Missing at Closing Time: The Arthur Smith Case

About this episode

The episode explores the 1979 disappearance and murder of Arthur Smith in rural Ohio, detailing the investigation and trial that followed.

Host Christy takes listeners back to rural Logan County, Ohio, to examine the 1979 disappearance and murder of Arthur Smith. The episode reconstructs the night he walked out of Rink's department store, the ten-day search that followed, and the moment a local farmer discovered Smith's bound body in an open soybean field. We follow the timeline in detail: Arthur’s routine closing that Friday night, a brief 9:30 p.m. phone call home, a red Volkswagen parked outside the store, and the missing night deposit and bonus checks. Listeners will hear precise scene details — wrists and ankles bound with wire, shoes removed and placed near the head, little blood at the field, the missing pistol, and the unanswered question of whether the killing occurred where the body was found. The episode outlines the investigation and the slow path to an arrest: three years with no suspect, then the 1982 prosecution that centered on one man — identified in records as George Skates (appearing in some files as George Gates) — and a case built almost entirely on witness testimony rather than physical evidence. Key court moments are described, including the prosecution’s reliance on the jailhouse testimony of…

People in this episode

Host: Christy

Topics covered

• true crime
• murder investigation
• disappearance
• court trial
• witness testimony
• rural crime
• Ohio history

Keywords

• Arthur Smith
• disappearance
• murder
• investigation
• George Skates
• witness testimony
• Logan County
• Ohio
• court trial
• true crime

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Rink's department store, 1982 prosecution

Places: Logan County, Ohio

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