Prosecutors Claim Suspect Bound, Stabbed Kathleen Smith of Burlington

Burlington, VT- Police believe a drifter bound and killed a Burlington woman in her home last month because she sided with a friend, the mother of his child, in a years-old custody dispute.

Jose Pazos held a grudge against Kathleen Smith for the stance she took in the feud, according to statements to police from a woman who knew Pazos and a friend of Smith’s, lead investigator Detective Paul Petralia wrote in court papers made public at Pazos’ arraignment Tuesday.

Smith, 50, bled to death late Oct. 14 or early Oct. 15 from apparent knife wounds to her neck after being tied up in her home, according to court papers. Authorities said they have significant evidence linking Pazos to the killing:

• Investigators found Smith’s blood on a knife taken from Pazos, 45, at the time of his arrest.

• The type of utility rope used to bind Smith matched rope found at the Burlington encampment where Pazos lived.

• The tread on Pazos’ hiking shoes matched bloody footprints left in Smith’s house, at 154 Park St.

• A search of Pazos’ computer showed he had researched the same “prusik” knot that was used to bind Smith a week before the killing, and searched for news reports about her death — before her body had been found, Oct. 18.

Pazos pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington to first-degree murder, kidnapping (restraining) with the intent to inflict injury, burglarizing an occupied dwelling and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent. Judge Linda Levitt ordered Pazos held without bail. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

He made no comments in court Tuesday, but authorities said he told investigators he had nothing to do with the slaying of Smith, a popular social worker and artist.

“No, I have no reason, no motive,” Pazos said, according to court papers.

Margaret Jansch, one of Pazos’ two court-appointed attorneys, said after the arraignment that the defense had little time to review the court paperwork before the hearing.

“I must say the motive seems rather thin,” Jansch told reporters at the courthouse. “A grudge that’s three years old, but, again, this is something that we’ll find more about as the case progresses.”

Jansch urged the public to avoid judging Pazos prematurely.

“You heard one side of the story today with the facts the police have uncovered so far,” she said. “But that’s only one side of the story. I’m sure as the case progresses, both sides of the case will become clear.”

She declined to discuss any private conversations with Pazos but said, “He seems in good spirits. He appears to me to be an articulate man, an educated man and calm, given the circumstances.”

The mother of Pazos’ second child, Sharon Fialco, who lives in northern Vermont, said they met about 15 years ago, had a child, and then had a dispute regarding the custody of that child, according to court papers. Fialco said she “was not aware of Pazos having any animosity towards Smith,” according to court papers.

Fialco couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

Smith, 50, a popular social worker and artist, was found dead Oct. 18 in her Old North End home by a co-worker when she failed to appear for her job, Burlington police have said.

Pazos had been jailed at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington for lack of $1 million bail on four misdemeanor charges related to the break-in at the Middlebury Snow Bowl. Burlington police discovered Pazos in a shed Oct. 23 at the Snow Bowl, about six miles from a wooded area of Hancock where Smith’s car was found abandoned.

Pazos faces two counts of unlawful trespass, and one charge each of unlawful mischief and petty larceny. Those charges are pending in Addison County.

Police say Pazos killed Smith, stole her car and drove it more than 60 miles to Hancock. He ditched the car off a dirt road in the Green Mountain National Forest after the vehicle struck a rock ledge, traveled about six miles and broke into the Middlebury College Snow Bowl, police said.

Police arrested Pazos a week later at the Snow Bowl while searching the area of the break-in.

Smith, who worked an overnight shift for the Howard Center, missed a mandatory training session Oct. 15 and her shift Oct. 17. She was last reported seen alive walking her dog at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 14. A co-worker went to Smith’s house Oct. 18 and found her dead.

Dressed in her nightgown, Smith lay face-down in a pool of dried blood on her kitchen floor, her hands tied behind her back and her fingers duct-taped together, according to court papers. A wire with a wooden handle lay on her back, and another wooden handle, apparently broken from the wire, lay next to her body, court papers said. She had a scarf wrapped around her neck and tied to her hands.

A window pane above the lock on the back door had been removed, court papers said.

Investigators have yet to determine how long Smith had been bound or whether she had been tortured, Chittenden County State’s Attorney T. J. Donovan said after Tuesday’s arraignment.

Burlington police searching the Snow Bowl found Pazos on Oct. 23 asleep in a storage shed.

Officers said they found him with a hunting knife, a hatchet and a replica handgun. In his backpack they said they found items including a laptop and a HowardCenter first-aid kit. Pazos wore a plastic cover over his clothes, held together with distinctive duct tape similar to the kind used to bind Smith, police said.

Pazos admitted to breaking into the Snow Bowl to seek shelter from a storm, court papers said.

Pazos said he hitchhiked to Middlebury and had been in the area for about three weeks, although a surveillance camera recorded Pazos on Oct. 13 entering the Cumberland Farms store on Riverside Avenue in Burlington, according to court papers.

Pazos lived in an encampment in the woods behind the store, police said. At the encampment, police said they found rope, a stun gun and a Burlington police incident report naming Pazos as the complainant.

Pazos told police he knew Smith, met her once at the Fletcher Free Library, communicated with her on Facebook and had been to her house “once or twice,” according to court papers.

Pazos accessed the Internet on his laptop via unsecured wireless networks, police said. He accessed a network in Burlington a day or two before Smith was killed, and accessed a network in Middlebury on Oct. 15, according to court papers.

That same day, three days before a co-worker found Smith’s body, Pazos searched Google for “Police blotter,” “Burlington Vermont crime rates” and “Smith,” according to court papers.

Two days later, he searched the Burlington Free Press obituaries and cops and court section, along with Google, for “Kathleen Smith, Vermont” and “Kathleen Smith, Howard Center, Vermont,” court papers said.

Authorities believe Pazos last communicated with Smith on Facebook over the summer, and said they are unsure what triggered the alleged slaying in October.

Pazos is scheduled to appear again in court in about two months.