Murder of Maria Smith

 

On the morning of April 22, 1974, around 7:30 a.m. Stephen Smith left to go to work from his home on St. Marks Road in Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.  Maria was supposed to leave an hour later to catch the bus as she was a trainee teacher at Brigidine Convent School in Randwick,. She never arrived.

It wasn't till later when her husband arrived home he knew something was wrong. He went to the bedroom and found her body. He rang his parents and the police and stayed in the kitchen until they arrived. Maria had been bound gagged, and sexually assaulted. It was found that her killer strangled her to death with her pantyhose. The killer used a knife from inside the home to cut her clothes off.

A neighbor stated that that they heard no knock at the door that morning. The sliding door over a balcony was also locked and there were no other signs of a break-in. So it's believed that she had possibly let them in because she knew him.

There's a $100,000,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of Maria's murder.

SOURCES:
Police New South Wales 
News
The Sydney Morning Herald 
Fraser Coast Chronical