VICTIM FORMER CIA SPY

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970041-8
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
July 29, 2010
Sequence Number: 
41
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
February 15, 1982
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
File: 
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970041-8.pdf124.54 KB
Body: 
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970041-8 STAT Police are-searching for hit-and-run driver:-' By Randy Haglhara Times Tribune staff - REDWOOD CITY -- The Palo Alto man who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run motorist early Sat- urday morning was a former Cen- tral Intelligence Agency spy who had been involved. in "some very famous CIA cases,"' the Times.Trib- une has learned. Edward Ellis Smith, 6q, was car rying a briefcase filled with notes on the CIA and the Russian KGB when he was struck by a white sports car shortly after midnight; Redwood City police said. ; ; .Traffic Sgt Dick Morton said Sat- urday afternoon that the former spy's death was being handled as a felony hit-and-run accident, but left open the possiblity that it may be investigated later as a homicide- Smith, who had-worked{as an In- telligence officer for .the Army, State Department and the CIA, ap-i parently was returning from a din- ner engagement in San Franclscoi when he-was struck-by a"white- Cbevro)et Corvette in.aweii-jlghted crosswalk at-Ei`Camind?Real-and;, James The driver- of.,the; car,.desctibedj by witnesses as 'a* young white male'. with-light-colored hair,-drove-away? without stopping. ~. Traffic officers said the impact of the collision was so great that - Smith.,was knocked out of one shoe`., and a sock as he was thrown over the top of the car. PALO ALTO PENINSULA TIMES TRIBUNE (CA~ 15 February 1982 Dressed in a beige trench coat, Smith was pronounced dead at the scene. He had received severe leg and head Injuries, police said. - Officers worked through the night and most of Saturday trying to piece together the events leading up to the apparent accident- . Smith, who one acqualotence said did not own a car, probably took: a train from San Francisco and disembarked at the. Redwood City depot. Police speculated that he perhaps was on his.way.to meet someone when he was killed. ? One unidentified Redwood City motorist told police he was driving south on El Camino Real when he was passed by a white Corvette traveling in the same direction. -"The Vette whizzed by him at a high rate of speed, ran a red light and struck Mr. Smith, who ap- parently was crossing In a marked crosswalk on a green light," Morton said. Another witness, who was stopped at the intersection, said Smith had just walked past her car -when she saw a "white streak and= heard a thud," Morton said. - Officer Paul Jensen and reserve Officer Rick. Nieto were about a block away on James-Avenue writ- ing- out a traffic citation when Smith was struck. ; :. Morten said the two officers re- pored hearing the screech of a car's brakes, ?:then:the sound of Smith's body being hit, and ran. down the street In time to see papers fluttering to the ground."- The intersection- Immediately was. sealed. off to preserve any evi- dence. Police found about 1.30 feet -of skid marks and. white. paint chips. Morton,-who was later called to the scene; said he'quickly glanced through the papers that half spilled onto the roadway from Smith's briefcase. "I turned to-one of the -officers .and said, 'There's-some papers here that, if nothing else, are very interesting, " he said. - He said most of- the papers ap. -peared to be, handwritten. notes -from. a yellow, pad, with references ' to the CIA'and KGB-He said he did- -see a page of one ''official-looking document". t h a t bore Smith's sigaa- : turf . "My first impression was that he was some kind of author," Morton said. The papers were turned over to the San Mateo-County coroner's of- fice along with the rest of Smith's possessions, he said. "We are pursuing this as a felony ?hit-and-run fatality -- until I get evidence to the contrary," said Morton. "All we can do Is wait and see." Smith was described Saturday as an "awfully nice man," though one neighbor later described him I terms that befit a spy. He had lived alone for about 'three years at 101 Alma St., a high rise condominium complex, one - nextdoor neighbor said. "I know darn little about him. He's a neighbor, but one you rarely see," said Edgar McDowell. "There'd be days on end when I didn't see him," McDowell said. ,"He's just one of those persons that you don't know very much about" Smith was most recently em- ployed by Smith Bellingham Inter national, Inc., a San Francisco bro- His employer, David Smith, no relation, said in a telephone Inter- view that the longtime Palo Alto resident had worked for the gov- ? ernment_ as an intelligence officer for more than 20 years before re-; "He was involved in?som'e very-' said. :ward Ellis Smith had traveled Ing in the U S: Embassy Ins Moscow.. as the State Department's first full- time security chief In-the mid- '1950s. He previously had served at tary and economics attache:., A CIA spokesman in McClean; i' At- , on Smith's death, or previous em--. ployment_ - ,. Smith, who wrote a book on Josef Stalin In 1967, frequently contribut mainly_about Soviet affairs,..: Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970041-8