Mystery Location No. 212: July 26, 2020

www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/705-W-Valley-Forge-Rd_King-of-Prussia_PA_19406_M42799-01217

This is Dr. Jay C. Smith, 705 W. Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, PA who was sentenced to death for the Main Line Murders. Valley Forge is sometimes referred to as “The Birthplace of America” as it marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War.

In 1979, Susan Reinert and her two children disappeared on their way to Allentown, PA. Reinert’s lover was a coworker named William Bradfield. Smith was the principal at the Upper Merion High School, where Reinert and Bradfield both taught, and had recently been charged with various crimes unrelated to the murder(s). Reinert’s body and evidence belonging to Smith were later found in the trunk of her car. Her children Karen and Michael were never seen again. Smith spent 6 years on death row before evidence was found that exonerated him and pointed to Bradfield as the sole perpetrator of the murder.

Frederick the Great was King of Prussia. He supported the fledgling United States and sold arms to the US during the Revolutionary War. One of the king’s former officers drilled Washington’s troops at Valley Forge.

Smith’s daughter Stephanie and her husband Edward Hunsberger, both heroin addicts, disappeared in 1978. They were living in Smith’s home at the time of their disappearance.