Saturday, September 10, 2011

New Braunfels, TX: Manhunt ends with body found

New Braunfels fugitive was sought in wife's killing in April.
By Roy Bragg
rbragg@express-news.net
Updated 06:40 a.m., Friday, September 9, 2011

NEW BRAUNFELS — A five-month hunt for a man who police say killed his wife apparently ended Thursday with the discovery of human remains alongside the fugitive's truck.

Shannon Smith's orange Dodge pickup was found behind thick brush and trees off Klein Road, south of the city and 1½ miles from the murder scene, said New Braunfels police Capt. John McDonald.

The body lay a few feet from the driver's side door. Police, McDonald said, haven't been able to locate a weapon or a suicide note. An autopsy has been ordered.

Police said Smith, 43, stabbed wife Lisa Smith, also 43, on April 8. The couple's teenage children also were injured in the domestic attack, which occurred in the 300 block of Scenic Meadow.

The caretaker of the land saw the truck nestled in the brush late Thursday afternoon and called police.

Although the remains haven't been positively identified, McDonald said, police have confirmed that it's Smith's truck. The body was clad in the clothes Smith was wearing when he was last seen alive.

Evidence from the scene indicates the speeding truck veered off Klein Road onto a vacant street and jumped a curb. The front license plate was found in a retention pond, and the truck was found on the other side of a berm beyond that. Police theorize the truck drove through the pond, hit the earthen wall, became airborne, and landed in the thick brush.

Police searched the area with a helicopter in the days after the murder, McDonald said, but the brush is so thick, the truck couldn't have been seen. The U.S. Marshals Service assisted in the search, and Comal County Crime Stoppers offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his apprehension.

No comments:

Post a Comment