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Man guilty in 1984 murder of Tempe woman
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A jury on Thursday convicted a former Tempe man in the 1984 murder of his business partner.
The jury in Maricopa County Superior Court listened to evidence in a trial that lasted about nine weeks and deliberated a day-and-a-half before finding Robert Ortloff, 47, guilty of first-degree murder, arson and burglary.
The state claimed Ortloff killed 20-year-old Kathleen Smith, daughter of former Tempe City Councilwoman Carol Smith, because Kathleen Smith was going to report him to police for stealing $7,000 from their joint business account, according to court documents.
The two were in the process of opening a Subway shop at the time of her death, and Ortloff was also set to receive $125,000 in life insurance.
The defense insisted someone else killed Smith and pointed to a size 9 1/2 footprint found in a flower bed outside Smith's condominium at 700 W. University Drive, where she was killed.
Ortloff wears a size 13.
Kelly Smith, brother of Kathleen, said the state was able to dispel the footprint evidence with evidence of two police officers who said there were two footprints in the flower bed, one measurable and the other immeasurable.
They testified the measurable prints were made after the crime scene was secured, Kelly Smith said.
Kathleen Smith died Oct. 5, 1984.
She had an injury to her head, and her body was burned beyond recognition.
Tempe police investigated the case for two years, and the Smith family hired a private detective.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case in 1986 because there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction, court documents show.
Meanwhile, the FBI arrested Ortloff in January 1986 on suspicion of mailing a pipe bomb to the boyfriend of a woman in whom he was romantically interested.
The bomb went off but did not kill the man.
He was convicted and sentenced to 53 years in federal prison.
In 1999, a fellow federal convict contacted Tempe police to say Ortloff had confessed to Smith's murder.
The inmate was disbarred lawyer Fred Tokars, convicted of numerous fraud and racketeering counts and the shotgun slaying of his wife, Sarah Tokars.
The county attorney obtained an indictment against Ortloff in the Smith case in 2003.
Kelly Smith said in a news release the family was pleased justice was finally served.
"I didn't have any doubts in my mind he'd be convicted," Kelly Smith said.
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