NJ Man Busted After He's Charged With Killing 2 Wives

WEST WINDSOR TOWNSHIP, NJ — A man who has been in jail for 19 years in the murder of his first wife has now been indicted in the murder of his second wife, who went missing in New Jersey 28 years ago, authorities announced.

John David Smith, 68, has been indicted by a grand jury for the murder of Betty Fran Smith, who disappeared out of West Windsor in 1991, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri announced.

He is currently serving a state prison sentence of 15 years to life in Ohio for the murder of his first wife, Janice Hartman. The state is petitioning to have John Smith extradited to Mercer County for an arraignment on the indictment. There is no scheduled court date at this time.

Betty Smith was last seen alive on Sept. 28, 1991, at their apartment in Canal Pointe, according to authorities. Her husband reported her missing on Oct. 4, 1991. The Smiths had moved to New Jersey from Florida about four months earlier.

Authorities soon learned this wasn’t the first time one of John Smith’s wives had gone missing. He was previously married to Hartman, who went missing three days after her divorce from Smith was finalized, in 1974.

Road workers discovered Hartman’s remains in a box on the side of an Indiana road in 1980. Her legs had been cut off to fit her body inside, according to a report by the TV network Oxygen. At the time, the remains were unidentified.

Upon learning that Betty Smith had gone missing, authorities in Ohio reopened their investigation into Hartman’s disappearance in 1992, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Then, in 2000, the remains that had been found in Indiana were identified as Hartman.

A few months later, John Smith was arrested in California, where he had been living with his third wife, according to a report by the Oxygen report. He was charged with Hartman’s death and, in July 2001, was convicted of Hartman’s murder. He has a parole hearing upcoming in Ohio, according to the prosecutor's office.

Authorities said they remain unable to find Betty Smith’s body, despite a very thorough and extensive investigation involving both state and federal investigators.

However, New Jersey law says the failure to produce the victim’s body does not preclude a finding that she is dead. Likewise, the successful concealment or destruction of the victim’s body does not preclude prosecution of her killer, according to authorities.

This week, he was indicted on one count of first-degree murder and one count of fourth-degree tampering with evidence. Earlier this year, a New Jersey judge ordered that he pay the family of Betty Smith, whose maiden name is Betty Gladden, $1 million in a wrongful death civil lawsuit, according to Channel 19 news in Cleveland.

The indictment is a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, the West Windsor Police Department and the New Jersey State Police, with the assistance of the Wayne County (OH) Sheriff’s Office and the Milford (CT) Police Department.

Assistant Prosecutor Kathleen Petrucci, chief of the Homicide Task Force, and Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo are prosecuting the case for the state and presented the case to the grand jury.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Mercer County Homicide Task Force at 609-989-6406. Information can also be emailed to mchtftips@mercercounty.org.