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Eight years before the 22-year-old woman went missing, Cindy Rowles, a Kingston teenager, was seen in a car circling around the parking lot of a restaurant at state Route 28 and Maverick Road in West Hurley. That was the last time anyone saw Rowles.
Both cases have troubled law enforcement authorities, particularly detectives working with the Kingston Police Department and the Ulster County Sheriff's Office.
They continue to frustrate police and family members today as they grapple with the fact that a city man - someone police say has suffered from mental illness in the past - has told detectives he had something to do with the disappearances.
"This is a case that I would love to see solved before I retire," Capt. Harry VanVliet of the Ulster County Sheriff's Office said of the Smith-Williams case. It has remained active since she disappeared on July 25, 2003.
Kingston police, particularly Detective Lt. Timothy Matthews and Detective Dennis Day, are also hopeful that some kind of conclusion can be reached in the Rowles case, but they are not sure it will be a happy one.
Rowles, who had lived on Downs Street in Midtown, was reported missing on Aug. 16, 1986. Matthews said there has been no activity with her social security number or credit cards of any kind since then, no confirmed sightings, and she has not contacted family members, something he says is extremely unusual.
"It is unusual for to have someone just drop off the face of the earth for that many years, especially a 17-year-old girl," Matthews said.
For Carol Smith, who lives in Connelly, the latest development in the case has opened up painful memories, confusion, and sadness. Smith is the mother of Smith-Williams, who herself is a mother of three.
"I am still holding out hope they will find her," said Smith, choking back tears. "I hope that the truth will come out."
Smith has said she believes her daughter was a victim of foul play. She, like police, is uncertain whether the man who says he had something to do with her disappearance actually killed her. But, Smith said, she does believe he has information.
"I have a feeling he knows something abut I can't say he is the person (who might have killed her," Smith said.
At the time of her disappearance, Smith-Williams was described as a white female, 5-foot-3, 145 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a light-colored summer shirt and blue denim shorts and carrying a two-handled beige tote bag.
She had a tattoo of a heart on her upper right arm that said "John" and two scars on her stomach as well as a tattoo of a heart that looked like two circles above her right knee.
Rowles was described as white, 5-foot-5, weighing 130 pounds, sandy hair with hazel eyes. She also had a tattoo on her left arm. She wore glasses at times.
Matthews as well as VanVliet are not naming the man who is custody. Matthews said that he is being held on a criminal sexual act charge stemming from an incident in 2003.
While the lieutenant would not be more specific about what the man told city detectives when he walked into the Kingston Police Department on the morning of Sept. 10 he said that law enforcement authorities want to "hold him in jail for as long as we can."
Matthews does point out, however the information they are getting from him is nothing to brush off.
"I find him to be credible," said Matthews, who added some of the information he is giving is "specific."
Curiously, Matthews said the man's name has come up in the past in both the Smith-Williams and the Rowles case. For one, descriptions of the man match those of the driver seen in the car with Rowles in the parking lot of the Route 28 restaurant, Matthews said.
Additionally, he was questioned in connection with the disappearance of Smith-Williams by members of the Ulster County Sheriff's office in 1994 at the time she was reported missing, said Smith, her mother.
Matthews also said the man, who police have said is from Kingston and is in his 50s, pointed out spots where they might find evidence of the two people's disappearance. Police are continuing to search those areas; a 50- to 70-acre tract of land in Eddyville, and more vast acreage at the Ulster-Greene county line.
Matthews said a variety of agencies are participating in the search for clues, including state police. But Matthews and VanVliet said nothing has been found yet.
Police are asking anyone with information to call them. VanVliet said people can call the Ulster County Sheriff's Office at (845) 338-3640.
In Kingston, a tip line has been set up. The number is 331-4499. People can also call the Kingston Police Department's Detective Division at 331-8404.
