Husband convicted after begging for wife’s safe return on TV

it's Monday night in matches knee Park Illinois Todd and Katrina Smith are hanging out at home everything was great in fact the lovebirds just returned from an anniversary trip to Washington DC celebrating seven years of wedded bliss on her wedding day I mean I was happy for them I was you know excited that you know this was the person she wanted to spend her life with and she was going to be able to be a stepmom to his three children then you know he seemed like a good fit for her and there's plenty to celebrate including a possible new job for mrs. Smith the 30 year old HR coordinator lands a huge interview scheduled for the very next morning and while Katrina finishes up some laundry she hops on her husband's computer to finalize the details there were a string of emails between herself and her new employer after confirming her morning meeting Todd says Katrina heads out to a friend's condo where she's currently house-sitting the next morning the 44 year old insurance and investment broker sends a text to his wife which reads good luck at your interview you're gonna be awesome oddly Katrina doesn't respond the day comes and goes and still no work Todd is getting really nervous and suddenly the phone rings I got a phone call on October 23rd maybe around like 7:00 p.m. from Todd saying that you know he asked me if I had talked to my sister and I said no he said she didn't show up for work and he hadn't talked to her since the previous night and her big interview she misses that too she's very responsible so I was immediately concerned I knew something wasn't right I felt sick to my stomach but just how wrong was it I asked him if they had had a fight if there was anything going on and he said no everything was great so then where is Katrina Smith panicked Todd heads to the sheriff's station during the initial interview with Todd Smith he indicated that Katrina on October 22nd Katrina had been there at his house to do laundry and then she was also going to get on the computer and sinsemilla emails out for an interview for a new job investigators checked Todd's computer and confirmed the emails sent from Katrina to her potential new boss from the emails that we recovered on the computer that it shows that she did send out some emails to set up the interview that was earlier in the day on the 22nd and then he sends one more last email and then Katrina responds at 10:54 immediately investigators begin a search of the area Katrina's family sets up a Facebook page entitled find Katrina Smith they organize volunteers search parties the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department officially classifies Katrina Smith as a missing person and takes the lead on the investigation that was the same night the vehicle was found Katrina's abandoned chevrolet cruze is discovered at the intersection of Obispo Road and Ventura Boulevard about two miles from her home with her car being found and it's an urgency to effect that doesn't just a missing person there was something definitely not right investigators on the scene believe the car has been wiped clean and towed in for forensic processing but there's more a lot more once the vehicle was recovered there was evidence or a trail of evidence that was recovered then two days later another startling discovery local law enforcement and volunteer searchers find Katrina's wallet and cell phone just feet from her abandoned vehicle and something else bloody paper towels friends and family rally around Katrina's distraught husband Todd Smith as he makes pleas for her safe return horrible I just wanted to come home he was in the media constantly every day he would conduct daily interviews practically with the news media with Katrina's husband and family seemingly making every effort to find the missing Illinois woman authorities begin to speculate it was a stranger who perhaps broke into the home or who perhaps stalked her maybe it was someone from her church who stalked her in fact there was an acquaintance from church a juvenile who knew the Smiths through a church youth group and get this just two years before Katrina went missing this peeping tom was charged with allegedly stalking the Smith's neighbor by peering through her bedroom window coincidence she knew that somebody was following and watching her was this peeping tom stalking their neighbor or was he stalking to Treena 30 year old Illinois wife and stepmom Katrina Smith is missing no trace of her she had disappeared her friends and family are desperate to find her do anything we could to bring her home it's day four in the search for Katrina Smith her husband Todd speaks out once again to the media cameras roll as he is overcome with emotion as Katrina's friends and family organized another search frantically looking for any clues that will answer the question where is Katrina Smith we're all just trying to to be there for one another and trying to stay positive between a sister makes a heartbreaking post on the Facebook page saying in part Cissy I love you more than words can describe I miss you terribly and the pain that I feel is unbearable but detectives believe they may be one step closer to finding the missing macchesney Park woman they zero in on a juvenile arrested in Katrina's neighborhood with a reported penchant for peeping she had no enemies she had no one else that wanted to harm her then sheriff's detectives from Winnebago make a stunning discovery and now there is another man they're looking turns out Katrina has a secret there was a boyfriend that Katrina Smith had started seen on the side that's right this married stepmother is having an affair she was very private she was very secretive his name guy Gabriel a married man from a town over guy Gabriel is a co-worker of Katrina's who she ultimately started having a relationship with while she was still married with Todd Smith and when cops run a background check on Katrina's secret lover the uncover of violent past there was some issues with him he's involved in a domestic issue with his wife police records reportedly reveal an arrest for domestic battery the responding officer describes the reported attack the attending nurse paints a similar picture of alleged abuse but that's not all the dirt on Katrina's secret boyfriend detectives retrieve text messages from her recently recovered cell phone and it's a powder keg of intel on the night katrina goes missing her secret lover gah Gabriel sends her a barrage of text messages there's something else going on here than just a missing person one of the texts to Katrina says what's wrong and yet another that reads have you told him you want to divorce that there's nothing left in you for him nothing then the texts which continue late into the night appear to take on an aggressive tone when guy writes he wants this his way well newsflash he has no said all the while we were all suspicious then more explosive evidence the missing woman's co-workers confirmed to police that Katrina thought she was being stalked in the weeks leading up to her disappearance she also shared that information with her cellular phone company she knew that somebody was following and watching her and that scared her a text to her stepfather just four days before she vanished revealed Katrina feared for her life in the text she writes do I have to have my food card first before going to the shooting range Boyd is an acronym for firearm owner identification card according to her stepdad Katrina wanted a gun for protection she did everything that she thought she could to protect herself sadly it may not have been enough between his co-workers share a disturbing incident with police that occurred just two weeks before Katrina went missing an individual drove through her work parking lot in disguise and distributed several flyers that flier was to expose her secret boyfriend gone it was entitled guy expletive cat which stated in part he was able to expletive Katrina from HR in record time and goes on to paint Katrina as a cheater yeah she's married with a family but why turned on the charm her legs fell open but who is the mystery man behind the x-rated fliers he secretly followed her we believe that he dumped flyers at her workplace so she was constantly being stalked by this individual in Katrina's secret love affair it's not so secret anymore and she had no idea that he was capable of these things 30 year-old Katrina Smith has been missing for two weeks cops discovered the wife and stepmother had a secret life and a secret lover the ultimate betrayal and constant terror someone was tracking her detectives interview Katrina's lover and co-worker guy gamer he claims he was working the night Katrina went missing he was very cooperative with the investigation while investigators check out guy's alibi they turned their attention to a person no one first suspected Katrina's husband Todd Smith who's been on TV every day since her disappearance begging for his wife's safe return he gave the the tears but I think the majority of the public looked at him and realized something's just not right but odd behavior doesn't equal guilt so what a bigger detectives start digging they wonder is Todd Smith really a grieving husband or a killer crying crocodile tears Todd Smith that's debatable it's a defendant who you talk to family friends you might get different opinions it turns out Katrina isn't the only one who's been keeping secrets tada 44 year old insurance and investment broker is hardly the money man he claims to be around town he was being sued in federal court by investors as seen in these court documents Todd and his business partners are accused of bilking clients out of nine hundred and eighty three thousand dollars in addition he's indicted on seven counts of mail fraud and ten counts of wire fraud in connection with the alleged charge Todd pleads not guilty but no one knew that other than herself that was something that was not shared with family members everyone thought that he made money that he was the breadwinner in reality Katrina supports Todd and his three daughters it's a shift in traditional gender roles and a strain on the marriage it was quite apparent that he was losing control and losing his wife she realized that she needed to end the marriage but you never know it according to Todd's statements to detectives he stated that his relationship with Katrina was good that hey Katrina was just staying at a friend's house while she was house-sitting not exactly she had moved out of the marital home approximately two and a half weeks prior and Todd is desperate to get her back and how do cops know this there was a card that was recovered from Katrina's vehicle I was begging for her not to leave them in the handwritten card Todd writes in part I am scared to death that you are going to start talking to someone who will take advantage of the situation and he goes on to say I will do whatever it takes the ends of the note with this sentiment I want to grow old with you I love you and cherish you Katrina loved Todd and while the card appears to be a love letter Maryland high cross with the Winnebago State's Attorney's Office read something entirely different it had subtle hints love you to death you know can't live without you I'll do anything but reading between the lines it was a subtle threat in recovered tanks between Katrina and her secret lover guy reveals something happy between mr. and mrs. Smith the night she vanished night acts it will be over before you know it and then the healing begins then he writes it's your house you either sell or he goes and continues did you tell him too little too late tell him what to take this wonder then they get news that Katrina's purse has been found she had notes that were recovered regarding appointments with a divorce attorney and they were in her purse detectives start piecing together the night Katrina disappear she went over to do laundry and there's some dirty laundry of her own asking Todd for a divorce authorities now believe the last person who saw her alive was her husband a man she thought she knew but as it turns out he was keeping some giant secrets of his own Katrina didn't even know her husband's real name he changed his name that's right Todd Smith isn't even Todd Smith his real name is Todd Rep Reiter pieces of information about his past that we didn't know Todd Reiter changed his name to Todd Smith after being convicted of arson as a teenager he had previously been arrested when he was 17 for trying to burn his family's house down well his family members were in it he was sentenced to 30 months probation and required to get a voluntary drug evaluation something his wife's family says Katrina never knew he's a chameleon he had two faces she had no idea that he was capable of these things what else is Todd Smith hiding the Winnebago Sheriff's Department wants to find out they obtained a subpoena for Todd in a warrant to search his home they seized several items including his computer I was a gut instinct it's almost like getting hit in the stomach yeah there was some issues with him he's involved in a domestic issue with his wife we don't feel that had any involvement and this incident at all after uncovering secrets in the Smith marriage and Todd's dark double life we were all suspicious that he was in fact the perpetrator while they wait for forensic results on items seized from Todd's home detectives are struck by the frequency of Todd's news interviews every day for 17 straight days the seemingly grieving husband has made emotional pleas through the press they did give him the airtime and they continued to present him as the grieving husband it's overwhelming that outreach love and the support of everyone and I'm deeply grateful and there's just one problem I don't think he was that convincing and it's not just what Todd is saying is what he's doing or in this case not do it he would be in the search parties with strangers who were diligently searching for her and he really was not interested Katrina's family witnessed it firsthand we were all desperate to find her do anything we could to bring her home and he was kind of just a bystander bystander grieving husband or killer authorities can't be sure and subpoena the news footage from local stations as potential evidence meanwhile computer forensic analyst detective Dave 1as is tasked with reviewing the information recovered from Todd's laptop he told me that he had completely deleted everything everything with you know today's technology and computer forensics we were able to recover all that even if the data has been deleted we were able to recover that and it's a goldmine of jealousy and obsession on the laptop cops recover three folders of interest one entitled KS 104 1 2 which is the date Katrina allegedly met her secret boyfriend guy Gabriel for drinks and then a second folder that appears to be related to that x-rated flyer that was distributed at Katrina's workplace through the investigative work or the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department to find remnants of that flyer that was distributed on his computer then there's a third folder and it grabs the attention of detected Juana's it's entitled super track stick but what in the world is that a super track stick is a device or a GPS device that is used to track a movement of a person or a vehicle a satellite signal will track every movement by capturing GPS coordinates and when investigators click on the folder to see what Todd's tracking ends up it's not what he's tracking but who he was tracking his wife from for some time try three years according to the tracking logs but investigators need physical proof that Todd has been stalking his wife and pass on the information to the forensics team processing her car and when they check under Katrina's vehicle he took it off the car and he forgot one small thing but a big one for cops a wire that was located underneath Katrina's vehicle so we knew that something had been fixed to that vehicle but where is that tracking device now then cops get a huge break there was some video that was recovered it's home surveillance video from one of Todd and Katrina's neighbors where we see a small statured person walking southbound detectives believe the image is of time but it's grainy and far away so it could be anywhere then an explosive moment in the case when the forensics on Katrina's car come in in Katrina's car we sprayed a chemical which reacts with blood and when it does it causes the blood to luminous or glow blood is everywhere as seen in these CSI photos and the blood DNA Katrina's blood was identified but Todd Smith's blood or fingerprints are nowhere to be found this point in the investigation detectives can prove Todd stalked his wife but they can't prove he killed there was no one else there were no other suspects it was him if only investigators had some concrete evidence linking Todd to the murder of his wife we obtained a second search warrant for the computer the authorities believe Todd Smith stalked and murdered his wife Katrina I've never felt that somebody was so guilty of a crime as I did in this the uncovers suspicious GPS software on his computer now they just need to find direct evidence linking him to the murder and we knew that it was them detectives learn about updated tracking software and they get a second search warrant for Todd's computer to see if we can recover any additional information or evidence that could you know show us more that tracking information it's a success and a game changer for the prosecution's case we were able to pinpoint exactly where that tracking had been tracking this time the high-tech software allows investigators to see a new detail the tracking device shows them shows hundreds of pings which is consistent of somebody walking that's right on the night Katrina goes missing Todd's GPS device appears to move from Katrina's vehicle to a person's body and the coordinates show this mystery man is on the move somebody leaving the vehicle removing the tracking device from her vehicle and then walking back to Todd Smith's residence then detectives get a hunch and take another look at that home surveillance video recovered from one of the Smith's neighbor's and when they compare the GPS movements to the video get this it's an exact frame for frame match the pings show us he's walking on on the sidewalk it shows when he's walking on the fields as he's crossing over through fields detectives believe the video captures Todd Smith on his way home after he killed his wife but why is the tracking device tracking Todd he took it off the car and at that time we believe that at that time he either he thought he was turning it off and he turned it on instead and that's when they started tracking him yes Todd's perfect murder is being perfectly recorded but he almost got away with it except for one final action after murdering his wife the biggest mistake that night he plugged in that tracking device and it grabbed all the coordinates but before prosecutors can charge Todd with murder they need more direct evidence proof that she was in fact murdered then a grave discovery a fireman is fishing on Illinois Rock River and notices something caught on a log near the river's edge curiosity got the best of him so we boated over to see what it was it's the body of a woman it was very decomposed in order to identify her the investigators had to contact and look at dental records so that we could actually identify her tragically it's Katrina Smith was very devastating to even hear that she it was final then you know it wasn't that she was missing we could bring her home alive that she was gone four days later the autopsy results are in and the coroner makes a ruling homicide and the manner of death blunt force trauma it was intensely brutal well she was beaten over the head and body and then thrown into a river but how was Katrina killed investigators still don't have a murder weapon or do that that's when they hear a disturbing story from Todd's own children the defendant was there with his daughters and a friend to collect items from the house the defendant ordered another friend to go collect the bat as in a Louisville Slugger aluminum baseball bat he was taken back and surprised and very upset that the bat was missing from the garage and where was it the bat was already in our custody and only Crimewatch Daly gets invited into the evidence room for a look at the alleged murder weapon the bat was actually against the wall in a corner of the garage leaning like this and there was blood on this side it was completely consumed he was very concerned that the police had the bag and when the blood DNA is tested Katrina's blood was identified on the baseball bat now with the alleged murder weapon Katrina's body forensics from the computer and video surveillance the Winnebago County DA's office makes it official he's charged with murder aggravated battery a red domestic battery and concealment of a homicide Tod enters his plea our affiliate WT vo is in the courtroom as Winnebago sheriff's detective John burg takes the sand he recalls the defendants odd behavior during their initial interview he was rubbing with both hands at the sight of his head he was looking down and kind of a emotion like this then upon taking the stand Katrina's secret lover guy Gavriel testifies about the text messages he has changed with Katrina on that fateful night just as she was frustrated that he was grasping at straws and trying to try to talk her into staying and when it came to Katrina asking Todd for a divorce what she had told me about her apprehension to share and the reason she wouldn't share was because she was afraid of his reaction then prosecutors enter into evidence those infamous news interviews a man who murdered his wife and took part in searches with the community did multiple interviews with the news media the the amount of lies and deceit with him is amazing the defense claims there's no direct evidence tying Todd to the crime Todd Smith's fingerprints and his DNA were not found on the bat or other evidence and there was no eyewitness to the alleged murder the forensic evidence that linked Todd to the crime was more so digital but the defense appears to be grasping at straws claiming Katrina's secret lover God Gabriel is the real killer telling the jury Gabriel's alleged domestic abuse record is enough reasonable doubt to warrant a not guilty verdict for their client but there's a big hole in that story Gabriel's alibi is rock-solid it was determined that he was at work the night of the incident leaving as the only suspect the man who's been in plain sight the entire time on the local news Katrina was murdered by Todd Smith and in closing arguments the prosecutor literally comes out swinging Ross took the bet and graphically showed the jurors how many times he had to swing the bat to do the injuries and the damage that was done to Katrina after three weeks of testimony a jury of 10 men and two women reaches a verdict betweenness brokenhearted mother rejoices the pain we are so grateful to the verdict today we finally have justice for my daughter it's ringing Todd Smith is sentenced to 59 years behind bars which is a life sentence for the now 50 year old he plans to appeal the verdict still clinging to his innocence reading a verse from the Bible in open court but while Todd sits in prison between his family it looks forward to the future we want to just be able to move forward and just always remember Katrina and just celebrate the person that she was Katrina was at a beautiful person inside and now and she really made the world a better place just by being in it

Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 4,017,194

Rating: 4.6525097 out of 5

Keywords: True Crime Daily, Crime Watch Daily, Todd Smith, Katrina Smith, Machesney Park, Illinois, Todd Raprager

Id: TQJEaqQeH3Y

Length: 28min 5sec (1685 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019