…but not for Susann Smith’s murder. Yet.
Today a comment was left on my blog informing me that Alan Smith had been arrested. People close to the case in Bothell, Washington have vigilantly monitored the situation and given updates to the media and blogosphere. Evidently Smith refused to give police his passport and they arrested him for obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor.
But that’s not the big news of the day. The item that’s made it into the media around the globe is the police contacting Alan Smith and girlfriend Love Thai for having sex in the front yard. A neighbor called police when they heard a woman screaming. Wouldn’t you considering the current resident’s estranged wife was murdered there just four months ago?
Comments have been flying on my original blog post’s page, https://wildninja.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/murdering-susann-smith/#comments. One woman has pointed out that Love Thai sure is getting a lot of attention for her sympathy towards Alan and the sex and nudity the police have contacted them for. Others have noted Alan Smith’s narcissistic behavior and if those things are true, a very interesting portrait of who this guy is is developing.
Sites that have picked up this story say very little about murder victim Susann Smith. They’re more interested in sensationalizing Love Thai’s behavior and are having great fun with her name and ethnicity. As I said on the other page, I don’t know how or if this woman is involved with the murder case, but do express concern that she’s fallen prey to a sociopath.
I’m an intelligent, independent woman and I’ve gotten sucked in by those types before. These guys always have a sob story and are the “victims” of relationships gone bad with “crazy women.” They’re supposedly doing their best to “get past it all” and just “need to be with someone who can make them feel again.” They seem fun and exciting when inside they are bottomless pits with a high need for drama and risky behavior.
What they really are is vampires. They will use you, abuse you, and drain you, then throw you aside like trash for the next shiny object. So I want to be careful not to sear a label onto this woman knowing that she could be totally snowed by a dark soul. She could also find the risks, drama, and attention exciting. Maybe she’s not a victim at all. But right now we don’t know.
I just posted this on the comment thread:
Looks like this case has finally gone international. It disgusts me that news of Susann’s murder has finally spread because of the loud sex in the yard incident, not because of what happened to her. It’s become the scream heard round the world while Susan’s cries while she was being brutally murdered have mostly been ignored.
Love Thai’s picture is now all over the web including on The Daily Mail:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2345398/Man-sex-girlfriend-Love-Thai-outside-home-wife-beaten-death-named-suspect-brutal-murder.html. Many sites are reposting pictures of her and Alan from her Facebook page. Is the right woman getting attention?
Local station KIRO talks about him buying a mallet and coveralls that could have been used in her murder, along with blood in his car: http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/husband-dead-bothell-woman-arrested-thursday/nYQk5/.
The Everett Herald talks about the police spending months analyzing phone and financial records and electronics: http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130620/NEWS01/706209903. They also note that his arrest today was for obstructing, a misdemeanor. It was not for the murder.
I don’t think it will be long now. If Bothell PD made a move like they did today, they’re probably feeling pretty confident about the case.
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Update: Alan Smith has now been named as a SUSPECT in Susann’s murder according to the Bothell Reporter: http://www.bothell-reporter.com/news/212405651.html.
He also spoke on camera to KOMO News, http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Person-of-interest-in-estranged-wifes-murder-arrested-on-obstruction-accusation-212368921.html?tab=video&c=y.
Note all of the “I” statements and how he talks about moving his focus inward. He talks a lot about his healing (and according to a comment under my original post, is writing about it too). This is common among suspects and convicts when discussing their victims. They want to talk about themselves and how this has affected them. They show little to no empathy for what the victim went through.
He did the interview barefoot with his girlfriend next to him and her arm around his neck (casual and trying to be comfortable while looking awkward). She says she’ll stand by him no matter what because “it’s about forgiveness.” She quickly turned the subject to their sexual relationship and how they “made love for four days straight, 24/7.” They giggled about that. He playfully started counting on his fingers.
His expressions and eyes were curious. He had emotions around his eyes but not really in them that I could tell. His eyes seemed very… constant. His statement about being concerned that he could be arrested for his wife’s murder was cryptic and self-centered. He referenced not thinking as rationally four months ago as he is now (and talked about healing again). So if you’re healing and your girlfriend’s forgiving, who cares what you did? Move on, right?
How quickly the conversation shifted from the murder of his estranged wife in that very house to his sexual escapades with his new girlfriend in the same house. His children were hardly mentioned and he refers to Susann as “the love of his life for a while.” Susann was a footnote here; the spotlight was on him and his “personal journey.”
He never said, “I hope they find who did it” or asked for the public’s help in finding the person who murdered his children’s mother. If you were planning on moving your children back into the house where their mother was murdered, why would you even consider doing that if the person who killed her was still on the loose? Wouldn’t you make every effort to have the person who knows right where your children will be caught?
An interview with Love Thai is also going to be on KOMO’s 11:00 news where she discusses what it was like to find out she’s dating a person of interest in a murder. Anyone thought about interviewing the victim’s family? This fascination with Love Thai is voyeuristic and takes the focus off of a woman who was so badly beaten to death that they had to use dental records to identify her.
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When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always. -Gandhi
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©2013 H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com. All articles/posts on this blog are copyrighted original material that may not be reproduced in part or whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com.
Truth, Justice, and All-American Allergen-Free Apple Pie 
Been lurking here since the beginning 😉 and have done a lot of research of my own. I am also a neighbor and have had to drive by the house twice a day to bring my son to Kindergarten at the same school Susann’s child went to before being taken (thankfully) into state protective custody. I also live on the same street as their daycare.
It has been consuming, knowing there’s a violent sociopath living in the neighborhood, and yes, I think we all have known from the beginning he did it. At first I thought we weren’t in any danger being it was clearly a targeted hate “crime of passion,” but I know that someone who is sociopathic will act like an animal if they think anyone is threatening their freedom.
Regarding his girlfriend of just over a month *sigh* she may be “allegedly bipolar,” but she is very clearly mentally ill, it is difficult to watch the videos she posts and anytime she talks it’s cringeworthy.. And thinking the news is on their side, not realizing they couldn’t believe their luck at being able to capture insanity in action. He is exactly what you would expect, and as your Deaf commenter said, his body language says it all, creepy. She looks like she’s 40 and acts like she’s 14, disturbing.
At first I thought “how can her parents be physicians and not get help for her or have her institutionalized?” then i realized, that may also be part of the problem, they were too busy and now she’s out of control and still desperately seeking the love and attention she craves. It is no surprise at all that she’s pregnant, the only surprise is how she got to the age she is without it happening a dozen times already, who knows maybe she has, anyway, bit of psychoanalysis 😉
I feel so sad for Susann’s children, who have been orphaned, or like my husband said, “No, they’re worse than orphaned.” and what chance would another child with that kind of genetics have of being normal?…
Anyway, THANK GOD he is incarcerated, not soon enough but finally, Praying for peace for Susann and her children
thanks for your insight and blog
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Thanks for “lurking.” I’m quite surprised by how many people have been watching the comments thread. I hope these conversations have gotten people, especially neighbors, thinking about what they might know that could secure a conviction.
You really do have some close connections to this case. And your husband had a very insightful point. Your post made me wonder if Love Thai has children already. I have no idea. That’s pure speculation. I almost hesitated to say that because I hope people leave her family alone.
Your question about genetics is one that I love kicking around with people knowledgeable in related fields. Personally I think that we can have those genes but not indulge them, so to speak. Our genetics are just one part of a picture that includes our choices, our environment, our health, and other factors. Some people might be genetically more predisposed to certain behaviors but most human beings come equipped with a steering wheel and brakes that they can be taught to operate effectively. In the case of sociopathic types, they have to learn the costs and benefits to themselves since they don’t have adequate empathy, if any, for others.
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http://www.komonews.com/news/Bothell-man-arrested-in-wifes-murder-213321531.html?m=y&smobile=y
Finally!!!!
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Thank you! It’s not a conviction but it’s a start. And thank you God!
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Love Thai is now posting on her FB page that she is pregnant. Wow. Let the made for TV movie offers roll in…….
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Im still following this Blog with interest. You will have noticed, no doubt, in the interviews, the quality I spoke of in my earlier posts…the direct, intense look, and the non-blinking for long periods of time. That’s his normal manner, just FYI. The girlfriend is a piece of work – I cannot imagine why he is letting her in the spot light so much. It’s clear she is loving the attention – and the fact is, she has been his GF for a very very short time – maybe 7 weeks. So really she knows little about anything. If you look at her Facebook, you can see she posts about and tags him pretty much every day and it’s public. I think she is hoping to parlay the notoriety into something for herself down the road (my personal opinion.) He is a fool to let her represent him, even unofficially, in any manner. It is not helping him. Alan is not stupid; he either didnt do it and really doesnt care how he looks or he is a sociopath and is overestimating his ability to manage people & imitate how a feeling person acts. I spoke to him many times at work, about work, about trivialities and about his divorce a few times – I never got the vibe (then) that he was “full of inner rage” or whatever, and Im fairly perceptive. I could more easily believe, based on my exposure to him, that he could be sociopathic. He seems to discuss feelings more than experience them, if that makes sense.
Alan is still on Paid Leave from Boeing. They cannot fire him; he has done nothing “fireable”; he was willing to come to work but Boeing decided to put him on Leave bc of the weird factor around other employees in his dept who have been interviewed, etc.He is an engineer with several years service so he should have access to some money.
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The interview was WEIRD to say the least. I don’t even really get why they were interviewed a few hours before the arrest. Were they really thinking this was a good idea?
Any stranger can see that there is a lot wrong with them. There is definitely the wrong woman getting attention, but I hope it’s for the right reasons and that it helps to bring him down.
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Uggghhhh!!!! I just watched the complete interview on KOMO and now I’m totally confused! This woman just won’t shut up! If he had strangled her right then and there, I’m sure he would be able to walk away free! I kept thinking “if I hear her say ‘heal my inner child’ one more time, I’ll scream!”
I have to say, next to this woman Alan Smith appears to be almost normal.
Btw, the childrens’ names were mentioned there as well.
I still think he did it, but I encourage you to watch the whole interview. You might get a different perspective on a few things than from those few minutes that were shown before.
Love Thai certainly uses every opportunity to make everything about her (“as a writer”, “I was raped”…), it’s really exhausting. Having to listen to this for the rest of your life makes prison seem not bad all of a sudden.
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Actually, when I watched the interview with Alan Smith and Love Thai for the first time, I had to watch it again, as I wasn’t able to listen to the words, but was completely focused on his face and his eyes. I was terrified by the look that you call “constant” here – for me it was ice cold and with inner anger. He also moved his lips in a way I thought I could see revulsion in them. Also disdain when talking about Susann being the love of his life for a while. There was one particular moment that seemed interesting to me: When Love Thai was talking about some details of the crime scene, he pressed her hand and looked her straight in the eyes saying “We’ve already talked about that”, so as if she were telling too much and he wanted to hide something.
Anyway, I think both of them are getting too much attention, and Susann is not spoken about. Her family is not interviewed, the only photo we see is the one we can see in the news – that’s frustrating. I think of her all the time.
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So we were out of town over the weekend and looks like he posted bail yesterday – if he is so financially strapped where did the money come from. He is still getting paid to be on leave, I do agree, where are the interviews with the family of Susann, why is the press making him and her the news. Although I do want him in jail so I am watching this closely!
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Why do I get that Josh Powell, ‘hackles up’ feeling when I look at this guy? Thank you for following this (and other) stories. I think a lot more will come out soon, but this whole Love Thai (sounds like her stripper name) tangent has shifted focus, like you said. Great blog.
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