Man Used E-Mail Alias, Police Testify
Trial continues in death of Bella Vistan
Last updated Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:25 PM CST in News
By Robin Lipscomb
The Morning News
BENTONVILLE -- Albert Kieth Smith used an e-mail alias to badmouth his ex-wife to someone she met over the Internet in 1999, according to police testimony Thursday.
Smith, a 57-year-old mail carrier from Fort Smith, is facing capital murder and kidnapping charges. He is accused of killing a man his ex-wife met on the Internet: David Howard of Bella Vista.
Testimony continues today in the jury trial, which is expected to last a month.
Capt. Kenneth Farmer of the Bella Vista division of the Benton County Sheriff's Office testified about data he pulled from a computer in the Avoca office of a man named Herbert Hawkins, who met Linda Smith on the Internet after her divorce from Albert Kieth Smith.
Hawkins received e-mail from "J.C. Cart," which prosecutors claimed in opening statements was a known alias used by Smith.
"She seems nice, but she has a split personality," Cart wrote to Hawkins. "She owes over $50,000 in credit card debt and is looking for someone to pay for it."
Hawkins is expected to testify later in the trial.
Smith is accused of tracing e-mail on his ex-wife's computer to locate Howard in Bella Vista, then enticing the man into a fictitious business proposition -- and kidnapping and murdering him.
Defense attorney Joel Price has portrayed Howard as a sexually promiscuous man who was dating several women.
One of those women, Layla Wheeler Comeaus, testified Thursday about her last contact with Howard on Sept. 14, 1999 -- one day before the last he was seen alive.
Comeaus was then a dispatcher with the University of Arkansas Police Department.
She'd met Howard that summer after responding to his personal ad on the Internet. She'd seen him in person only twice.
That September day, Howard e-mailed Comeaus, asking her to research the license plate number of a "recruiter" who wanted Howard to design and build a marina.
"He won't tell me what company and very little about himself," Howard typed. "He did say that he was driving a company car. I just wanted to see who the car is registered to."
Wheeler eventually checked the tag number, discovering it was registered to Albert Kieth Smith of Van Buren. She didn't recognize the name, and she knew nothing of Linda Smith, she testified.
Checking a tag like that could have gotten Comeaus in trouble at work, so she didn't respond right away. Later that week, she heard over the scanner Howard was missing and might be in danger.
That's when she realized she had information that might be useful, and called the Bentonville Police Department.
Also Thursday, Dawn Reed, a handwriting expert from the Arkansas Crime Lab, testified notes found in Howard's living room were written by Howard.
One note indicated Howard was to meet a recruiter named "Billy Martin" the evening of Sept. 15 in the parking lot of Allen's Discount Foods in Bella Vista. He also wrote down the Arkansas license plate 535 DMK -- the same license he asked his friend to check and returned registered to Smith.
Howard's car was later found in that Allen's parking lot.
Howard's daughter, Melissa Ullom, flew in from Las Vegas to testify she recognized the handwriting as her dad's. She was tearful during her few short minutes on the stand.
Testimony was also heard from a mower who found Howard's body along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma, about noon Sept. 18, 1999.
Randall Kenneda was a contractor who mowed the rights of way on highways. He was on the north side of I-40, making a second pass of the day with his brush hog, when he "saw something white in the bushes."
The body was in a wooded area at least 60 feet north of the road, Kenneda said. There was no northern access to the area because of a deep ditch and fence just beyond.
Howard was left in his underwear and a T-shirt, and had two gunshot wounds to the back of his head, according to opening statements.
Prosecutors also showed jurors a trail of evidence found at Smith's home in Van Buren that next week: computers, weapons and ammunition, a black suitcase that held a hunting knife, rope, a box blade, maps, sunglasses and toiletries.
Smith has been out of jail since posting a $350,000 bond in August.
Prosecutor Robin Green represents the state, along with deputy prosecutors Shane Wilkinson and Drew Ledbetter. Smith is defended by Price and David Dunagin, both of Fort Smith.
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