Four-and-a-half months after a mother-of-two was found brutally murdered in her Bothell home, police arrested her estranged husband for the crime.
Alan Justin Smith, 37, was arrested at 8:25 a.m. on Thursday and booked on investigation of murder in the first degree at the Snohomish County Jail.
“There was no one particular thing that led to this,” said Bothell police Sgt. Ken Seuberlich. “There were a number of things that culminated and made detectives confident to make the arrest.”
Seuberlich said that Smith was “cooperative” with detective at the time of the arrest and “not combative.”
Smith was served a search warrant on June 20 for his passport. But he was arrested for obstruction when he refused to turn the passport over to authorities.
“While [he] was in custody, a second search warrant was served on Alan Smith for inked images of [his] feet,” said Seuberlich. “Once the images were obtained, Alan Smith was transported to the Snohomish County Jail and booked on obstruction.”
Search warrants the Reporter gathered in March showed that police obtained a blood stained footprint from the scene of the crime.
Police also requested copies of video footage of media interviews with Alan Smith and his new girlfriend, Love Thai.
Susann Smith was found murdered in her home on Feb. 12 with defensive wounds on her hands and arms, a fractured skull, and 19 separate blunt force strikes and stab wounds to her face and hands, court documents state. She was identified by her dental records.
Witness interviews and court documents paint a picture of her estranged husband Alan Smith’s frustration with the couple’s custody battle. Susann Smith had threatened to move back to Germany with the kids, according to court records.
Bothell police found Susann Smith’s body in her bathtub with no signs of sexual assault and the front door unlocked.
Police found her body after her employer, Z2Live, reported that she had not showed up for work.
DNA from the murder scene and DNA from a bicycle that was purchased with Alan Smith’s credit card were taken for testing.
Alan Smith also had inconsistencies and lied to police during questioning, according to search warrant documents. His work computer revealed ticket searches for a flight from Seattle to Simon Bolivar Airport in Venezuela for one adult and two children. There was also a search for “will Venezuela extradite to the U.S.,” the search warrant documents continue.
He had also discussed how to kill his ex-wife with an ex-girlfriend, according to court records.
Alan Smith moved back into the home where his wife was murdered in April and told neighbors that he planned to file for custody of his two young children, who are with Child Protective Services.
Neighbors were highly concerned about Smith’s presence in the neighborhood following his wife’s death.
“We want to thank the neighbors for their patience and assistance,” said Seuberlich. “They put a lot of trust in us and we appreciate that.”
Smith’s move back into the home resulted in a string of calls to police by neighbors and Thai.
The most unusual of the calls took place on June 17.
When police arrived they saw Alan Smith and Thai in the nude involved in sexual acts in the front yard, according to the police report.
It was the fourth call to police for an incident at the home during the past month.
A neighbor called police at 12:30 p.m. after hearing a scream emanate from the home while outside, the report continues. When officers arrived they walked down the driveway to the front gate. The front yard is enclosed by the gate and a large hedge.
“Smith and [Thai] could clearly be seen by the neighbors if they had been walking along the fence line and looked in their direction,” an officer wrote in the police report.
Police were also called to the home on May 16 for an indecent exposure issue. Thai told police that she was Smith’s girlfriend and was sunbathing in the backyard. Police warned the couple about the issue.
Police were also called to the home for two domestic disturbance issues between Smith and Thai on May 24.
