Career
Additionally skull fragments were found in a locker owned by him that belonged to a third, unidentified, woman. Photographs of two unidentified women were also found in his possession and formed the basis for ongoing "Jane Doe" inquiries. In 2014, one of the women was identified and found alive.
The case of John Smith was also featured on Medical Detectives and on Forensic Files season 9, episode 19: Deadly Matrimony. Smith married Janice Hartman (b 2 March 1951) on June 30, 1970 when they were both 19. A troubled marriage ensued.
Garry Hartman, Janice's brother, said that Smith was abusive when he visited the couple for the first time. Hartman left Smith in 1974 and headed back to Ohio intending to divorce him. A few days later, after filing for divorce, she disappeared.
He opened the box to find a dismembered corpse with rainbow hair which he believed to be Janice Hartman's body. John stopped by the residence, picked up the box and headed to Indiana to dispose of the body. Prior to her disappearance, she had been unable to leave her home due to a broken hip.
That year he revealed the facts of his gruesome discovery to an FBI agent investigating the disappearances of John Smith's wives. Police in Ohio and Indiana were issued a notice to be on the lookout for such a box. It was subsequently discovered that the box had been found in 1980 by the Highway Department in an Indiana field, but the victim, unidentified at the time, had been listed as a "Jane Doe".
His trial began on 2 July 2001 and he was convicted later that month of the murder of Janice Hartman in 2000 and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. His first parole date was in 2011. He unsuccessfully appealed his conviction in 2002.
Smith remains incarcerated at Marion Correctional Institution.