Bothell man gets 28 1/2 years for wife’s murder

EVERETT — A former Boeing engineer was sentenced Thursday to 28 1/2 years in prison for killing his estranged wife in 2013.

Susann Smith, 37, was found face down in the bathtub in her Bothell home. The mother of two was repeatedly beaten and stabbed before she was dragged into the bathroom and drowned.

“It’s hard for me to imagine a more vicious, cowardly and selfish act,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson said. “It’s almost beyond comprehension that a man would do that to the mother of his children.”

Alan Smith was convicted last month of first-degree murder. Prosecutors alleged that Smith, 39, went off the rails because his divorce wasn’t going the way he wanted. He had racked up a large debt and feared that his wife would take their children to her native Germany.

Evidence at trial showed that the killer carefully tried to cover his tracks. Bothell detectives never found the murder weapons. They suspect that Smith tossed them in a dumpster on his way to work.

“It is clear from the evidence that it was premeditated. There were no reasons for it. It didn’t solve anything,” Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said.

Smith was arrested four months after the killing. A man he met at church reported that Smith confessed to the murder. Smith had sought the man’s advice on how to handle his then-girlfriend, a mentally ill woman. She later committed suicide.

In the month’s leading up to his arrest Smith’s bizarre behavior, including ramblings on social media sites and sex with his then-girlfriend outside the murder scene, had drawn scrutiny from police and the attention of media.

Smith’s bizarre behavior continued Thursday when he insisted Krese listen to two jailhouse phone conversations he had with his sisters. Smith said the conversations would illustrate his state of mind after he’d been convicted.

He later apologized to the judge for playing the audio recordings, saying they were confrontational and inappropriate.

“I feel very ashamed we brought forward that material,” he said.

He quibbled over fines and fees. He said the prosecutor was asking him to pay for his estranged wife’s burial, when he’d already paid for it quietly without anyone asking.

He also wanted the judge to revisit the Smiths’ custody dispute, perhaps to better understand why he had been upset that a different judge hadn’t agreed to appoint a guardian ad-litem to the case. Prosecutors alleged that it was that court ruling that sent Smith over the edge.

For all his concern for his children’s well-being, Smith has essentially left them orphaned, Matheson said.

Susann Smith’s parents and sister did not attend Thursday’s hearing. Her sister listened over the phone. They are in Germany, where they are raising the Smiths’ two young children.

The slain woman’s sister and mother wrote letters to Krese. They continue to mourn her death and worry about how it will affect the children.

Susann Smith adored her children and wanted them to become strong and happy, her mother wrote the judge. After Alan Smith left his wife, Susann Smith’s mother encouraged her to return home to Germany.

She didn’t want to take the children away from their father. She wanted them to have a good relationship with him, Susann Smith’s mother wrote.

The children were placed into protective custody the day Smith’s body was found. They later were moved from their foster home to live with Susann Smith’s sister.

They “never had a chance to say goodbye to their mom (or dad), their home, their friends or teachers, because the only way to guarantee their safety was to take them to different homes far away, immediately,” Susann Smith’s sister wrote.

Some day they will learn what their father did to their mother.

“It is clear that both children still have a long and difficult way ahead of them and that their grief is only the beginning,” the woman wrote.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.