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TODD Smith was convicted of murdering his wife, Katrina Smith, in January 2017.
An episode of 20/20 about Katrina’s case is premiering on Friday, October 20, 2023, at 9 pm EST, 8 pm CST.
Who is Todd Smith?
According to ABC News, Todd Smith was formerly known as Todd Raprager but officially changed his last name in 1992 after falling in love and marrying a woman named Teresa in Jamaica.
Todd had a criminal history — in 1985, at the age of 17, he “was involved in an incident where he admitted to disconnecting a gas line in the home where he lived with his mother, stepfather and three half-siblings.
“The home exploded into flames, with Smith’s family inside. Miraculously, the family escaped the blaze without injury.”
According to the outlet, Todd confessed to the arson. He told investigators he had not been getting along with his mother and wanted to scare her.
He was then sentenced to 30 months’ probation and 160 hours of community service after waiving his right to a jury trial and pleading guilty to arson.
Todd had three daughters with Teresa, and although their marriage was happy at first, the pair separated in 2001 after Teresa said she wanted a divorce.
Todd then married Katrina Smith, and they lived in Rockford, Illinois.
On October 23, 2012, Katrina went missing, with Todd claiming she had failed to return after leaving their home on the evening of October 22.
On November 9 of that year, Katrina’s body was found in the Rock River by an off-duty firefighter, per ABC News.
An autopsy found that her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
On October 30, 2012, police searched Todd’s house, taking his laptop computer and a baseball bat from the garage that appeared to contain blood.
On November 21, detectives were notified by the crime lab that traces of Katrina’s DNA were found on the bat.
Todd pleaded not guilty after he was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of concealing a homicide, per the publication.
When was Todd Smith convicted?
Todd Smith was convicted of the first-degree murder of Katrina and related charges on January 25, 2017, per ABC News.
He was sentenced to 59 years in prison on April 4, 2017.
Where is Todd Smith now?
Todd is now serving his 59-year prison sentence.
Per WIFR 23, in 2017, he appealed his conviction, but it was denied.
According to ABC News, Paige Smith — Todd’s eldest daughter from his first marriage — spoke to her father for the last time after his murder trial.
She said: “After the verdict, I did not go to see him, but I talked to him on the phone, and I asked him to tell me what happened, and he wouldn’t, because he immediately planned on appealing and trying to start that whole process.
“So, I was like, ‘OK. Even if you appeal, you’re not going to win this. Just tell me the truth,’ and he still wouldn’t. And I said, ‘OK. You can either tell me the truth, or I won’t be talking to you anymore, because I can’t do this.'”
