Missing Woman from Baldwin Co. Surfaces

By Debbie Williams

M50o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Missing Woman from Baldwin Co. Surfaces

Published: Mon, July 30, 2007 - 8:07 am
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 - 3:13 pm

More than four months after she disappeared, police have found Mary Byrne Smith.

     And she's alive as her husband, two kids, family and friends all prayed she would be. But, not all their prayers have been answered.

Missing no more. Mary Byrne Smith has been found safe and unharmed working at a fast food restaurant under an alias in New York.

"Kinda shocked she was that far away what was she doing that far away-" Julie Brewer works at a local convenience store where Smiths missing poster has been the talk of just about everyone. "Even out-of-towners seeing the picture on the window and saying Oh My God this woman's disappeared and we'll tell 'em it's the preacher's wife everybody's been talking about it."

   Bossier City police say they spoke with Smith for more than 20 hours over the weekend. They call it a good ending to a case that has grabbed national headlines.

During those hours on the phone, Bossier City police urged Smith to call family members and let them know she was okay. News Five was told her husband Jason Smith is still trying process the news and hasn't spoken with his wife yet.

"The main thing is there was no foul play and she is alive and she's safe." Still Summerdale Police Chief Dewain Riebling says he wishes it could have been different.   "It would have been nice if she had somehow talked to the family or talked to someone in the church talked to law enforcement saying that she was okay."

   All the good wishes and prayers seem to have worked; Beth Smith is safe and sound. "I think maybe she was asking for help and nobody helped her and she said forget about it I'll keep doing what I'm doing," says Brewer.

Why she did what she did, is still a mystery.

Bossier City Police say after smith pawned her wedding ring the day she disappeared, she went to the bus station, asked how far she could get with the cash and then bought a ticket to New York.

     Police were tipped off about her whereabouts when she contacted the Alabama Department of Education for a copy of her teaching certificate.

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