KIMBERLY SMITH Part 5 of 5: A Breath of Stale Air

0:00Did you know that parents rank teaching financial literacy as the toughest life skill? That's where Greenlight comes in, the debit card and money app made for families. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance, and track spending with real-time notifications. Kids learn how to earn, save, and spend responsibly. While parents have peace of mind, knowing smart money habits are being built with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight risk-free today at greenlight.com slash Wondery. That's greenlight.com slash Wondery. You may have heard of the sex cult NXIVM and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack.

0:38But she's never told her side of the story, until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Rubamed, and in my new podcast, I talk to Alison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member, and what she thinks of it all now. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma to other people? I mean, I don't even know how to answer that question. Allison after NXIVM from CBC's Uncover is available now wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast on Sunday, September 19th, 2010, more than 250 people crowded inside First Baptist Church of South Daytona to remember Goldie Mae Robinson.

1:17Goldie had lived in South Daytona for over 30 years. She had friends and family who loved her and would describe her as smart and stubborn as they come. And yet, when she met Kimberly Smith, her life took a quick decline.

1:35Detectives had been able to track over$30 ,000 that Kim had taken from Goldie in a matter of months. In December of 2010, Kimberly Smith, who was still in jail in Orange County for a parole violation, was rearrested and charged with 34 counts of fraud and forgery. The charges included fraudulent usage of personal identification of a deceased person and criminal use of a credit card. The homicide investigation was active and ongoing, and for the next year and a half, Fred Roberts waited for answers to the only question he really cared about now. How did Goldie die? Fred was reeling with feelings of sadness, anger, and regret.

2:20This woman has lied to me. I guess it's part of me being a little gullible, naive. I let it go on for so long. Believe in this woman? I blame myself almost. Fred told me that it was difficult to face the reality that his mother was gone. And while there was nothing he could do to change that, he did hope for justice. But really, the thing that he desperately wanted more than anything was to know how his mother died. He said, if you've never been in his shoes, it might not make sense, but it felt like he couldn't find peace without knowing. I had a meeting at a police station. He said, I just want to tell you a few things, you know, how she died.

3:05Well, we really don't know how she died. But there's one thing that I can tell you, that there was no bruising, there was no stab marks, there was no gunshots. her body had not been abused before her death. At that point, that's when I could take a breath of fresh air or stale air. I didn't have to bite air off no more. My mom was gone. I had to accept that. Now we need to find out what was the cause of death. I got to get justice for her. How did she die? What happened? That was my next question. And what kind of answers were you getting to that question? I ain't got no answers to it. None. Zero.

3:58The medical examiner's report for Goldie Robinson lists her cause of death as unknown. And yet, right below that, it says, manner of death, homicide. While neither cause of death could be determined, the deaths of Goldie Robinson and Arthur Sheldon were both ruled as homicides. He did list the manner of death as homicide, but the manner of death serves us no good without a cause of death, or at least until we can get enough evidence to show a cause of death or to support homicide charges.

4:41From Cast Media, this is The Opportunist. This is Season 8, Episode 5, Kimberly Smith, A Breath of Stale Air. I'm Hannah Smith.

5:02There is one final recorded interview with Kim in the police report. It's the only one that I have of detectives speaking to Kim after she was charged. It's long, over three hours. And it's filled with Kim avoiding hard questions and flowering stories with irrelevant details. The detectives seem sort of exhausted, honestly, like they don't believe much of what she says. At one point, one of the detectives must have yawned or something because Kim says, am I boring you? But they continue to interview her because the truth of the matter is they don't have enough to confidently bring murder charges against her.

5:43They need her to talk on the off chance that she might reveal something. And so they ask her yet again, what happened to Goldie Robinson? What happened to Arthur Sheldon? Kim maintains that she and Arthur were in love and were going to get married because Arthur wanted to take care of her financially. But the only reason why we were going to get married was because he wanted to leave everything to me. He's like the journey. Everything to me. The detectives ask, if you were so in love with Arthur, if you were his caretaker, if you were spending every day with him, how is it possible that you know nothing about his death?

6:26How is it possible that you know nothing about when he died or how he died or what happened to his body after he died. I don't know if Kim felt the pressure of being charged with fraud, if she was worried that perhaps the investigators actually had something on her. But instead of saying she doesn't know, this time she gives them an answer. She says that her boyfriend David was jealous of the love she had for Arthur. David did something to Arthur and I don't know exactly what he did He was so mad He was so mad He was so drunk I don't even know He drinks a lot David? Oh He was so mad About what?

7:23Me and Arthur Kimberly tells the detectives that David was growing more and more jealous of her relationship with Arthur. And then one day he found some love notes from Arthur in one of Kim's dresser drawers and he freaked out. She thought they smoothed things over until one day she was out running errands. They called me on the phone and tells me, how long before you're home? I said, oh, about 20 minutes or so. I said, I got to stop and get milk, bread, cigarettes, and I'll be home in Hollywood. He said, all right. I said, is everything okay? He said, no, everything's not okay. I think Arthur's not feeling so well.

8:04I said, what do you mean? I said, let me know. Call the ambulance and tell him to come get me. Kim said a few minutes later, David called her back and said, Arthur was feeling better. Don't worry. So she finished her errands. But by the time she got home, David told her, Arthur had died and an ambulance had already come to collect his body.

8:57Kim tells detectives that at the time she believed David, but in hindsight, she wonders if David did something to Arthur and lied to her about calling an ambulance. She never comes out and says it directly, but she's definitely implying that David must have killed Arthur while she was running errands.

9:29I don't think the detectives believe Kim's story. First of all, they've interviewed her on multiple occasions for months, and she's lied to them too many times to count. Secondly, there are at least four witnesses who have told the detectives that Arthur Sheldon died in a motel room in Orange City in January of 2009, and Kim was left alone with his body. But Kim insists that she wasn't involved. I don't even know anything about what really happened to this person that I freaking love. I don't even know what happened to him. So let me ask you this. I have no clue. What about Galdi?

10:22Kim isn't ready to move on. She states, again, the last person to see Arthur alive was David, not her. She's trying to pin everything on David, and she doesn't seem to mind if her daughter-in-law, Crystal, gets caught in the crossfire. And then they move on to talk about the minivan. The minivan is important. Detectives had discovered through looking at bank records that in May of 2010, Goldie bought two vehicles from a Mitsubishi dealership. She walked into that dealership with Kim, who she introduced as her daughter to the salesperson. That day, Goldie purchased a gold Hyundai sedan and a green Ford minivan for a total of over$32 ,000.

11:07Both vehicles were frequently used by Kim and her family, but then were towed and taken into custody as evidence after Goldie disappeared. And when the minivan was searched, investigators discovered a roll of gray duct tape. They didn't think too much of it at the time, until Goldie's body was found. Her remains were wrapped up and secured with gray duct tape. But Kim didn't know any of that. And the detectives asked her, who usually drove the minivan? Kim said she did. And the minivan was essentially being used by you. I know most of the ATM transaction, we could see you're driving that car. Most of the time, yeah.

11:53And then they tell her that there is evidence that ties the minivan to Goldie's gravesite. And immediately, Kim changes her story about the minivan. There was evidence found in the car that was also found in the grave where Goldie was. In the car? What car? In the minivan.

12:21So, a prudent person would come to the conclusion that whoever had access to the minivan had something to do with carrying the body. Well, let's just say this. I'm not the only one that drove the minivan. Kim says, actually, David always wanted to drive whatever car she was driving. So David drove the minivan. She also said sometimes Crystal or Adam would borrow the minivan without asking. The bottom line is this, okay? And I don't think we're at the truth yet. The bottom line is this. Well, maybe we are, maybe we're not. But we're not there yet. The bottom line is this. We can prove that their credit cards were being used after death and before death, okay?

13:10Okay, and the group of you were involved. Okay? These two bodies got there by someone, if not all, connected with the group of people, including yourself. Okay. That's what you're telling me, but I had nothing to do with either one of the bodies. Well, I wish I could believe you. I told you the 100 % truth about Arthur. There is no doubt in my mind. I'm not questioning your truthfulness with regard to your relationship with Arthur. I haven't. I do not. I'm not prepared to challenge you on that, nor would I. I think you did have feelings for him. Oh, boy. Okay. I did a lot. But that still doesn't explain how he got where he got there.

13:59I don't know how he got there. Kim continued to insist that she had no idea how Goldie or Arthur ended up buried next to her trailer. She had indicated that David did something to Arthur, but she wasn't sure what. And then, finally, she talks about Goldie and what happened to her.

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14:53This is Kimberly Smith's account to detectives about what happened to Goldie Robinson. Kim says she originally met Goldie when she was outside gardening. They both loved flowers. And then she says Goldie just became like part of their family, spending holidays with them and becoming like a grandma to Crystal and Adam's two young children. And then once Elaine moved out, Goldie wanted Adam and Crystal and their kids to move in with her. Kim makes it sound like Goldie almost adopted them as her family. She bought Adam a suit for a job interview and baked everyone fudge. She said then Goldie decided she wanted to do some repairs and renovation on her trailer and she wanted Kim to help her do that.

15:40So Kim found a couple of guys to do the work, Ricky Long and Bob Kirkey. Then Goldie decided that's what she wanted to do, all the work. Well, there was a lot of stuff.

15:56And she said everything was going well until late July 2010, when Goldie got heat stroke.

16:17Kim says that Goldie didn't want to go to the doctor. But Kim called the doctor and was told to give her fluids and let her rest. This was right around the time that Goldie's niece, Donna, paid her a surprise visit. If you remember, Donna said that she found Goldie in a deep sleep and she could not rouse her. Kim originally stated to detectives that Goldie was so out of it when Donna visited because she had taken some meds to help her sleep. But in this interview, she stated Goldie was out of it because of the heat stroke.

17:13The story goes on for about 10 minutes. Kim says Goldie was sick and then got better. The point of the story seems to be that Goldie decided to sleep on the couch after this so that people could watch her and she could be around everyone. And then Kim starts talking about how her son Adam and his wife Crystal are addicted to pain pills, which the detectives already knew. They would go in there and get their scripts for the RoxyCottons or whatever. I don't know if they brought the coat on or RoxyCotton. I'm not 100 % positive. She goes on and on.

17:57until the detective interrupts her.

18:13And finally, Kim gets to the point, which is that the day before she was arrested for her parole violation, which was August 10th, her son Adam and daughter-in-law Crystal woke her up at one in the morning to tell her that Goldie was gone. Gone and dead or gone and disappeared? Disappeared, gone. Okay. I said, when did you see her last? Adam told me. He went to the shower. Crystal was out there. Goldie was asleep. crystal doing Xanax, which is where the Xanax thing comes from. I should note here that although Goldie's cause of death could not be determined, there was Xanax found in her system, which Kim knew.

18:57Goldie did not have a history of taking Xanax, nor did she have a prescription for it. She said she took her Xanax bill, broke it, set it on the coffee table. Adam calls her for underwear and clothes. They're in the dryer. She gets up, she goes to the dryer, she comes back. She told me that she does not know if Goldie took her pills by the state because she takes a half a tablet for her thyroid and they look almost as close, she said. Kim stated that when Crystal got up from the sofa to bring Adam, who was in the shower, clean clothes, Goldie mistakenly took Crystal's Xanax and then wandered out of the house and away into the night.

19:48Kim said no one called the police because they were worried about Adam and Crystal being arrested for having Xanax illegally. So if Goldie really wandered off, why did Kim tell everyone, including the detectives, that Goldie had gotten married and was on her honeymoon? And why did Crystal and Adam and David all repeat the same story? Well, Kim doesn't really have an answer for that. But honestly, I don't even know that it matters at this point because the detectives know this entire account is fabricated. They have been able to determine that Goldie died on or around July 9th, which is an entire month before Kim Kim claims she wandered off in the middle of the night.

20:38Goldie Robinson was dead long before August 8th or August 9th. And the two things are sure. One, she was buried in the yard next to your house. That's a fact. And number two, you're using her credit cards after her death. That's a fact. Kim also mentions Ricky Long, the man who did some day laboring on Goldie's trailer. He helped install new windows. Kim said that Ricky and his wife spent a lot of time with Goldie leading up to her disappearance. Crystal mentioned them as well, along with Bob Kirky, the other guy who did work on Goldie's trailer. When detectives asked Crystal who she thought could have helped Kim move the bodies, Crystal said, maybe Ricky or Bob Kirky, since they were working around Goldie's trailer a lot.

21:29Adam said the same thing, as did David Enos. But detectives interviewed Ricky, his wife, and Bob Kirkey, but didn't find a reason to suspect them. It seems much more likely that Kim, David, Adam, and Crystal were trying to save themselves by implying it could have been Ricky or Bob. Because here's the thing. The scheme that Kim had going, that David and Adam and Crystal all helped her with, was even bigger than Goldie and Arthur. Russell's direct express card is used. Russell didn't use his card that day. You did. Russell's card is used because I've got video of you at Port Orange. Russell never.

22:18Listen to me. Listen to me. Jessica's card is used as well as Goldie's American Express card is used for a cash advance of$400. If you recall in episode one, I mentioned that when detectives searched Kim and David's trailer, they found two elderly people living there. One of them was a man named Russell Ryback, the man Kim claimed was married to Goldie Robinson, which, of course, he wasn't. The other person was a woman named Jessica Moses Malik. And during the investigation, detectives discovered that Kim had taken control of both Russell's and Jessica's finances. She had opened two credit cards in Jessica's name and was actively using them.

23:02She received and controlled both of their monthly Social Security benefits. When detectives interviewed Jessica, she told them that Kim regularly administered her medication and she suspected that Kim was drugging her because she always felt unusually groggy and tired after taking pills that Kim gave her. Law enforcement removed Russell and Jessica from Kim's trailer, and they were relocated by the Department of Children and Families. These people were being drugged, so they would be compliant and just go along with whatever scheme you have working for them. Whatever. You're saying something that's not even true now.

23:47Just as Jessica relayed to the investigators, there are multiple people who recounted seeing both Arthur and Goldie in sluggish, sedated states. Cody Cantu said this about Arthur in that motel in Orange City. Goldie's niece Donna said this about Goldie when she popped by for a surprise visit on what may have been one of the last days of Goldie's life. We know Kim had access to painkillers and other drugs because she was supplying them to Adam and Crystal. So perhaps she was meeting elderly people, gaining their trust, and then sedating them with drugs as she took control of their finances. I don't know if she planned on Arthur dying or if he died of natural causes since he was ill, but Goldie wasn't.

24:39She was healthy and alert until Kim Smith came into her life. And I have to wonder if Kim had her next victims lined up, Russell and Jessica. I mean, it's a good theory. And yet there is very little concrete evidence to prove anything beyond the financial fraud. We have a job to do. And the job is to get to the truth. And we're not there yet. I told you. You've told us a lot of things, Kimberly. And some of it may or may not be true. But you know what? We're not at the full truth. But the fact of the matter is, it's not over. And it's not going to be over until we get the truth. Okay? And right now, it's not just an exploitation and a major fraud case.

25:25It's a homicide case. After three-plus hours of interviewing Kimberly, the detectives walked away with hardly any new leads or information.

25:53While the homicide investigation continued, Kim Smith was arraigned and booked for the 34 charges of fraud and forgery. Nicole Luca was there. And I remember thinking that she looked very tired and just almost like worn out. It's hard to keep up with all those lies. There was so many lies that she had to keep up with. You know, one little lie builds onto another lie that builds. And then how do you remember years of lying to investigators? And so I just thought it's all coming. It's all going to come to a head here. And she must feel some sense of relief. She doesn't have to keep up with her lying anymore, you know?

26:33But obviously she wasn't speaking to police about the deaths. So she's still probably going to die with secrets, I'm sure.