And despite what lawyer O’Brien advised, during every interview Stephanie gave, there would be lots of potentially damaging tidbits about his “eccentric” ways. She gave reporters what they wanted, but she made it known that she admired her husband.
“He’s such a thinker,” Stephanie Smith said in another interview. “He never talked much around the house but he’d go down to his den and speak into his tape recorder. Hon, he has a wonderful speaking voice! But he always said I didn’t own him and I shouldn’t get involved in his life, and he wanted his privacy. I was always taught that the man is the master of the house and you just accept what he wants.”
Stephanie Smith also let it be known that her husband frequently commented that “the devil will rule the earth.”
The cops said, so what else is new? But the opinion was entered in a public report as a matter of routine.
General John Eisenhower also gave a statement concerning his former coloneclass="underline" “I think of him often. He was clever and loquacious. He had a terrific sardonic sense of humor. His only eccentricity was his penchant for being a loner. I remember once hinting that we might get together socially for a beer, but he said that the way he lived he had no friends and wanted no friends. I didn’t take offense because I knew he was a busy man and perhaps didn’t have time for such things. He was a free thinker, versed in the classics. He did not join his fellow officers in the mess or at parties.”
The press blitzed Upper Merion, but at first all they could get were some vague statements to the effect that Dr. Jay Smith was a lone wolf who never talked about anything but his work and never mixed socially with colleagues. Despite his years at Upper Merion, some faculty members could not even say for certain if the Smiths had children.
As the fall term was about to begin, Jay Smith was arranging to get out of jail and was composing a few press releases of his own. First, he denied any criminal activity whatsoever, stating that it was preposterous to think he was the bogus courier. Secondly, he theorized that part of his problem was caused by the Upper Merion school administrators who were “out to get him” and inflaming the media.
Some observers might note that from the beginning of his troubles and down through the years, Dr. Jay Smith, on those rare occasions when he would speak, was always more concerned with allegations of sexual perversion than by the very serious felony charges leveled against him.
As to the other public agencies “out to get him,” he had this to say: “The police find a collection of special books that I keep for research. But because they deal with such subjects as sex, homosexuality and bestiality, the police seem preoccupied with them. They see the books on homosexuality and they say, ‘Ah ha! Smiths a homosexual.’ So they ask my wife and she sets them straight and they scratch that one from their list.”
He assured his public that he was planning to publish a book entitled How to Prevent Homosexuality in Your Children.
As to the canine books, he admitted that he was interested in exploring the possibility of training animals as sexual surrogates and that he planned to launch a mail order firm to distribute his findings.
So naturally, all the cops made up gags about Jay Smith’s coming SPCA journal called Loving Your Pet. And Jay Smith’s version of a Ralph Nader-style blockbuster called Consumer’s Guide to Dildos.
But of course the cops couldn’t care less if Jay Smith was bisexual or trisexual or king of the collies. They were interested in the strange little matter of the syringe with the massive dose of drugs, his alibi being that it belonged to his son-in-law Eddie Hunsberger.
Well, where was Edward Hunsberger? And where was his wife, Stephanie, daughter of Jay Smith? They represented Jay Smiths potential alibi for all the drugs found in the basement.
When the cops tried to find the Hunsbergers, they discovered that Eddie and Stephanie had failed to keep an appointment at a methadone clinic back in February. The clinic employees told them that several attempts to contact the recovering addicts at the Smith home had produced no leads, so the counselors feared drug relapse.
One clinic counselor told police that during her last telephone inquiry into the whereabouts of her clients Edward and Stephanie Hunsberger, she’d managed to reach Dr. Jay Smith himself who told her that the young couple would not need further monitoring.
“I’ve gotten them a Placidyl and some real good pot,” he told the startled counselor. “They’re going to de-tox themselves.”
When she recovered from that revelation and told Dr. Smith she didn’t think that was a good idea, he surprised her further by saying, “Thank you for the help you’ve given Stephanie and Eddie. And by the way, I have access to good pot that I got in Trenton. If you’re ever interested.”
When Jay Smith got arrested, he was found to be carrying the social security card of his daughter, Stephanie Hunsberger. And the police discovered that somebody had been forging the name of Edward Hunsberger and Stephanie on several welfare checks that had been sent to the Smith home for six months after the young couple was last seen. The cops didn’t bother trying to prove forgery against Jay Smith because there were enough charges to investigate, but they were really starting to wonder about the Hunsbergers’ disappearance.
The detectives had a theory about the night of his arrest. The local owner of a large supermarket chain owned a van exactly like the one Jay Smith was peeking into. The police wondered if the school principal had been plotting a kidnap.
More than one cop expressed exactly the same sentiment as they tried to piece together a profile of the elusive and mysterious principal of Upper Merion. “For a long time,” a cop said, “that guy was a loose cannon, careening all over the place.”
Shortly after his arrest, while he was in the Chester County Farms Prison trying to arrange bail, he received a letter of sympathy and support from a colleague. And that colleague received a speedy reply from the beleaguered educator. The reply was written in August, 1978, and mailed from the prison farm. The letter from Jay Smith to William Bradfield began:
Dear Bill,
Please cut out the Dr. Smith stuff. Jay or Jack is what friends call me. I prefer “Jack.” I count you as a friend.…
In that letter Jay Smith asked for three books: Moby Dick, Ivanhoe and Warriner’s Grammar. He said that he intended to begin teaching other prisoners if he couldn’t get a bail reduction to gain his freedom.
And while Bill Bradfield and Jay Smith were busy writing letters, Susan Reinert was busy writing a letter about him. It was sent to her therapist and was dated September 3rd.
Dear Ros,
Our former principal, Dr. Smith, has been arrested on robbery charges. The papers have been full of bizarre stories so I’m sure the opening of school will be “interesting.” I always thought he was strange but not criminal.
I have seen Bill. Nothing much different. I still love him. He now says he loves me but there are no more plans for our seeing each other than there have ever been. I have gotten a little more interested in dating others again. Will see what happens.
Love,
Susan
The diary notes of Susan Reinert indicate that she was groping for new determination to change the direction of her hopeless affair with William Bradfield.
In a sad piece of self-analysis she wrote: “Rejection, low self-worth, constant battle. He would rather live with someone who wants to kill me than to live with me.”