A Bothell man remains in the Snohomish County jail after pleading not guilty to charges he killed his estranged wife.
A judge ordered Alan Justin Smith’s bail to be set at $1 million during his arraignment on July 22 after prosecutors refiled first-degree murder charges in Snohomish County Superior Court on June 19. Smith, 38, will have to come up with $100,000 to post a bond. His motorcycle remains outside of the Bothell home where Susann Smith, 37, was found brutally murdered on Feb. 12.
His next scheduled court hearing is set for Aug. 15 and a trial date has been set for Sept. 13 at 1 p.m.
Smith planned the murder, researched how to clean up the crime scene and “savagely beat, cut and ultimately drowned” his estranged wife, wrote Deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson in court documents.
Despite the fact that the murder weapon has not been identified, an autopsy states that Susann Smith could have been killed with the same type of rubber mallet identified by a former girlfriend as being owned by Alan Smith.
Bothell Police detectives utilized 15 search warrants to build the case against Alan Smith, including one to match his footprint to bloody ones found at the crime scene.
Smith moved back into the home two months after the murder and was then arrested for the crime in June. He allegedly confessed to a friend “Yes, I did it to her,” court documents state.
Susann Smith was attacked and beaten in the master bedroom of the home and dragged to the bathroom where she was found with water in her lungs, the documents continue. Susann Smith has 22 separate head injuries according to the autopsy, including a fatal blow to the skull.
Alan Smith has no criminal history and his passport has been seized by police. Prosecutors wrote that Alan Smith is an extreme flight risk and danger to the community.
Alan Smith had moved out of the home and was involved in divorce proceedings with his estranged wife prior to the murder. Court documents paint a picture of a bitter custody battle for the couple’s two children. Both children, ages 3 and 6, have been in the custody of Washington State Child Protective Services since February.
