EVERETT, Wash. — A judge plans to issue a verdict next week in the case of a man accused of killing his wife.
Prosecutors say Alan Smith wanted his estranged wife, Susann Smith, dead because he was being forced to pay child support and because he feared that she was planning to return to her native Germany children.
Smith, a Boeing engineer, is accused of repeatedly stabbing and beating Susann Smith, 37, in February 2013. Authorities say he dragged her into their Bothell bathroom and submerged her face down in a bathtub, where she drowned.
"The defendant had the motive, he had the means and he had the opportunity," Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Craig Matheson said in court.
Alan Smith, he said, wanted his estranged wife dead because he was being forced to pay child support. Moreover, he feared she would return to her native Germany with their children. Her fate, he said, was sealed in February 2013.
"(It's) no accident that quickly on his return from Ireland, she's lying dead in a bathtub in her home," Matheson said.
Smith allegedly confessed to the crime to a man he met in church.
In court, Smith closed his eyes as the prosecutor showed gruesome pictures of the bloody murder scene.
Smith's attorney argued that there is no evidence to prove that Smith was the killer and suggested that whoever killed her is still on the loose.
"If you look at the physical evidence, it says that Alan Smith did not murder the mother of his children," Caroline Mann said. "And I would submit there is some evidence that indicates more than one person was involved in Susann's death
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said she will deliver her verdict next Wednesday afternoon.