Mary Byrne Smith Missing Since March 24, 2007 Appears on Surveillance Video Pawning Wedding Ring (Update: Found Safe)
30 year old Mary Byrne Smith was last seen on March 24, 2007 when she attended a women’s religious conference. Following the conference she was never seen not heard from since. Beth Byrne Smith is married to the Reverend Jason Lee Smith, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Summerdale, AL.
However, there is now an update in this missing persons case that is rather peculiar. Mary Byrne Smith is reported as being on video tape at a pawn shop in Bossier City, LA, the day she disappeared hawking her wedding ring. It would seem that Mary Byrne Smith wants to be missing.
The wife of an Alabama minister missing since March sold her wedding ring at a pawnshop on the day she disappeared, police said Thursday.
Mary Byrne “Beth” Smith, 30, is seen on surveillance video from a Bossier City, La., pawnshop hocking her wedding ring the morning she was reported missing, Bossier City police said.
The store security camera shows Smith wearing a purple shirt and exiting the shop at 11:36 a.m. on March 24, the same day she disappeared from Living Proof Live, a women’s conference she was attending with her friend Jenny Gipson at the Bossier City CenturyTel Center. (FOX News)
Minister’s missing wife pawned wedding ring
UPDATE I: Missing Mary Byrne Smith Found Safe Working Under Alias in New York
It appears that the wife of an Alabama minister, Mary Byrne Smith, wanted to be missing afterall. Mary Byrne Smith was located safe and working in a fast food restaurant in New York state under an alias.
Louisiana police located Mary Byrne Smith alive and well in New York state on Friday. The 30-year-old kindergarten teacher had been working under an assumed name at a fast-food restaurant.
“We know it’s her,” Bossier City Police Chief Mike Halphen said at a press conference Monday. “She did not want us to disclose the reasons why she left, and she did not want us to disclose where she is living.”
She does not face criminal charges, he said.
“People have their reasons for wanting to start a new life and that was her choosing,” Halphen said. “And again, we encouraged her very, very hard to contact her family and at least talk with her children and we believe that she will.” (Fox News)
UPDATE II: Missing Minister’s Wife Returns to Alabama From New York
Who says you can’t go home again? Missing for four months and located in New York state, Mary Byrne Smith, the wife of an Alabama minister returns home.
A minister’s wife who disappeared from a religious conference in Louisiana, only to be located four months later living in New York, knows she made a “serious mistake” by leaving and has returned home to Alabama to be with her two children, her lawyer said Thursday.
I feel sorry for her children. They say she has a drug problem(pain pills). But most addicts would of contacted friends and family by now for some more drug money. Maybe she was self medicating an untreated mental illness. If this is the case is she not also endangered and needs help.
Comment by denise | July 27, 2007
Hmmm this reminds me of another Minister’s wife that chose not to leave, but to handle her alleged abuser herself. It makes one wonder what might have been going on behind closed doors.
It must have been something significant to make her up and leave like that?
__________
ME: At least if that is what she did she just walked away vs. killing someone.
R
Comment by Sandy | July 28, 2007
well, i went to school with her. she was in the “in” crowd, but that was ten years ago. i was suprised she would marry a preacher. and no mattter what she did do, she did it for a reason. maybe God led her to leave. But, she could have let some one know. especially her family.
Comment by KRIS | July 30, 2007
I feel sorry for your children Sandy. The boys will think that they are the root of any and all relationship problems they have and the girls will think that they are infallible and aren’t accountable for their own actions. You should seek counseling, for the sake of all those around you.
Comment by Shannon | July 31, 2007
Thank you very much Shannon. However, I do not have children…..alas just a dog who is having serious issues with the German Shephard next door who is stalking him for messing around with the female poodle on the end of the block. Could you counsel my dog? Do you charge by the hour? Where did you get your degree? JUDGMENTAL UNIVERSITY?
Peace, Love and Harmony to you my dear Shannon.
*SAVE A TREE & THE WHALES & THE DOLPHINS*
Comment by Sandy | August 2, 2007