Victim’s Husband Wrote Murder Plots

The husband of a slain Redondo Beach woman wrote approximately 30 murder plots about killing his previous wife and may have written scenarios about how he would kill his wife Madolyn, who was found strangled in the trunk of her car, a court document revealed Friday.

In the days after Madolyn Smink’s death, Jeffrey Smink, 50, told Redondo Beach investigators that he occasionally wrote murder plots as a “stress reduction technique.” Investigators served his ex-wife’s San Bernardino attorney with a search warrant last week and seized 56 documents, including a three-page handwritten murder plot, according to search warrant returns filed Thursday in South Bay Municipal Court in Torrance.

Investigators also searched Smink’s condo and office at TRW in Redondo Beach. The affidavits listing what was found in those two searches have been sealed, but witnesses said they saw investigators take a bicycle, undeveloped film, clothing and documents from the home.

Jeffrey Smink told investigators that his wife of six years disappeared after she left home Dec. 15 to shop at a local mall. When Madolyn Smink was discovered in the trunk of her car in Hawthorne four days later, she was wearing clothes previously described by her husband, but was not wearing shoes. Court documents said the 51-year-old woman was wearing thick white socks that were clean on the bottom.

There have been no arrests in the case. Jeffrey Smink has not been listed as an official suspect, but sheriff’s investigators have said that they have not been able to rule him out as a possible suspect.

Smink’s Beverly Hills-based attorney, Jeffrey Brodey, said that on his advice the longtime TRW employee has left his home to avoid the media frenzy surrounding Thursday’s release of the autopsy report, which concluded that Smink had been strangled. Brodey said he is in contact with his client, who is staying somewhere “local.”

Brodey said Smink’s ex-wife, Sandra, is aware of the search warrant served to her attorney Lawrence Novack. He said the couple have a friendly relationship and that Sandra Smink, who could not be reached for comment, was supportive of her ex-husband.

Despite the sheriff’s findings, Brodey said the murder plots pertaining to Smink’s ex-wife would probably be inadmissible in court because they reflect Smink’s state of mind more than eight years ago. He was unaware of any writings about Madolyn Smink. The affidavits say Jeffrey Smink told investigators that he “may have written one or two such plots to kill Madolyn.”