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2007 Smith, Mary Byrne March 24 2007; Bossier City 30 YO
Topic Started: Jun 29 2007, 11:19 PM (222 Views)
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http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/...mary_smith.html
Police, Family Plead for Contact from Mary Byrne Smith

By Chuck Hustmyre

April 9, 2007

BOSSIER CITY, La. (Crime Library) — Mary Byrne Smith, known as Beth to her friends, has been missing for more than two weeks. A devout Christian, according to family and friends, Beth missed Easter with her husband — a Baptist preacher — and two children, ages 7 and 10.

Since she was last seen on Saturday, March 24, at a religious conference for women at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, there has been no activity on her cell phone or her credit cards, police say.

Beth, 30, reportedly had only $40 in cash on her at the time she disappeared and left her overnight bag in the car of the female friend with whom she attended the conference.

An extensive search turned up no sign of her.

Until just a few days ago, Beth's family was strangely quiet about her disappearance.

Last week, Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen suggested at a press conference that the crushing weight of personal problems may have caused Beth to vanish voluntarily.

"We just want to know if she's OK," Halphen said. "She can contact us or a member of her family. She won't get in trouble because she decided to leave — if that's the case."

Since Beth disappeared more than two weeks ago, information has trickled into media outlets that paints a picture of a troubled woman who perhaps had more problems than she felt she could handle.

For the last 10 years, Beth has been the wife of the Rev. Jason Lee Smith, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Summerdale, Ala.

Since 2002, Beth — a graduate of the University of Mobile — has taught elementary school and kindergarten in the Baldwin County school system.

In February, school officials informed Beth she was going to lose her job at the end of this school year.

Lately, Beth's behavior at school has been erratic. She has been showing up late for work and leaving early.

In December, she filed a change of address at work and told friends she'd been divorced since Thanksgiving. The new home address she gave her employer turned out to be fake.

Earlier this year, Beth fell at school and cut her head. Fellow teachers reported she appeared confused and perhaps on drugs. Beth began asking her co-workers for pain pills.

A few weeks ago, she reported that her purse had been stolen from her car, but it was later found in her desk and contained several bottles of prescription pain medication.

In early February, school officials asked Beth to take a drug test. She failed, testing positive for pain killers, mainly Lortab, a highly addictive, opioid-based prescription pain medication.

At a Thursday press conference in front of the First Baptist Church of Summerdale, Beth's family seemed to acknowledge for the first time that she may have run away.

"Beth, I want you to know, there's not anything that cannot be overcome," Beth's father, Donnie Byrne, said. "Our prayer is that you will be safe, that you will come home. Our family is together and we will all get through this."



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http://www.al.com/news/press-register/inde....xml&coll=3

2 weeks, no word on wife of pastor

Monday, April 09, 2007By DAVID FERRARAStaff Reporter

Two weeks have come and gone. She hasn't called home or answered her cell phone. She hasn't used her credit card.

Family, friends and police still have no idea what happened to Mary "Beth" Byrne Smith, a 30-year-old kindergarten teacher and wife of a Summerdale Baptist pastor.

The last time anyone reported seeing her -- around 11 a.m. on March 24 -- she was at a religious conference in Bossier City, La.. She was 500 miles from the parsonage where she lived near the Summerdale First Baptist Church, carrying about $40 in cash and wearing a gray sweatshirt and blue jeans.

Her husband, the Rev. Jason Lee Smith, has pleaded for her to come home.

Police have, too.

"We're appealing to Mrs. Smith that there are no charges against her," Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said last week. "She has done nothing wrong, except left her family and her friends and a town wondering."

His department has three detectives working the case. Early on, police used search dogs and helicopters and scoured the nearby Red River on boats, but found no clues.

Police had about 30 officers guarding the exits of the CenturyTel Center, where Smith and friend Jenny Gipson attended a seminar by evangelical author and speaker Beth Moore.

While investigators haven't ruled out foul play, Halphen said, "there is a great possibility she decided to leave on her own."

Jason Smith said Friday that he put his "trust in God" and prayed for his wife's return.

Jane Davidson, of Fairhope, has known Smith for more than 20 years, and she can't believe that her friend would leave her family.

But in the months before her disappearance, Smith evidently was battling with inner troubles.

Authorities said she became addicted to pain medication and sometimes arrived to work at Elsanor Elementary School appearing under the influence of drugs.

She filed a false address with the school, received personal mail there and told colleagues that she was divorced, Halphen said. She begged other teachers for painkillers. She'd occasionally leave work to find a doctor who would prescribe her more pills, he said. She once called police, frantic that her purse had been stolen. It was in her desk drawer, full of prescription drugs, the chief said. She told her children, 7 and 10, that she wasn't fit to be their mother.

The pastor didn't learn about much of this until after his wife disappeared.

"As far as he knew, there had not been any problems," Halphen said.

The Rev. Smith has called detectives dozens of times each day, curious if police have any new leads, according to the chief.

"He just wants to hear from her," Halphen said.

The picture of a drug-dependent, stressed-out woman that authorities painted contrasts with the cheerful and sociable Beth Smith that Davidson knows.

"She loved children," Davidson said. "She loved her children. She loves them. That's why this is so hard to believe, so hard to take in. It just doesn't add up. There's no way she could stay away from her kids this long."

Smith and Davidson grew up together and attended Fairhope High School, both of their families devout Christians.

Davidson carries a picture of Smith wearing a cheerleader's outfit, holding pom pons and smiling.

"This is the Beth I know," Davidson said in a recent interview.

Ever since middle school, Smith yearned to teach, Davidson said.

Smith earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Mobile, according to her profile on the Elsanor school's Web site. When she met Jason Smith, he was studying to become a minister, Davidson said.

"Beth was totally in love with him," Davidson said.

The two married in 1997 in Daphne. At some point, they left the state, but Beth Smith "missed her home and her momma," Davidson said, and she wanted to get back home.

On the Elsanor school's Web site, Smith's profile is brief. She started working for Baldwin County schools in 2002, teaching at J. Larry Newton School in Fairhope and took a job last year at Elsanor.

She wrote, "I have had the wonderful opportunity to teach children from kindergarten to third grade in the past four years."



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http://www.ktbs.com/viewnews.cfm?news_id=1...Alabama%20woman

Reward offered for information about missing Alabama woman

Posted on 04/10/2007

A $10,000 reward has been offered for information on the whereabouts of Mary Byrne "Beth" Smith, the Alabama minister's wife who disappeared from a religious conference in Bossier City last month.

The reward money has been put up by the Smith family.

Police said there is no evidence of foul play in the disappearance and they believe Smith, who had a drug problem and a shaky marriage, may have left on her own to deal with personal problems -- although detectives are still investigating her disappearance as a missing-person case because something could have happened to her after she left.

Smith, the mother of two, was last seen Saturday, March 24, at the Living Proof Live women's conference at CenturyTel Center. At 11 a.m., police said, she told a friend she was going to the restroom and concession stand. She never returned to her seat. The conference ended at noon and the friend waited at her car for two hours and then called police to report Smith missing.

Based on interviews with Smith's family and the principal at the elementary where she taught, Bossier authorities have found indications of a troubled, 30-year-old woman. Investigators said something might have happened to her, but she also could have left to deal with personal problems.

Her family is offering up to $10,000 for information that leads to Smith's safe return or helps locate her. Bossier City police are asking that the phone calls be made to them at 318-741-8605.

Police said school officials in Summerdale, Ala., told them Smith had failed a drug test given to her after the principal became concerned she might have a prescription drug problem. Smith was going to lose her job as a kindergarten teacher at the end of the school year, authorities said.



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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,265075,00.html

Family Offers $10,000 Reward for Information About Missing Alabama Preacher's Wife

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

By Sara Bonisteel

The family of a missing Alabama preacher's wife has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts or safe return, police announced Tuesday.

The Summerdale, Ala., family of Mary Byrne "Beth" Smith" is offering the award 18 days after she disappeared from a religious conference in northern Louisiana.

"There have been no new developments in the case," said Mark Natale, a spokesman for the Bossier City Police Department. "Detectives still have no indication that foul play was a factor in Mrs. Smith's disappearance."

The 30-year-old wife of Rev. Jason Smith was attending Living Proof Live, a women's conference at the Bossier City CenturyTel Center when she vanished March 24.

"We hope that it does generate some more information coming in, certainly information that will help locate Mrs. Smith," Natale said, in reference to the reward.

Bossier City police received several tips over the weekend from callers saying they had seen Smith in Alabama, including Summerdale, but the sightings could not be confirmed, Natale told FOXNews.com.

"After detectives did background information, we learned a little bit more that led us to believe that possibly Mrs. Smith has chosen to leave on her own and form a new life," Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said during a press conference on April 5.

Troubled Past

At that press conference, police outlined a chain of events that led them to believe that the kindergarten teacher might have disappeared on her own.

In December, Smith told staff at Elsanor Elementary School in Robertsdale, Ala., where she taught kindergarten, that she had divorced her husband, the leader of the First Baptist Church in Summerdale, when in fact she hadn't, Halphern said.

Strange behavior also raised eyebrows. Smith had a suspicious fall and asked teachers where she could find prescription pain medication, Halphern said.

Smith also reported her purse stolen, but police later found it in her desk at school. The purse contained empty prescription bottles along with the contents she reported missing.

"The principal felt like she was under the influence of some type of either alcohol or drugs," Halphern said. "She was drug tested recently and it came back positive."

Following the Feb. 2 drug test, the school decided to dismiss Smith, effective at the end of the school year.

"With all this information, as you can see, it's very easy to see that there is a great possibility she decided to leave on her own and maybe planned this out by coming to the Bossier City area and then leaving," Halphern said.

Vanishing Into Thin Air

On March 23, Mary Byrne Smith checked into the Shreveport Courtyard Marriott Financial Plaza with her friend Jenny Gipson. The pair planned to attend Living Proof Live, a two-day women's religious conference led by evangelist Beth Moore.

The following day, the pair returned to the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City to hear Moore speak on living a life of spiritual victory by growing in one's faith in God.

"At 11 o'clock that day, she told her companion that she was going to go to the concession stand and use the restroom, and it was the last time that Ms. Smith was seen," Halphern said.

Gipson reported Smith missing that afternoon.

At the time of the event, some 30 police officers were stationed in the arena to help control the approximately 14,000 people who attended the conference.

"We felt like if she were under duress, if somebody tried to force her somewhere, that it would have been very easy to holler help with 14,000 people standing around you," Halphern said.

Bossier City police used dogs, helicopters, airplanes and boats to search the area in the days following her disappearance.

"We're going to look at this two-fold: Foul play, as well as she decided to walk off," Halphern said.

Cops continue to scan surveillance video from the arena, but they have yet to identify Smith in the 56 hours of footage.

Neither Smith's credit cards nor her cell phone have been used since she disappeared, cops said. She is believed to have had about $40 on her.

"There is no charges against her," Halphern said. "She has done nothing wrong except has left a family and her friends and her town wondering what has happened to her."

Last week, Halphern pleaded for her to call if she had indeed left on her own accord.

"I want her to understand that if she is out there that we just want to know she's OK," he said. "We don't want to trace any calls.

"Go to an Internet café, go to a pay phone," he continued. "Anyway she can contact us, a family friend, somebody that knows her to say 'I have decided to do this on my own and I'm OK,' that's all we want to know."

Smith, who goes by the name Beth, is described as a 5-foot-3-inch white woman weighing 100 pounds. Both her hair and her eyes are brown. She has a sun tattoo on her back shoulder.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Bossier City Police Department at 318-741-8605.


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http://www.wkrg.com/servlet/Satellite?page...;news!local

Missing Woman's Friend Speaks Out
Pat Peterson
News 5
Apr 11, 2007 printer friendly format
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Jenny Gipson can't believe her best friend is gone.

"It's been very hard, it's been hard on me, hard on her family, hard on the church, everybody just doesn't know what happened, we're all so worried about her."

Gipson and her best friend, Mary Smith, went to a religious conference in Bossier City, Louisiana, last month. Smith went to the concession stand and vanished. Gipson was the last person to see Smith since she disappeared.

"I freaked out, I didn't know what happened or what to do when she didn't return to her seat," says Gipson.

Both women are members of the Summerdale First Baptist Church, where Smith's husband is the pastor. Police in Bossier City don't suspect foul play in the case, but Gipson says she believes her friend is in trouble.

"I'm thinking foul play," says Gipson. "It's the only scenario that plays through my mind, I don't think she would leave me at the conference or leave her family."

On Tuesday, Smith's father offered a ten-thousand dollar reward for information leading to her daughter's safe return.


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http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/inde....xml&coll=3

Friend shares details of last moments with missing pastor's wife

Saturday, April 14, 2007
By DAVID FERRARA
Staff Reporter

SUMMERDALE -- In those first frantic moments, Jenny Gipson must have tried to call her friend 50 times.

Either she'd lose the connection, or the line would ring and she wouldn't get an answer. She can't recall leaving a message.

"I went out to my car to wait, thinking she's there already, or we're just missing each other," Gipson said in a recent interview with the Press-Register in which she recounted the disappearance of her friend Mary Byrne Smith.

Gipson said she stood next to her gray Toyota Camry for about 20 minutes, and then rushed back toward the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, La.

She waved down a security guard, and they looked around inside. They checked the first aid stands, the rest rooms, the corridors and the seats.

They found Bossier City police Sgt. Jimmy Stewart, who took her outside, around the arena and then back inside, once more, through a lower level, where crews were cleaning up.

As the thousands of women filed out from evangelist Beth Moore's Living Proof Live seminar, again they checked the washrooms and the halls.

Another officer scanned the parking lot and checked Gipson's car.

They heard a report that someone had been taken away by an ambulance. But, it turned out later, it wasn't Smith -- Beth, as most knew her.

'She's really not there'

Gipson and the officers returned to the security station, where Stewart had Gipson fill out a missing person report.

"He decided that was what we needed to do at that point," Gipson said. "Until I had to file that report, I didn't really believe that she wasn't there somewhere. It dawned on me that she's really not there."

Friends and family haven't heard from Smith since about 11 a.m. that day, March 24.

Now, three weeks later, they're puzzled about what could've happened.

Authorities have said that in recent months the 30-year-old kindergarten teacher and wife of a Summerdale pastor developed an addiction to painkillers and may have left on her own to start a new life. She had emotional troubles, according to her father, Donnie Byrne of Fairhope. Her husband, the Rev. Jason Lee Smith, has pleaded and prayed for her to come home.

Gipson and Beth Smith became friends about five years ago through the First Baptist Church of Summerdale, where Smith's husband is the pastor.

Around 6 a.m. on the Friday before her disappearance, Smith pulled up to Gipson's house. Smith had packed lightly: an overnight bag with some clothes, toiletries and a purse.

They took Interstate 10 toward New Orleans and hopped on Interstate 12, passed Baton Rouge and drove into Lafayette, where they turned north onto Interstate 49.

The conversation was mostly light: family, friends, the swamps along the way. Somewhere on that long ride up toward Bossier City, they stopped at a Waffle House and ate lunch.

Smith napped for much of the latter half of the trip.

They checked into the Courtyard by Marriott in Bossier City around 3:30 p.m. and unloaded their luggage.

Familiar crowds

The women had attended similar conferences in Mobile, Orlando and Birmingham. They had planned the Bossier City trip back in November because tickets for Moore's Living Proof Live events sell out quickly.

Around 10:30 p.m., they got ready for bed. Gipson read to Smith from the entertainment section of The Shreveport Times.

They woke up around 6 a.m., brushed their teeth and showered. Gipson threw on a pair of slacks and a black jacket over her top. Smith slipped on a light gray hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans. Gipson and Smith checked out of the hotel and headed to the arena around 7 a.m.

They were used to the standing-room-only crowds of women, which reached upwards of 14,000 in Bossier City that weekend. Moore inspired them, taught them about the Bible.

During the last intermission, after Gipson returned to the unreserved seats on the floor of the CenturyTel Center, Smith in turn left to use the restroom and browse the books, videos and other merchandise. By the time Moore took the stage again, Smith had not returned to her seat.

"She was a huge buyer, so I really wasn't worried," Gipson said of her friend. "I'd look over my shoulder once in a while, see if anyone was standing there, but it wasn't a concern to me."

Still nothing confirmed

For the past three weeks, Gipson has carried her cell phone to bed.

She waits for the call that will wake her in the middle of the night -- because that's often when mysteries like this are solved -- and tell her about Beth Smith. About what happened that Saturday in Bossier City.

"We are all trying to stay real busy, trying not to think about it too much, just waiting for some news," Gipson said. "We're just waiting and hoping."

Since Smith disappeared, authorities have received calls from people who said they believe they saw her around Louisiana, in Biloxi, and even in Summerdale. But none of those sightings has been confirmed, said Bossier City police spokesman Mark Natale.

Gipson and Smith often talked about work and family. Smith had recently thought about switching jobs, to teach third grade in Summerdale. She talked about spats with her husband, but those were small, normal. Smith had been adopted as a child, but never expressed a desire to find her biological family, Gipson said.

Would she just leave a friend in that unfamiliar city? Would she abandon the church she seemed to love, where she sometimes taught Sunday school? What about her two children, ages 7 and 10? And how could she disappear without a trace?

"Mostly, I'm just real scared," Gipson said.

The day Smith went missing, Gipson called Jason Smith, who hadn't spoken with his wife since the night before.

"He was asking, 'You can't find her? You don't know where she is? What's going on?'" Gipson said. "It just went on like that. We were still searching at the time."

Gipson shuffled through the parking lot and back to her car. She huddled in the driver's seat for about an hour. She called her husband, and she wept.

It had been six hours since she last saw her friend. She didn't know what to do, or how long she should wait. Did she have a choice?

Half an hour later, the security guard and a woman who worked the seminar approached, handed her a handkerchief and offered their phone numbers.

"Once they left, I sat there another 20 minutes," Gipson said.

She pulled away and drove slowly around Bossier City, looking one more time.

Daylight faded. Rain fell on her windshield as she rode down the interstate toward Summerdale. She knew she'd be home late.



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http://www.wkrg.com/servlet/Satellite?page...;news!local

Missing Woman

Pat Peterson

Bossier City Police and local authorities have no new leads on the case of a missing Summerdale mother.

"I wish I had better news to tell you, but unfortunately, we're still at square one in this case," says Mark Natale with the Bossier City Police Department.

Mary "Beth" Smith was last seen two months ago at a religious conference in North Louisiana. Police haven't ruled out foul play, but believe Smith left on her own.

"The information we've received since she's disappeared is that Mrs. Smith is battling a prescription pain-killer addiction," says Natale. "We just hope she'll contact us or her family."

Smith's friends and family are posting flyers across Baldwin County.

"We're posting them at gas stations, convenience stores and businesses," says Jenny Gipson. Gipson is Smith's best friend. She drove Smith to the religious conference in Bossier City. "We've received tips and police have received calls about people seeing her in the area. We just hope she'll see the flyers and will contact us and come home."
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http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.d...314/1062/NEWS03

Authorities report no new leads on missing Alabama woman

June 10, 2007

By Melody Brumble
mbrumble@gannett.com

Two months after an Alabama woman disappeared from a women's ministry conference in Bossier City, authorities remain at a dead-end.

Mary Byrne Smith, known to her friends as Beth, left the floor of CenturyTel Center for a bathroom break March 24 and never returned, according to a friend who drove the pair to the conference.

Smith, wife of a Baptist minister in Summerdale, Ala., was a kindergarten teacher. In May, the Baldwin County, Ala., education board declared her job vacant so the school system could hire a permanent teacher for the coming year instead of filling it with a long-term substitute teacher.

Smith's family members have offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. They and friends put up posters about Smith in Alabama. "America's Most Wanted" included Smith's case on its list of missing persons.

The case has generated discussion on Internet message boards, with people speculating about whether Smith vanished voluntarily or met with foul play. People have set up blogs and Myspace pages about Smith in an effort to raise awareness about the case and encourage tips.

But Bossier City police and their counterparts in Summerdale have no leads about Smith. Bossier City has taken the lead in investigating the case, Summerdale police Sgt. Connie King said.

"We got a couple of leads, but they have not panned out," King said. "We're very concerned about her, but we don't have any leads to follow."

A handful of tips provided to Bossier City police yielded no information, said Mark Natale, Bossier City spokesman. There's been no activity on Smith's cell phone or credit cards, he said.

"Detectives received several phone calls from persons who reported seeing a person fitting Mrs. Smith's description, but there was nothing definite," Natale said. "We know there are a lot of people in Alabama who are concerned for her welfare."

People reported seeing Smith in downtown Shreveport, on Barksdale Boulevard in Bossier City and in a car.

Natale and King said people should try to observe and report as much information as possible if they think they see King or anyone reported as missing. That includes noting where they saw the person, the date and the time of day.

"If there's a vehicle, get a description of the vehicle. Get the license plate number," Natale said. "The more specific the information, the better."



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http://www.al.com/news/press-register/inde....xml&coll=3

MISSING WOMAN REMAINS MYSTERY

Friends, family struggle to find answers as wife of Summerdale pastor has not turned up after three months Sunday, June 24, 2007
By DAVID FERRARAStaff Reporter

SUMMERDALE -- They said they stopped posting the fliers because they cried too hard when people would ask questions.

Sometimes, they believe the police theory that Mary "Beth" Byrne Smith left on her own, to start a new life. Other days, they wonder if she has been abducted. On the worst days, they fear that their friend is dead.

"We're just chasing shadows," said Rena Daniels of Foley, whose daughter, Jenny Gipson, was with Smith when she vanished from a religious conference in Louisiana on March 24. "We don't know what to do."

Three months after Smith disappeared 500 miles from her Summerdale home, no one -- not police, not family, not friends -- seems to know what really happened.

She's the wife of a pastor. She has two young children. She has a big smile and friends who brag of her heart-melting charm. If she returns, she still has a job as a kindergarten teacher at Elsanor School. Why would she leave? Who would hurt her?

People continually call police here and in Bossier City, La., where Smith was last reported seen.

There have been reports, authorities said, of sightings throughout the South and even here in Baldwin County. Someone said they thought Smith got on a bus in Shreveport, La., that was headed to New York.

"When you hear these things, you want to believe that somebody saw her because you want to think she's alive," Daniels said.

But none of the reports have proved to be true, and the tips and alleged sightings are becoming more and more sporadic, police said.

At 5 this afternoon, Daniels and Gipson will gather with others for a balloon release in Summerdale's Pioneer Park. They will tie notes to the balloons, let them go and think about their friend. Many said they have prayed privately, but this is the first public vigil in Smith's honor.

"We just don't want her to be forgotten," Daniels said.

Police have said that Smith probably left on her own. They said she had become addicted to painkillers, and that there were signs in the months leading up to her disappearance that she was experiencing emotional troubles.

Her family is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone with information about her whereabouts.

Thousands of people disappear without a trace around the country, according to Kelly Bennett, a case manager with the National Center for Missing Adults. It's not difficult to pull off if you are trying to, especially if you can blend in, she said. Lots of people look like Smith: 30-year-old white woman, brown hair, brown eyes, 5-foot-3, 100 pounds. She has no discernible scars. The tattoo on her back could easily be hidden.

Drug and alcohol addictions are "great risk factors" for the missing, Bennett said.

Detectives have yet to uncover any evidence suggesting that Smith was a victim of foul play, said Bossier City police spokesman Mark Natale. The case remains open.

In Summerdale, the people closest to Smith agonize over not knowing what happened to her.

The Rev. Jason Smith, Beth Smith's husband, only recently started preaching again on Sundays and Wednesday nights at Summerdale First Baptist Church, members of the congregation said. He still checks in regularly with the Bossier City police, according to Natale.

"Unfortunately, we don't have anything new to tell him," Natale said.

Gipson and Smith had planned their trip to northwest Louisiana for months, Gipson said. The evangelist and Christian author Beth Moore inspired them.

On the long ride to the conference, they made small talk, and Smith showed no real signs of distress. An hour before the seminar ended, Smith left her seat, saying she wanted to use the restroom and check out the concession stands. She didn't return. Gipson and Bossier City police searched for hours.

"I never thought three months would be here, and there'd be no sign of her," Gipson said. "It's almost like we never got past that first day."

None of the days since have been easy. Gipson often falls asleep with Smith on her mind. She said she even dreams about finding her -- "happy times."

"I don't know how to move on," she said.

While Gipson and her mother have posted fliers at gas stations, barber shops and grocery stores and constantly check in with police, most of the activity about Smith's disappearance has been on Internet forums, where people from around the country discuss the case day by day.

Internet personalities bombard message boards -- on a CourtTV Web site, a myspace.com page and a special blog site dedicated to Smith, to name a few -- with theories and questions. Many appear to believe that Smith's husband and family have not done enough to help find her. They question whether the pastor had anything to do with his wife's disappearance.

The pastor has declined requests for one-on-one interviews.

Natale, the Bossier City police spokesman, has said that Beth Smith's husband isn't a suspect. Summerdale Police Chief Wayne Reibling, whose department has offered help in the investigation, told the Press-Register there was no reason to be suspicious of the pastor.

Jason Smith was watching one of his children play T-ball in Summerdale the day his wife disappeared, according to friends and police.

In the first couple weeks after she vanished, the pastor and his wife's parents held two brief news conferences, pleading for her to return home.

Family friends see sadness in Jason Smith's face during his sermons. He chokes up when he asks members of the church to pray for his wife and his family, Daniels said. He relies on God, she said, and certainly has no obligation to the media.

"I don't think he's involved with her disappearance," Daniels said. "Everybody's said if that was my loved one, I'd have been there looking. But I believe he thinks she ran away, and that's why he hasn't been looking."

Smith's friends will gather for the balloon release today shortly before evening worship. The police chief and the mayor plan to be there. Gipson expects the pastor to attend. They'll pray for Beth Smith, as they have for months, for her safety and for her return.

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http://www.al.com/news/press-register/inde....xml&coll=3

Friends gather to honor missing woman
Monday, June 25, 2007By DAVID FERR
ARAStaff Reporter
SUMMERDALE -- Tears filled the eyes in the crowd as they watched their prayers and hopes drift into the gray Sunday afternoon sky.

The Rev. Jason Smith let a white string slip through his fingers and released a purple balloon. He looked up after it, rubbed his cheek and hung his head. His wife, Mary Byrne "Beth" Smith, disappeared during a religious seminar three months ago, and no one seems to know where she could be.

"I was just thinking what I think every day: God, just let us know something," the pastor said moments later.

He stood among a crowd of about 100 gathered around the pavilion here at Pioneer Park while they released more than 200 purple and white balloons in Beth Smith's honor.

Mayor David Wilson opened with a prayer and addressed Smith's friends, family members and others who learned about her through news reports and on Web sites created since she vanished.

"It's been a tragedy for our town," Wilson said. "You know we all miss her. We believe there's a God in heaven who knows exactly where she is."

They each scribbled notes on cards tied to the balloons, sending love and asking questions. How could three months have passed without any answers, without any new information? The balloons floated northeast with a slight breeze.

Smith was last reported seen in Bossier City, La., on March 24 at a seminar given by Christian author and evangelist Beth Moore.

Police have said that Smith probably left on her own after she had become addicted to painkillers. Her family has pointed to signs in the months leading up to her disappearance that she had experienced emotional troubles. Others can't believe she would leave her family, especially her two young children.

Smith had attended the conference with Jenny Gipson, a friend who helped organize the balloon release. Gipson said she didn't notice any problems with Smith on the day of her disappearance.

Smith's family is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone with information regarding her whereabouts.

Dana Christian, a cousin through marriage, said she hoped Sunday's event would help revive media attention about Smith.

"Although it may not bring her home, it will let people know that's she's out there and she's loved," Christian said.

In the park, there were signs that read "Beth we love you," and "Praying to God for your safe return." Pictures of her had been laid on a table next to the pavilion.

Gipson hugged her husband and cried while the balloons sailed out of sight, "wondering where she is, wishing she would just walk up here," she said.


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Police: Missing preacher's wife on video
Friday, July 27, 2007
By DAVID FERRARA and NADIA M. TAYLOR
Staff Reporters
A missing Summerdale pastor's wife pawned her wedding ring a half-hour after vanishing from a religious conference more than four months ago, authorities said Thursday.

Mary Byrne "Beth" Smith was captured on newly discovered surveillance video walking out of Cash America Pawn, almost three miles away from the seminar at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, La., on March 24, police said.

To friends who saw frames of the video on Internet news sites, the 30-year-old Smith appeared pale, thin and sullen.

"That's her. That's her," said Jane Davidson, who has known Smith for 20 years. "I'm 100 percent sure that's her. But that's not the Beth I know."

The video reinforces investigators' belief that the mother of two left on her own when she told a friend she was going to the rest room, and police do not suspect foul play, Bossier City police spokesman Mark Natale said.

Early in their investigation, detectives had either called or stopped by the same pawn shop, along with several others in the area, and asked if anyone had seen a woman matching Smith's description, according to Natale.

But at the time, detectives didn't review the surveillance footage from any of the stores, Natale said.

"It would've been just a large amount of video to go through," he said.

At Cash America, Smith filled out a form under the name Mary Smith and showed her drivers license, but detectives didn't run Smith's name with the pawn shop employees during their original search, according to Natale.

Authorities won't say how much Smith received for the ring, and no one at the pawn shop could be reached by phone for comment Thursday afternoon.

Just this week, Bossier City detectives received a tip -- the source of which has been withheld -- that Smith might have pawned her wedding ring, Natale said.

Family members confirmed for police that it was indeed Smith in the video.

Investigators still don't know what happened to Smith after she left the pawn shop, the Natale said.

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"Even if we found out two months, three months, four months ago, this still wouldn't have given us any indication as to where she went," Natale said.

Police have continually said they have no reason to believe Smith was the victim of foul play. No one has reported hearing from her.

"There's no new information about her disappearance but this does reinforce the belief of investigators that she apparently left voluntarily," Natale said.

Police are investigating Smith's disappearance as a missing-person case and don't consider it a crime, Natale said.

Authorities have said that in the months leading up to her disappearance the Elsanor Elementary School kindergarten teacher developed an addiction to painkillers and may have left on her own to start a new life. She had emotional troubles, according to her father, Donnie Byrne of Fairhope. Her husband, the Rev. Jason Lee Smith, has pleaded and prayed for her to come home.

In December, Smith filed a false address with the Elsanor school and told staff that she was divorced, according to the Bossier City police findings.

She would show up to work appearing under the influence of drugs. She asked other teachers for prescription pills. She would occasionally leave work, telling the principal she was going to see an attorney, when she had actually gone to a doctor to get more pills, police said.

Smith arrived in Bossier City on March 23 with Jenny Gipson, a friend from the Summerdale church, authorities said. Smith had her cell phone and $40, police said.

The next day, during a Living Proof Live event conducted by evangelical author and speaker Beth Moore, Smith told Gipson she needed to use the rest room and check out the concession stands. When Smith didn't return after three hours, Gipson called Bossier City police.

Rena Daniels, Gipson's mother and friend of Smith, saw the two the morning they left on the trip.

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As the days since Smith's disappearance stretched into months, Daniels said she grew to believe that Smith might have been abducted and killed. The footage released Thursday gave her new hope.

"It's sad that she left, but I'm so glad that something awful didn't happen to her, at least as far as we know," Daniels said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Daniels also had scoured news sites, seen the pictures and recognized her friend.

"She looked so pitiful and so downhearted," Daniels said. "She just looked like it was the last straw, like she had no other way out. ... I just hope she comes home anyway, because there are still people here who love her."

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)


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Friend hopes video can help find pastor's wife

Saturday, July 28, 2007
By DAVID FERRARA
Staff Reporter

Jenny Gipson wishes people could have seen the video months ago.

It shows her friend, Mary Byrne "Beth" Smith, moments after she walked away from a religious conference they attended March 24. Having just gotten a haircut days before, Smith looks different than she does in some of the other photos that have since been shared.

"(The video) could've been found that day," Gipson said. "And we might've had better leads by now."

Four months later, authorities say, the case remains stale, despite the release Thursday of a few seconds of newly discovered video surveillance footage that shows Smith leaving a Bossier City, La., pawnshop.

The tape of the transaction bolsters what police have consistently said they believe: that Smith, the wife of a Summerdale pastor, left to start a new life.

Still, her steps remain a mystery after she left Cash America Pawn, almost three miles from the arena where the Christian evangelist Beth Moore preached.

The last known image of the 30-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two contrasts with that of her school portrait. In that photo, pasted on a reward poster, Smith wears a blue blouse, bright smile, and pink lipstick.

In the surveillance stills, she looks more pale, and wears a violet short-sleeved shirt, with the straps of a bag slung over her shoulder.

Her eyes appear dark. Her face is flat.

Maybe, Gipson speculates, Smith had been crying.

"She didn't look like that when she left me," Gipson said.

As soon as word of the tape emerged Thursday, according to Bossier City police spokesman Mark Natale, Smith's parents retrieved a copy of the video and the ring she pawned. Along with Smith's husband, the Rev. Jason Smith, Smith's parents have kept quiet since their daughter's disappearance. The Fairhope couple could not be reached for comment this week.

Even though investigators scoured the area for days after Smith disappeared, Natale said, none of the Bossier City pawnshops said they recognized her. Even though Smith filled out a form under the name Mary Smith and showed her driver's license when she sold the ring, police said no one had heard of her.

No one with Cash America would talk with the Press-Register on Friday about Smith's transaction at the store.

But Natale said police "don't think we were in any way deceived by anybody."

Police have not received any new leads since releasing the video, officials said.

Gipson hopes the video will spark new tips.

While police won't say how much Smith received for the ring, Gipson, who has talked with her friend's relatives, heard the sale was between $170 and $200. She only had a reported $40 on her before she sold the ring, Gipson said.

What could she have done with that kind of money?

Months ago, police investigated a tip from someone who said Smith might have boarded a bus in Shreveport, La.

"But none of that has been confirmed," Natale said.

A Greyhound bus leaves the Shreveport station, four miles from the pawnshop, at 12:45 p.m. every day.

Smith could've escaped town two hours after she left the arena. Route 1522, from Shreveport to New York, makes 18 stops.

Those who know her say Smith has friends and relatives in Birmingham, the ninth stop along the way.

She could've bought a ticket back to her home state for $88, according to Greyhound, or she could've gone all the way to New York for $169.

But she also could've stepped off in Jackson, Miss., or Atlanta, or Duncan, S.C., or Raleigh, N.C., or Richmond, Va.

Anywhere.

"It's a possibility," Gipson said.

Relatives and friends plan to drive to every stop, Gipson said, and post fliers in each town.

"It might lead to other things," Gipson said. "I'm more hopeful that she'll be found.

"This may not be the life she wants to come back to. It's her choice. I just want her to call -- call me, call anybody and let us know she's all right."


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Thursday, August 2, 2007
BREAKING NEWS Al.com: Pastor's Wife Reunited With Family - 08/02/2007

BREAKING NEWS Al.com: Pastor's Wife Reunited With Family

Pastor's wife reunited with family
Posted by Dave Ferrara, Staff Reporter August 02, 2007 10:59 AM
Categories: breaking news

Four months after she ran away, Mary Byrne "Beth" Smith is back with her family in Baldwin County.

The pastor's wife, mother of two and kindergarten teacher sat quietly in a news conference with her Fairhope attorney this morning, as he tried to offer explanation for her disappearance from a women's religious seminar March 24.



Smith was under "emotional distress" and "felt she had no choice,"
said the lawyer, D. Robert Stankoski. Smith didn't comment.

While living on her own in New York City, Smith used public assistance to find temporary housing and three jobs, Stankoski said.


"Reuniting with her children because of her love and affection,"
Stankoski said, "is the reason Mrs. Smith returned home."

Smith didn't plan her escape, he said, and, despite what authorities have said, she never used an alias while she lived in New York.
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