 24-year-old husband.
She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole but all the while has maintained she had nothing to do with plotting his murder. For the past two decades, she has lost all her legal appeals.
Ms Smart, 47, now hopes that a new documentary examining the media fervour at her trial – which she believes swayed the public and ultimately the jury’s decision – will convince New Hampshire authorities to allow her a parole hearing. Mail online article 20th January 2015, ‘Ice queen’ newlywed, who conspired to murder husband with teen lover and became subject of Nicole Kidman movie, hopes new documentary will prove her innocence’
The early ’90s were a confusing time for Billy Flynn. The 15-year-old fell head over heals for an older married woman. He thought she felt the same way. But if they wanted to be together they’d have to get rid of her husband first. This is the story of Pamela Smart. True Crime Recaps: The Husband Had to Go: Pamela Smart’s Final Solution, Youtube 17.15, 2023
There lying facing down in a pool of blood was her 24-year-old husband. He’d been shot in the back of the head execution style. The house was ransacked. ibid.
The captain felt the scene stunk to high heaven. ibid.
Pamela had an iron-clad alibi; she was at a school meeting all night. ibid.
She was more concerned about he dog than she was about catching her husband’s killer. ibid.
SMITH, ERIC: Killer Kids TV - True Crime Recaps 2022 -
Many children struggle with self-control. But what happens when a child can’t cope and chooses murder as an outlet? What causes an ordinary child to take another life? Can films influence them? Or is it in their DNA? Do they have an internal instinct to kill? Killer Kids s2e6: A Scream and Banana Split, CI 2017
Savona on the outskirts of Rochester, New York … One of the many children who lived in Savona was 4-year-old Derrick Robey … Police found Derrick’s lifeless body in the woods near the park. A heavy rock had been found on Derrick’s head crushing his skull. ibid.
Investigators ask Eric [Smith, 13] to meet them at the crime scene where he last saw Derrick. ibid.
Eric was convicted of murder and sentenced to a minimum of nine years in prison. ibid.
Eric has been denied parole six times. ibid.
Back in ’93 Eric Smith made headlines as the 13-year-old who brutally murdered and sexually assaulted a 4-year-old boy in Savona … Eric Smith is now a free man at age 41. True Crime Recaps: Child Killer Going Free! Youtube 13.11, 2022
SMITH, GEORGE JOSEPH: Jane Robins - Fred Dinenage: Murder Casebook TV - David Wilson TV - Brides in the Bath 2003 -
George Joseph Smith was a charmer and of course a con-man and a killer. Jane Robins, author The Magnificent Spilsbury
How did he become known as the Brides in the Bath Murderer? Fred Dinenage s1e5: Murder Casebook: Brides in the Bath, CI 2011
In 1915 a trial took place at the Old Bailey in London. The man in the dock was George Joseph Smith, a serial bigamist ... Three of his wives had died while taking a bath. ibid.
Smith had eight [wives]. ibid.
He wasn’t the astute businessman he liked to think he was. ibid.
The famous pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury enters the story. ibid.
It took the jury all of twenty-two minutes to find Smith guilty of murder. ibid.
George Joseph Smith was executed. ibid.