In 7 pages this paper examines 2 bestsellers regarding PA's Main Line slayings in a consideration of Smith's innocence or guilt, judicial corruption, and the presentation of evidence.
Name of Research Paper File: JL5_JLwambaugh.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
One of the most interesting features about the two major works dealing with the Main Line murders - Wambaughs Echoes in the Darkness and Costopolous Principal Suspect - is that
whilst both were written by individuals with considerable knowledge of the case, they approach it from very different angles.
The case involved the murder of a schoolteacher, Susan Reinert, and the disappearance of
her two children, who have never been found. In 1979, Reinerts naked and battered body was found in her car, in a hotel car park near the Main Line in
Philadelphia. Suspicion fell upon two individuals, Jay Smith and William Bradfield. Smith was the principal at the school where Susan taught, and on the day that her body was discovered,
he was being sentenced for robbery. Whilst he was under arrest for these crimes, police had searched his house and found weapons and pornography.
However, the first person suspected of
the murder was another teacher, Bradfield, who had been in a relationship with Susan. She had recently taken out a life insurance policy naming him as the beneficiary, and had
referred to him as her future husband. However, other sources stated that he was in fact dating other women at the same time, and was not to be trusted. Bradfield
was found guilty of conspiracy and murder, but stated that in fact Smith was the killer: in a separate trial, Smith was found guilty, mainly as a result of Bradfields