The Misery Machine - The Case of Jennifer Smith

Starting point is 00:00:00 Jennifer Noreen Smith was born on July 15, 1982 to parent Cynthia and James Smith, and was the middle child of four siblings. The family originally lived in Holt and Maine, but eventually moved to a mobile home on Jennifer's maternal grandfather's Monticello property. Jennifer was a sixth grader at Wellington School and was well liked by her teachers. Her principal said about her, she always had a smile. She was a happy go lucky girl.

Starting point is 00:00:28 She was willing to help with anything. Jennifer and her friends would frequent a shop called the village market where they would spend whatever spare change they had. The shopkeeper described her as sweet and friendly. Now, as an 80s kid, she would have witnessed many major events, even if she didn't quite understand them. She may have watched the space shuttle Challenger explode from her television screen. She lived through both of Ronald Reagan's presidential terms and would have seen news coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. Aside from these well-documented moments of recent history, Jennifer also grew up during another important cultural period, the era of Stranger Danger.

Starting point is 00:01:14 Today, many who grew up in the 80s and 90s remember the Stranger Danger epidemic. The mass reporting of missing and murdered children such as Eton Pats and Adam Walsh shattered the idea for many families that lived in a safe place. The question, who would want to hurt an innocent child had an answer, and that answer was potentially anybody. The fear of the parents extended to their children. They remember being warned to stay away from strange men in vans with candy. They remember seeing milk cartons printed with photographs and the word missing in big, bold capital letters.

Starting point is 00:01:47 They remember hearing of serial killers prowling the streets, Satanists in their schools, and America's most wanted telling them to keep a keen eye out for the subjects of this current week's episode. With hindsight, we know it was well-meaning, but it clearly wasn't entirely accurate. Anyone who consumes true crime content actively or even casually knows that stranger danger is real, yes, but according to statistics, you were much more likely to be murdered by someone you know than by a complete stranger. And vulnerable children living in violent households are especially at risk, because the murderer in question tends to be one of their own parents. James Smith was originally from Michigan.

Starting point is 00:02:28 He and his wife Cynthia were both young when they started a family in Maine. In 1981, before Jennifer was born, James was given a 20-year prison sentence by the South Carolina judicial system for second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Now, the details aren't clear, but it seems he assaulted and attempted to kill an unnamed female victim. He escaped prison in 1986 and returned to Maine. During this period, when Cynthia was absent, he essayed. his daughters. Eventually, South Carolina authorities found him. He was thrown back behind bars with an additional year added to his sentence. He was released in 1991 for good behavior. He went

Starting point is 00:03:07 back to living with his family. In 1992, Jennifer and her sister Michelle approached their mother and told her the worst thing any mother could hear from her daughters, that their father was assaying them. She confronted him, and he confessed to it. Cynthia filed for a protective order from her husband, and she wrote, Jennifer and Michelle have told me of essay incidents he performed with them in July 1986 prior to being expedited to South Carolina to serve a sentence. He has recently returned. I need this protection for myself because one or all of the children are always with me. Under the circumstances of the children say so and his admittance to committing essay towards my children, I don't want him near me, which might put him in contact with the children.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Cynthia was granted a protection order for one year. When it expires, James and Cynthia attended a hearing together. James was ordered to go to counseling for his substance addiction and his misconduct for the heinous acts he committed on his daughters. Earlier that same year, James had his name legally changed. He requested this to the probate court, it said, and I quote, I feel that my family and I have had many problems stemming from the bad reputation my current name holds with the citizens of Holton, Maine, and surrounding areas. My wife and children are also being put through a lot because of their actions with me. What exactly was James referring to?

Starting point is 00:04:27 On his end, it's obvious himself. But for his wife and children, it's not so clear. It's possible Cynthia and James were willing to make amends and the general public were openly questioning why Cynthia would let him back into her life. Cynthia gave permission in writing for James to change his name to Matthew Wilson. She said it would benefit him and his family to do so.

Starting point is 00:04:50 She followed suit, calling herself Cynthia Wilson. Their children kept their last names. Jennifer was last seen on Tuesday, October 5th, 1993 at around late morning to noon by two of her younger siblings. She was supposedly on a walk, but she didn't come home. That night, the Wilson's phoneed their local law enforcement and reported their 11-year-old daughter was missing. Local police got the state involved, and after two days of rigorous searching, Jennifer was found. Less than a mile from the Wilson family home on a dirt road that was once a railroad track now turned into a snowmobile trail. Jennifer was buried haphazardly under a pile of tree branches.

Starting point is 00:05:31 There were about 100 people involved in the search, including police, game wardens, volunteers, and members of her family. Cynthia and Matthew were among them. She was bound with electrical and duct tape from her head to her neck. Oring the court records, the layers of tape were so thick that when they were cut off by the medical examiner, during the autopsy, they stood freely and resembled a hockey goalie's mask. Her hands were held behind her by tape, plastic ties, and strips of leather. Her clothes were ripped, dirty, and partially removed. Most upsetting of all, there were obvious signs that this 11-year-old girl was essayed. Authorities recovered Jennifer's body for examination along with a vehicle that was left nearby.

Starting point is 00:06:12 It would be sent to Augusta Maine the next day to be studied by a police force with the proper equipment. Monticello weather data from October 5th through the 8th, 1993 reports high temperatures between 73 degrees and 85 degrees Fahrenheit and low temperatures between 55 degrees and 60 degrees. Northern Maine does get snow during the fall, but according to these records, there wasn't any precipitation in the area. It's possible if it were colder, snowmobile operators would have found Jennifer much sooner. When she was approached by the press, Cynthia will be able to Wilson said she would do whatever it took to solve her daughter's murder. There are over 6,000 ponds in lakes in the state of Maine.

Starting point is 00:06:55 Deep Lake is located in the town of Littleton. Covers about six acres and has a maximum depth of 52 feet. It is an ideal spot for recreational fishing as the lake is stocked once every year with trout. If the public wants to visit the pond, they have to walk or drive along a gravel road. Hours after Jennifer was found, Matthew was questioned by Detective. He said they were both in his car driving on the gravel road to Deep Lake when they ran out of gas. We're into a story Jennifer was misbehaving, so he left her bound to a tree while he left to get more gas because he thought she would run away from him. Even if this were true, it's ridiculous.

Starting point is 00:07:33 When a person tries to cover up an accidental death, it's no longer an accident. It's a crime. Of course, that is the best case scenario for Matthew, and the evidence clearly points to his guilt. Eventually, he broke and confessed to assaulting and killing John. He was held in the Eurucic County Jail without bond. After the press began coverage of Jennifer's death, Matthew contacted the local newspaper and defended himself. He called Jennifer's passing, I quote, An accidental thing that wasn't meant to happen.

Starting point is 00:08:00 It's been turned into murder, but it's something else. The news asked Matthew, if the police were spinning lies, then what was the truth? How did Jennifer die? He refused to give any specific details, choosing instead to repeat his vague non-statements. He said, and I quote, It's not like they tried to make it out to be. I want people to know that this was not intentional. She was alive at one time, and I came back and she was dead.

Starting point is 00:08:24 I got scared and moved the body from the area until I could figure out what to do. I planned to try to get things straightened out. Things just went crazy. A vehicle was seized from the crime seen by law enforcement, and the press reported that it was Matthews, but he said it was not his, and this may have been true, but only on a technicality. Law enforcement said the car, a Buick, belonged to either Matthew or Cynthia. He also denied that employees working at Monticello potato shippers saw him leaving the woods in the morning because he wasn't in that area until 1 p.m.

Starting point is 00:08:54 He said about Jennifer, I have a heart. I would love to have my daughter back. I cared very much for her. I'd do anything in the world to get her back. If I could give my life and it would bring her back, I would. I am hurting. I'm a man in pain. I am in sorrow. He also contacted his court-appointed lawyer, but their conversation was not given to the press. His arraignment hearing was held the next day on Friday, October 8th, 1993 in Preskeyele, Maine. After Jennifer's death and Matthew's arrest, Cynthia lost custody of her remaining children. They were all handed over as wars of the state. Words spread across the town within the following days. Friends, acquaintances, and strangers went from mourning Jennifer's death

Starting point is 00:09:34 to raging that a man like Matthew Wilson was allowed to live. What anonymous citizen of Monticello said Wilson deserved to be taken out and shot? Journalist Wayne Brown of the Bangor Daily News said, his comment was one of the less violent ones made. A state police lieutenant said publicly that he believed he knew how Jennifer died, but he would wait to give more details to news outlets until after an autopsy was performed. He and the rest of the police force guest foul play from the moment they recovered Jennifer. Since she was covered in debris, they surmised someone wanted to hide her.

Starting point is 00:10:09 Kristen Gray Sweeney, the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner, was tasked with Jennifer's autopsy. Sweeney determined Jennifer died from asphyxiation in a combination of ligature, strangulation, suffocation, and aspiration of gastric contents. Based on marks on Jennifer's neck, investigators determined she was strangled with a dog's choke chain collar,

Starting point is 00:10:29 the kind that tightens when a dog or owner pulls on the leash. She also threw up at some point and unable to expel it properly. She choked on it. Not all of this information was public knowledge upon immediate discovery. The press knew the cause of death was strangulation by ligature

Starting point is 00:10:45 and that the girl's father was being charged for her death. They didn't know anything beyond that. Thomas Goodwin, the Assistant Attorney General, declined any comments about the specifics. Meanwhile, investigators continued searching for further evidence. They spoke to the Wilson's neighbors

Starting point is 00:11:01 and contacted investigation departments from other towns for aid and resources. They also learned of his previous conviction in South Carolina. Assistant Attorney General Goodwin told the press about this and that there were striking parallels, almost eerie parallels to Jennifer's death. In late November, Jennifer's grandfather's house burnt down. The Monticello Fire Department first came at 1030 in the morning to handle a fire in the chimney. Later at 240 in the afternoon,

Starting point is 00:11:28 the entire structure was burning. Jennifer's grandfather wasn't home at the time, and it isn't reported what caused the fire. Matthew Wilson's criminal trial was held in Holton, Arrusted County, Maine. Initially in 1993, he pled not guilty to murder and gross essay. His lawyer, Hal Stewart II, argued that Matthew's confession should not be admitted as evidence. He raised doubts that Matthew gave it willingly or if he knew he could remain silent. In addition, he was allegedly sleep deprived, emotional, and denied a cigarette break. The tape of his interview was played for the judge, which depicted interrogators reading Matthew as Miranda rights. Judge Paul T. Pearson denied Stewart's motion and allowed the confession to be a

Starting point is 00:12:11 admitted as evidence against Matthew. Assistant A.G. Goodwin poked holes into Matthew's series of events. He argued that Jennifer's injuries and cause of death did not align being tied to a tree. On top of that, they were so severe that there was little chance they were accidental. After some time, the prosecution offered a plea agreement. Plead guilty to Jennifer's murder and the SA charges would be dropped. He accepted this, pleading guilty on September 16th, 1994. His lawyer spoke on his behalf.

Starting point is 00:12:39 Matthew is very sure the state will be able to prove his guilt. He did not want to see his family or friends go through that. By now, Cynthia had gone back to using her maiden name, Hall. During the sentencing hearing, she stood in front of the judge to ask for the maximum sentence, she said. He's taken away from us, a loving, precious little girl. What he did to her was very violent. I live each night with nightmares of what she must have gone through. If we had the death penalty, I beg that you would kill him.

Starting point is 00:13:09 The plea deal was not enough to save him, however. On December 9, 1994, Matthew was given a life sentence, the most severe punishment allowed in the state of Maine. Justice Paul T. Pearson said to him, even if released at age six year 70, you'd be a danger to society to women and young children. Matthew tried appealing in 1996. He claimed that because he was being tried for such a violent crime,

Starting point is 00:13:33 he wasn't given proper due process. Court upheld its original ruling. They said, the victim in this matter was your own daughter. The physical evidence in this matter indicated that it was indeed a matter of extreme cruelty that involved the killing with a choker chain to a victim who was bound.

Starting point is 00:13:48 The evidence suggested the court revealed a killing that involved essay. It's difficult for anybody, any human, to imagine a more gruesome circumstance, a more cruel circumstance. In 2015, Matthew was brought before a judge for three counts of disorderly conduct, offensive words and gestures and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Given his life's sentence, this doesn't mean much in practice. However, on paper, it shows that after two decades, Matthew Wilson is still as unlikable behind bars as he was as a free man. His lawyer, Hal Stewart II, was made Maine Superior Court Justice in 2016. He has held this position for eight years. The prosecutor and assistant attorney general Thomas Goodwin passed away on June 23, 27, 2023. Following his work on Jennifer's murder, he continued his legal career, but it appeared he never

Starting point is 00:14:42 took on any more high-profile cases. In 1997 and 1998, Jennifer was remembered three times in two main newspapers. The first was in the morning Sentinel's roll call of 72 victims of DB. She was the 34th name on the list, with cases dating back to January of 1990. She was mentioned twice by the Portland Press Herald, the first victims of family violence. in 1997. Second was deaths and a recent history of child homicide in Maine, where she was listed among many other children and the adults who took their lives. The article detailed the inconsistencies in Maine's judicial system when it comes to the death of children. At the time of the article's

Starting point is 00:15:20 publication, there were four ongoing high-profile cases of child homicide. The youngest victim was only two days old. On the list of past cases, Matthew Wilson had the largest sentence, life in prison. Not including cases where the accused was institutionalized, the second longest sentence was 21 years in prison. The shortest sentence was just three years probation. The Portland Press Herald interviewed many people for this article, including the main attorney general Andrew Ketterer. He said child homicide cases involving mothers, fathers, or other caregivers are the hardest to prosecute in a court of law due to few witnesses and little to no physical evidence. Medical reports were often a prosecutor's best weapon, but DNA evidence was still in its infancy. Typical juror wouldn't

Starting point is 00:16:04 have had much understanding of the science, so it was easy for a defense attorney to sway a jury away from considering DNA evidence in their decision, at least at that time period. In addition, most of the defendants in these kinds of cases are given manslaughter charges, not murder charges, since murder requires premeditation, intent, or depraved indifference to the value of human life. With all of these cards against them, it's easy to see why many prosecutors, Tudor's turn to offering plea deals. While Matthew was given the sentence he deserved in the highest sentence that Maine could possibly give him, he is an outlier in the sea of slaps on the wrist when it involves crimes against children.

Starting point is 00:16:42 But that was three decades ago. Surely things are better for children of Maine, right? Well, not exactly. In June of 2021, readers of the Bangor Daily News saw three disturbing headlines, which were Brewer Father was handed happy cohesion. baby who was unresponsive 15 minutes later. Affidavit reveals disturbing details of three-year-old Maine child's death and mother accused of killing her three-year-old daughter in Old Town. The main monitor newsroom brought up these headlines when they interviewed a former school nurse

Starting point is 00:17:16 named Mary Wright. From 2016 to 2018, one of the students at the school Mary worked at had a long string of unexplained absences. Mary and other members of the school faculty, tried to get child welfare involved, but in February of 2018, the child's parents killed her. Her name was Marissa Kennedy, and she was just 10 years old. Now, if her name sounds familiar, it's because we covered her story earlier this year. It all started when Marissa routinely fell asleep in the middle of class. She was typically a diligent student. Marissa's parents explained they had to hospitalize her for aggressive behavior

Starting point is 00:17:54 and that she was on medication that made her drowsy. But Marissa was not... aggressive type, so this was odd. Mary Wright visited Marissa's home, but couldn't even get inside. She even reached out to Marissa's doctor to ask about her medications, only to learn that the 10-year-old wasn't prescribed anything at all. When Marissa continued to miss school, guidance counselor Kristen Tilly reached out to the hospital Marissa went to. She did indeed have appointments, but not on the days of her absences. Kristen and the school principal Ryan Enman went to visit Marissa's family. They saw everyone leaving, including the newborn baby. They were being evicted.

Starting point is 00:18:28 Along with the school faculty, neighbors and medical professionals also contacted the appropriate authorities. When child welfare did visit the family, they determined there was not enough evidence to consider Marissa's case to be worrying. So she was left with the people who eventually killed her. Marissa Kennedy's death followed a pattern. A child dies, the press reports it. A trial comes and goes, and the government pledges improvement. Family services and child welfare exist to protect the vulnerable, and one death is for. far too many. For improvements to be meaningful, they need to lead to a change in statistics.

Starting point is 00:19:05 Now, what can you do as a consumer of true crime? First, the old saying rings true and we say this all of the time. If you see something, say something. If you suspect a child is being mistreated, reach out to the relevant authorities. Even if you're wrong, it's better to be wrong than to be silent. If you don't know who to call or to report to, you can always call the National CA hotline, which will have linked in the description for you. It's linked in all of our episodes, basically. If you want to take a step further, you can reach out to politicians and the proper government channels. Voice your concerns about the state of child welfare and ask for meaningful changes, changes that will bring statistics down. Even if you're made to jump through hoops or you're made to

Starting point is 00:19:55 leave a message on an automated voicemail. You will have done more than most people. We couldn't find any information about Jennifer's funeral, but a woman claiming to have been her best friend left a heartwarming tribute to Jennifer on her Find a Grave page on July 24th, 2019. It read, My name is Shana Burns Higgins. I'm 33. I still think and have dreams about my best friend. I miss you and will never forget you, my love. May you rest in peace, my little lady. May God bless you and your family. If you'd like to hear more about Marissa Kennedy's case and how Maine's child services completely and utterly failed this poor girl, please click here to watch her story.

The Misery Machine - The Case of Jennifer Smith

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