# 3 Unsolved True Crime Mysteries: Ascension Parish John Doe, Larry Parks, Judy Smith

An episode of [Lazy Chill True Crime](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1815534472), 22 Jul 2025, 21 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO6062932153.mp3

Join me as we discuss three unsolved true crime mysteries: Ascension Parish John Doe, Larry Parks and Judy Smith. Chapters: 0:00 Ascension Parish John Doe 3:57 Larry Parks 10:23 Judy Smith 👇 Support My Work: 🛍️ Merch: https://lazy-chill-zone-shop.fourthwall.com ❤️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lazychillzone 👇 Youtube links: Lazy Chill True Crime Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8dVJtzeHcJgd_Z0bHrJTHQ Lazy Chill History Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillHistory Lazy Chill Zone Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LazyChillZone 👇Social Media Links: https://www.instagram.com/lazychillzone/ 👇 Podcast links: ⚡True Crime Podcast on Spotify⚡: https://open.spotify.com/show/0klIz08pAr7wR4we0Ia4sk?si=68qZxCeAQkysXzMZrHE0Iw 🍏 True Crime Podcast on Apple 🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lazy-chill-true-crime/id1815534472 unsolved true crime podcast, cold case mysteries, unsolved murder cases, true crime cold case, mysterious disappearances, unidentified murder victims, Jane and John Doe cases, missing persons podcast, true crime 2020s, cold case investigations, Ascension Parish unidentified body, Louisiana John Doe 2021, Ascension Parish cold case, unidentified male Louisiana, Ascension Parish mystery, Larry Parks 1996 murder, Chattahoochee River body, unsolved Georgia murder, cold case Georgia, Larry Parks true crime, Judy Smith missing case, Philadelphia woman found in North Carolina, Judy Smith Blue Ridge Parkway, unsolved murder North Carolina, Judy Smith 1997 mystery, creepiest unsolved mysteries, strange and chilling disappearances, real unsolved murders, eerie cold cases, forgotten victims true crime, bodies found far from home, vanished without a trace, unexplained death podcast, true crime rabbit holes, disturbing unsolved stories

## Transcript

[0:00] On February 2nd, 1982, law enforcement in Ascension Parish
[0:05] in Louisiana made a grim discovery the body of a young
[0:10] man floating in the Mississippi River near Darrow.
[0:13] The victim had no identification and the remains were badly
[0:17] decomposed from days or weeks in the water.
[0:21] The Sheriff's Office treated the incident as suspicious since no
[0:24] COD was immediately evident. Despite some publicity at the
[0:28] time, no family ever came forward to claim him and no
[0:32] clues to his identity emerged. An autopsy and forensic exam
[0:37] provided a general profile of the John Doe while also
[0:40] underscoring the difficulties investigators faced.
[0:44] He was a white male, approximately 18 to 21 years old
[0:48] and around 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing about 130 to 140 lbs.
[0:56] He had brown hair, though eye color couldn't be determined at
[1:00] the time due to the condition of the remains.
[1:03] Notably, he had a slight overbite, a chipped front tooth,
[1:07] and several dental fillings. These dental details were
[1:11] documented in case they might later help identify him.
[1:15] The coroner couldn't pinpoint an exact cause, but noted no trauma
[1:19] on his body. No personal items were
[1:22] recovered, and his clothing was generic a Plaid Western style
[1:26] shirt from Sears, blue jeans, a black belt and Adidas sneakers.
[1:33] This common attire provided no unique leads.
[1:36] Unfortunately, the advanced decomposition also prevented
[1:39] officials from obtaining usable fingerprints in 1982 without DNA
[1:45] profiling or centralized databases.
[1:48] The lack of identification evidence left investigators with
[1:52] very little to go on in the investigation.
[1:57] Over the decades, various theories have been proposed
[2:00] about what might have happened to the John Doe.
[2:04] Foul play is 1 possibility as the body may have been dumped in
[2:08] the river to conceal a crime. However, this remains
[2:12] speculative since no obvious injuries were found on the
[2:15] remains. It's also possible that the
[2:18] death was accidental, for example, a fall from a boat or a
[2:23] bridge into the river. As years passed, the case was
[2:28] entered into national databases like Name Us, and a number of
[2:32] other men were ruled out. As for his identity, one
[2:37] prominent theory is that he was a hitchhiker from out of state
[2:42] in the early 1980s. Many young people travelled long
[2:45] distances by hitchhiking, and some disappeared far from home.
[2:50] This John Doe potentially fits the pattern of a traveller who
[2:53] died on the road with no one local to report him missing 43
[3:00] years later. The case is currently receiving
[3:02] renewed attention thanks to modern forensic tools.
[3:06] In 2025, the Faces Lab at Louisiana State University
[3:10] completed a new digital facial reconstruction of the John Doe,
[3:15] using his skull to reconstruct his face.
[3:19] The image was recently publicized by the Sheriff's
[3:21] Office in hopes that someone might recognize him after so
[3:24] many years. The Sheriff's Office asked that
[3:27] people share the image widely. So here I am doing my part.
[3:32] Notably, his profile on the Doe Network indicates that his DNA
[3:36] was properly preserved. It's unclear if this DNA profile
[3:40] has been sent for forensic genealogy testing at this time.
[3:44] Notably, this process is still new and resource intensive, so
[3:48] the spotlight generated by the new forensic facial
[3:51] reconstruction may get the ball rolling on this as well.
[3:59] In July 1980, a grim discovery was made along Interstate 5 in
[4:03] Oregon. The body of an unidentified man
[4:06] was found on the highway shoulder near the town of
[4:08] Woodburn. For decades, this victim
[4:11] remained a John Doe. Only recently have investigators
[4:15] confirmed that the man was Larry Parks, a Florida man.
[4:20] The mystery of Larry Parks's death has unfolded over 45
[4:23] years, intertwining with one of the era's most notorious serial
[4:28] perpetrator cases. Larry was a Vietnam War veteran
[4:32] who originally hailed from the American South.
[4:36] In 1979, his family lost contact with him, and his last known
[4:40] location was Pensacola, FL. For decades afterward, his
[4:45] relatives had no idea what became of him.
[4:51] On the morning of July 18th, 1980, Oregon State Police
[4:55] responded to a report of a deceased male along I-5 just
[4:58] South of Woodburn. The man had been slain and left
[5:02] on the side of the freeway, prompting a full investigation.
[5:07] He was fully clothed, but officers noted that his belt and
[5:11] shoelaces were missing. With no identification found on
[5:14] the body, detectives were unable to determine the victim's name.
[5:19] Remarkably, another slaying had been discovered in the same
[5:22] vicinity just one day earlier. On July 17th, 1980, the body of
[5:28] 17 year old Michael O'Fallon was found near an I5 exit in Marion
[5:32] County, about 30 miles South of Woodburn.
[5:37] The similarities, two young male travellers slain in a similar
[5:40] manner within 24 hours, LED investigators to suspect the
[5:45] cases were linked. Police believed a single unknown
[5:49] perpetrator was likely responsible, though they had no
[5:52] solid leads on his identity. In 1980, despite investigators
[5:59] suspicions of a serial perp at work, the case grew cold.
[6:03] As months passed with no suspect, all investigative leads
[6:07] dried up and both the O'Fallon case and the Woodburn John Doe
[6:10] case went unsolved. A major break in the mystery
[6:15] came in May 1983 when California authorities arrested Randy
[6:20] Stephen Craft, a man who would soon be infamously dubbed the
[6:24] Scorecard Serial Perpetrator. Craft had meticulously entered
[6:28] all his victims in a journal. He kept recording their stats
[6:32] and treating it as some sort of deranged high score attempt.
[6:36] But let's get back to the events of May 1983.
[6:40] Kraft was pulled over on Interstate 5 with a deceased
[6:44] victim in his car, and police discovered a coded list in the
[6:47] vehicle that appeared to document dozens of other
[6:51] slayings. In 1989, Kraft was convicted of
[6:55] 16 slayings in California, and investigators believe he may
[6:59] have ended the lives of more than 60 people across several
[7:02] states. Crucially, Kraft had been on a
[7:05] business trip in Oregon in the summer of 1980, around the time
[7:09] O'Fallon and the Woodburn victim were slain.
[7:13] His notorious scorecard included an entry labeled Portland Denver
[7:18] corresponding to O'Fallon since he was a Denver youth ended near
[7:22] Portland, OR. Another entry read Portland Elk
[7:27] and the authorities suspected it referred to the then still
[7:30] unidentified Woodburn Doe. The case remained dormant until
[7:37] modern forensic science provided a new opportunity.
[7:41] In 2024, an investigator from Orange County reached out to the
[7:45] Oregon State Police Cold Case Unit and offered assistance in
[7:49] identifying the long lost victim using forensic genealogy.
[7:53] Oregon authorities agreed and a preserved blood sample from the
[7:57] John Doe was sent to a specialized lab where analysts
[8:01] developed ADNA profile. The profile led to potential
[8:05] relatives and ultimately investigators located family
[8:09] members of a missing man from 1979.
[8:13] In April 2025, nearly 45 years after the slaying, the unknown
[8:19] victim was finally identified as Larry Parks.
[8:23] With the victim's identity now known, cold case detectives
[8:27] turned their full attention to solving the case itself.
[8:31] The focus immediately returned to Randy Kraft, who had long
[8:34] been the prime suspect, and investigators stated that Kraft
[8:38] remained the sole known person of interest in the case.
[8:44] Following the identification, Oregon detectives began re
[8:47] examining the evidence from 1980 in hopes of definitively linking
[8:52] Randy Kraft to the crime. Like many of Kraft's victims,
[8:56] Parks was a man travelling alone who likely accepted a ride or
[9:01] otherwise encountered the perp on the road.
[9:04] Toxicology findings from 1980 indicated that Parks had a high
[9:09] level of a sedative in his system and had been strangled,
[9:13] both of which are hallmarks of Kraft's crimes.
[9:17] The removal of the belt and shoelaces from the body is also
[9:20] consistent with how Kraft would take personal items as trophies
[9:24] to accompany his journal. Randy Kraft, for his part, has
[9:29] always denied responsibility for any of the acts attributed to
[9:33] him, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
[9:40] Now in his 80s, Kraft remains incarcerated in San Quentin and
[9:44] California, having been awaiting his appointment with the chair
[9:47] for well over 30 years. It's unclear whether Oregon
[9:50] authorities will ever pursue an indictment against Kraft for
[9:54] Larry's slaying. Even if a new prosecution never
[9:57] occurs, officials believe the mystery of who ended Larry Parks
[10:01] has essentially been solved in principle.
[10:06] Hey everyone, it's Jimmy here. Just reminding you to hit that
[10:09] like button. Subscribe and also turn on all
[10:13] notifications. Also, don't forget to check out
[10:16] my Patreon and the YouTube membership you can support for
[10:19] as little as a buck a month. Judy Smith was a 50 year old
[10:26] nurse from Newton, MA and a mother of two adult children.
[10:32] In April 1997, she accompanied her husband, Jeffrey Smith, on a
[10:37] trip to Philadelphia for a conference.
[10:40] They treated it as a short working vacation, hoping to
[10:43] enjoy some sightseeing together during their stay.
[10:47] What began as a routine visit turned into a haunting mystery
[10:51] when Judy went missing during a day of sightseeing.
[10:55] Five months later, her remains were discovered over 600 miles
[10:58] away in the mountains of North Carolina, a turn of events that
[11:03] left both her family and investigators stunned.
[11:09] On April 9th, 1997, Judy and Jeff flew separately from Boston
[11:14] to Philadelphia. Because Judy initially forgot
[11:17] her photo ID and had to catch a later flight, she arrived that
[11:21] evening without issue. The next morning, April 10th,
[11:26] Jeff attended his conference sessions while Judy set off
[11:29] around 9:00 AM with her trademark red backpack in tow to
[11:33] explore the city's historic sites.
[11:37] Also, keep this red backpack in mind because we're going to be
[11:41] coming back to it later. They plan to meet back at their
[11:46] Center City Hotel by late afternoon, but Judy never
[11:49] returned as expected. When Jeff realized his wife was
[11:53] missing, he searched the hotel and nearby tourist areas.
[11:58] He even hired a taxi to follow a tourist bus route Judy might
[12:01] have taken, but found no sign of her.
[12:05] Finally, he contacted the Philadelphia police by around
[12:08] midnight to report her disappearance.
[12:12] Authorities were initially skeptical about a missing adult
[12:15] who had been out sightseeing, but Jeff insisted something was
[12:19] wrong and an investigation was soon underway.
[12:23] In the ensuing days, police and family members launched A
[12:27] thorough search of Philadelphia. Jeff circulated thousands of
[12:31] missing person Flyers and hired private investigators to assist.
[12:36] A few people claim to have seen a woman resembling Judy in
[12:39] Philadelphia or neighboring New Jersey after April 10th, but
[12:44] none of those sightings could be verified.
[12:47] Investigators considered the possibility that Judy had simply
[12:51] wandered off, or even that her disappearance might not have
[12:54] happened in Philadelphia at all. Jeff himself fell under some
[12:58] suspicion early on, a standard procedure in cases where a
[13:02] spouse goes missing, but there was no evidence implicating him.
[13:07] In fact, given Jeff's documented presence at the conference and
[13:10] his heart health issues that would have made body disposal
[13:13] extremely difficult, police later ruled him out as a
[13:16] suspect. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
[13:20] He wasn't ruled out as a suspect just yet.
[13:23] And at this time, they hadn't even found her body.
[13:28] Everything changed on September 7th, 1997.
[13:32] On that day, a father and son hiking in Pisgah National Forest
[13:36] near Asheville, NC, stumbled upon human remains in a remote
[13:41] wooded area. Bones and clothing were
[13:44] scattered around a shallow grave, suggesting someone had
[13:47] tried to bury the body in haste. Local forest critters had ended
[13:51] up digging up this body, and they had strewn all these items
[13:54] surrounding this makeshift grave.
[13:57] Investigators determined the victim was a female in her late
[14:00] 40s to early 50s, and they noted that one knee showed severe
[14:04] arthritis. This was a distinguishing trait
[14:07] that matched Judy Smith. Having seen Judy's missing
[14:11] person Flyers in the Asheville area.
[14:14] Authorities requested her dental records and soon they confirmed
[14:18] the remains were indeed Judy's. It was apparent that Judy had
[14:22] met a violent end. Her clothing and bones bore
[14:26] slash marks, leading authorities to conclude this is what ended
[14:30] her. The location and condition of
[14:32] the body deepened the mystery. Judy's body was found roughly
[14:36] 600 miles from where she disappeared in rugged terrain.
[14:41] But here's where things get really weird.
[14:45] She wasn't wearing the outfit she had worn in Philadelphia.
[14:48] Intriguingly, the clothes on her body were suitable for hiking in
[14:52] the North Carolina mountains. This indicated that Judy had
[14:56] spent some time in the Asheville area before she was slain at the
[15:01] crime scene. Investigators recovered Judy's
[15:03] diamond wedding ring and about 200 bucks in cash, indicating
[15:08] that robbery was likely not a motive.
[15:11] However, two peculiar items were also found that didn't belong to
[15:15] Judy, a blue and black backpack and a pair of bolet sunglasses
[15:21] presumed to have been left by the perp.
[15:23] Conspicuously missing were Judy's own red backpack and the
[15:27] clothing she had worn on April 10th, which have never been
[15:31] recovered. All evidence suggested that Judy
[15:34] had somehow traveled to North Carolina of her own accord and
[15:38] crossed paths with someone who eventually ended her.
[15:44] The investigation now spanned multiple states, and detectives
[15:48] in North Carolina teamed up with Philadelphia police and the FBI
[15:52] to retrace Judy's last known movements.
[15:55] The central question was how and why Judy ended up in Asheville.
[16:02] There were no records of Judy taking any flight or train
[16:04] South, and if she travelled by bus or car, she left no paper
[16:08] trail. Despite Jeff's insistence that
[16:12] Judy wouldn't have left him voluntarily, evidence now
[16:15] pointed to her being alive in North Carolina shortly after her
[16:19] disappearance. Indeed, several eyewitnesses
[16:22] came forward to report seeing a woman matching Judy's
[16:25] description in the Asheville area in mid-april 1997.
[16:30] One Asheville shop clerk later recalled chatting with a Judy
[16:33] from Boston who mentioned that her husband was at a convention
[16:37] in Pennsylvania. This woman said that she had
[16:41] decided to come down to North Carolina on a trip of her own.
[16:45] Another witness? A hotel desk clerk remember to
[16:49] guest resembling Judy, who stayed alone around the same
[16:51] time. According to these witnesses,
[16:55] Judy spent a day or two in Asheville as a tourist, browsing
[16:59] shops and staying at a local hotel, and appeared healthy and
[17:02] in good spirits. These accounts suggest that she
[17:06] traveled S willingly and was in no distress when seen in
[17:10] Asheville. However, other reports indicate
[17:15] that a woman believed to be Judy appeared to be in mental
[17:18] distress and had engaged in inappropriate behavior around
[17:21] town. That said, most of these
[17:25] sightings were later attributed to a homeless woman who bore A
[17:28] striking resemblance to Judy. Given the bizarre and mysterious
[17:35] circumstances, this case has been a hotbed of speculation,
[17:40] both in terms of what happened to Judy and who ended her.
[17:44] It's possible that once in Philadelphia, Judy decided on a
[17:48] spur of the moment journey to explore a place that interested
[17:52] her without telling anyone. If so, that spontaneous decision
[17:57] tragically put her in harm's way.
[18:00] Investigators believe that Judy was likely slain at or near the
[18:04] spot where her remains were found, likely by a person she
[18:08] encountered during her travels in North Carolina.
[18:12] The presence of the unknown backpack and sunglasses at the
[18:15] scene strongly implies that a second individual had stalked
[18:19] her in the woods. This unknown person has never
[18:22] been identified, but detectives theorize that he might not have
[18:26] been a local resident and that he could have been passing
[18:29] through the area on the prowl. One theory floated in Judy
[18:35] Smith's case is dissociative fugue, a rare psychological
[18:40] condition in which a person loses awareness of their
[18:43] identity and may unexpectedly travel far from home.
[18:48] In this state, individuals often adopt new identities and
[18:52] generally appear coherent to others and show no signs of
[18:55] distress. Some investigators and observers
[18:59] speculated that Judy may have experienced A fugue episode
[19:02] triggered by stress or emotional strain, possibly related to
[19:07] marital issues. Notably, one of her friends
[19:10] suggested she may have taken the Unexpected Journey to clear her
[19:13] mind and get away from her husband for a bit.
[19:17] There are a number of factors which support this finding, at
[19:21] least on a circumstantial basis. She made an uncharacteristic
[19:25] decision to travel alone to North Carolina.
[19:28] Further, her calm demeanour when seen in Asheville and the lack
[19:32] of evidence suggesting immediate foul play in Philadelphia are
[19:36] consistent with this possibility.
[19:39] However, dissociative fugue is extremely rare, and without
[19:43] direct psychiatric evidence, this theory remains speculative.
[19:48] Unfortunately, given that she was deceased when she was found,
[19:53] that direct evidence can never be obtained.
[19:56] Still, it offers one potential explanation for how Judy could
[20:01] suddenly disappear and travel 600 miles without informing
[20:05] anyone. Over the years, various theories
[20:11] about the perp's identity have been proposed.
[20:14] One theory suggests that Judy fell victim to a random
[20:17] predator, perhaps someone posing as a Good Samaritan or a fellow
[20:21] hiker. Who gained her trust?
[20:24] Another theory emerged linking her case to a known serial
[20:28] predator, Gary Michael Hilton. Hilton was convicted in the late
[20:34] 2000s of slaying hikers and forests in Georgia, North
[20:37] Carolina, and Florida. Notably, one of his crime scenes
[20:41] was in the same National Forest where Judy was found.
[20:45] This LED some to suspect that Hilton might have crossed paths
[20:48] with Judy. In 1997, authorities did examine
[20:53] Hilton's possible involvement. One of his later victims was
[20:57] found not far from where Judy was discovered, but they found
[21:01] no evidence linking him to her case.
[21:04] Notably, Hilton's confirmed spree ran from October 2007 to
[21:09] January 2810, years after Judy Smith's case.
[21:14] However, he's suspected in a number of other crimes spanning
[21:18] about a decade prior to these confirmed acts.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.