* Images of the burned car owned by Katherine Smith * alternate title: How Arabs Kill Witnesses

Yahoo-AP ^ | 02.15.02 | AP

[Registered]

The burned car of Katherine Smith sits in a garage at the FBI office Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002, in Memphis, Tenn. Smith, 49, a Tennessee state employee, charged in a scheme with five Middle Eastern men to sell fraudulent Tennessee driver's licenses, died Sunday in a fiery car crash the day before her first court appearance. Her badly burned body was discovered Sunday in a rural Tennessee County. FBI agent J. Suzanne Nash testified Wednesday that witnesses told investigators they "noticed flames from the back seat" before Smith's car struck a pole. The agent added that the gas tank was intact. (AP Photo/Greg Campbell)

Special Agent George Bolds IV, media coordinator for the FBI Memphis Office, inspects the trunk of a burned-out Acura, owned by Katherine Smith, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002, in Memphis. Smith, a driver's license examiner, was scheduled to appear in federal court Monday on charges that she sold driver's licenses to five Middle Eastern men, primarily from New York, who did not have proper documentation. Her badly burned body was found in the car Sunday, after it struck a utility pole. (AP Photo/Greg Campbell)

FBI special agent George Bolds IV, a media coordinator with the FBI's Memphis office, looks at a burned-out vehicle that belonged to Katherine Smith, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002, at the FBI office in Memphis, Tenn. Smith, 49, a Tennessee state employee, charged in a scheme with five Middle Eastern men to sell fraudulent Tennessee driver's licenses, died Sunday in a fiery car crash the day before her first court appearance. Her badly burned body was discovered Sunday in a rural Tennessee County. FBI agent J. Suzanne Nash testified Wednesday that witnesses told investigators they "noticed flames from the back seat" before Smith's car struck a pole. The agent added that the gas tank was intact. (AP Photo/Greg Campbell)

[mommadooo3]

LOL!!!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Used Acuras go for less than $20,000.

Or two Tennessee driver's licenses.

[fury86]

The victim was in the process of buying the Acura from one of the codefendants; the car is still shown in his name. He operated a gas station in Memphis for a couple of years prior to this. The victim admitted at the time of her arrest that she had already helped this guy obtain six or seven licenses.

[ValerieUSA]

She was the only one of the all the people charged in this case to be free from jail. Why? Why wasn't she in jail, too? Because it's easier to kill her elsewhere? Whoever decided to let her free has some 'splaining to do.

[Registered]

Where did I say I found her death to be funny? Get a clue.

[Redcloak]

When you cross really bad people, really bad things happen to you.

I wonder if TN's DMV can search their records and sort by which employee processed the paperwork. It would be interesting to go through her past workload. How many really bad people would turn up in such a query?

Now had this happened in Arkansas, it would have been ruled a suicide.

[#1CTYankee]

"A driver's license examiner was driving an Acura? That should have clued someone in on something.

That's not a Acura, it's a Pinto with Acura hubcaps.

[Registered]

BTW, if you are making that comment because I posted the hehehe, I made that comment because of the absolutely unbelievably rediculous "mysterious" death of a biologist in Tenn. a month or two ago.

[oyez]

You know what they say in Memphis, "Nothing to see here, move along. Elvis had a little ole heart attack. Show's over. Everybody go home."

[Redcloak]

I don't think that witness protection stages deaths. I knew someone who was likely put into the program. She was a key witness in a Federal case. One day she and her kids simply vanished without a trace. It was as though they had become unpersons.

[fury86]

The Arabs are being held without bail. Ms. Smith was released on her own recognizance, I suppose because she was a native Memphian and a Government employee who posed no flight risk.

[Travis McGee]

Bad way to go.

They need to take these five terrorists and "let them escape". Then take them to a former military base where they can talk to Israeli Philippino and Turkish "specialists" for a few weeks.

When they are 100% wrung out of every factoid, put them through a wood chipper feet first.

[Publius6961]

Wonder what they would call a ME mafia???

Good Muslims?

[PatrioticAmerican]

hehe

[WillaJohns]

Now had this happened in Arkansas, it would have been ruled a suicide.

I agree. And if this had happened during Clinton's tenure, it would have been a blip on the radar screen (gotta keep the masses fat, dumb and happy, ya know). As much as I sometimes feel the jury is out on Bush (especially when I hear him say he will sign an unconstitutional bill into law if it reaches his desk), when I see this story being publicized, I realize we are far better off now, especially in the truth department, with his administration.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Gee, center fuel tank must have exploded on its own.

[arm958]

Nothing to see here, move along

Honestly, nothing against you, but if I see that trite, cynical phrase one more time on Free Republic I'm gonna puke.

[arm958]

maybe members of any one of a number of intelligence agencies that might be enabling terrorists

Please expand on this. What intelligence agencies are enabling terrorists?

[Caipirabob]

Special Agent Bolds looks like he eats Radical Muslim Fundamentalist Terrorists with his Cheerios.