Durban - “You think you know someone and then you realise you did not know them at all... scary.”
That was Wayne van Straaten speaking about his long-time friend, Brian Steven Smith, 48, from Queenstown, Eastern Cape, who has been arrested in Anchorage in Alaska, US, for the murder of two women.
Van Straaten described Smith this week as “quiet, but always with a smile on his face”.
Brian Smith appeared in an Alaskan court on Monday on charges of first degree murder, second degree murder and second degree sexual assault in a brutal torture and murder case which has gripped headlines in the US, with much speculation that Smith might be a serial killer.
Bail was set at $2million (R29.2million) and Smith has pleaded not guilty.
Smith was arrested on October 8 at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, after a local resident had picked up an SD card on the street which contained graphic videos and pictures of a vicious assault, torture and killing of an Alaskan woman, Kathleen Henry, 30.
The card was handed to police who identified the perpetrator as Smith by his South African accent.
The digital memory card was labelled “Homicide at Midtown Marriott” and contained 12 videos and 39 pictures of horrific torture and killing scenes which shocked even the most hardened police officers working on the investigation.
It included the suspect stomping on his victim’s throat with his right foot after complaining his hand “was getting tired”, while her swollen and bloodied face can be seen.
At another point the suspect is strangling his struggling victim who is trying to scratch at her attacker’s hands, while she is also seen being dragged towards a black pickup truck. He is also seen beating the naked woman while shouting at her “to die”.
Henry’s body was found in an isolated area south of Anchorage.
After police had Smith in custody, he was charged with a second murder of another Alaskan woman, Veronica Abouchuk, 52, who was reported missing in February.
State troopers had recovered a skull with a bullet wound and after Smith’s arrest, police stated he confessed to where he had dumped Abouchuk’s body, which was in the same vicinity as the skull.
Police also submitted to the court that Smith had been linked to the videos of Henry by a detective who recognised him from another case and that Smith had admitted under questioning that he was the man in the footage and that he had disposed of the body.
Smith grew up in Queenstown and attended Queen’s College in the Eastern Cape and Van Straaten told the Independent on Saturday that he and Smith were friends from their school years together.
“I was shocked when I heard of his arrest. That is not the person that I know from school. He was a quiet, friendly person who was always willing to help you when you needed help.
“We started school together and he often sat next to me in class. His father passed away in junior school and he became very quiet and withdrawn.
“It (Smith’s arrest) has been a shock to all who went to school with him because that is not the person we knew. I actually also worked with him for two years and he was very quiet, but always had a smile on his face and was very pleasant to work with.
“In the pictures I’ve seen of him now, he has this deep withdrawn look in his eyes. You think you know someone and then you realise you did not know them at all scary,” said Van Straaten.
Smith’s family did not want to comment because they have agreed to an exclusive story with tabloid magazine, Huisgenoot.
Smith moved to Alaska five years ago after meeting his wife, Stephanie Bissland, through online gaming. The couple married in 2014 and he was naturalised as an American citizen last month.
This week Bissland spoke of her shock over her husband’s arrest and the charges against him in an interview with the UK’s Daily Mail.
She said she found the idea that Smith was a cold-blooded killer “inconceivable”.
She described Smith as an adoring husband, who loved gadgets. She said he enjoyed being outdoors and taking solo trips around Alaska which he liked to document on film.
Police tore the couple’s home apart, seizing firearms, rope, memory cards, computers and hard drives and other evidence.
After Smith’s second appearance and additional charges this week, as well as intense questioning by the police who told her “she did not know her husband”, Bissland said she was “torn between her heart and her mind”.
“How could I have missed something like that? We all have tempers at times, but I never saw one that would do what these people are describing,” she said.
While it remains unknown how the SD card ended up on a street, Bissland had also told Anchorage television station KTUU that Smith had reported last month that his vehicle had been vandalised and that his wallet, documents, phones and other electronics had been stolen.
Smith’s black pick-up truck, which he described as a “chick magnet” in one of his videos taken with a drone, appeared to be similar to the truck towards which the victim was dragged in one of the videos on the SD card.
Alaskan authorities said they would not comment on a pending case.