Thirty years after the slaying of a 22-year-old University of Colorado journalism student who was dating a daughter of actor Robert Redford, Boulder police are again asking people to help find the suspect.
Police in 2011 issued a first-degree-murder arrest warrant for Thayne Smika, 54,
for the Aug. 1, 1983, shooting death of Sid Wells.
“It’s past time for justice for Sid Wells and his family,” said Boulder Deputy Police Chief Dave Hayes, one of the first detectives to investigate the murder.
The case received prominent media attention, in part because Wells was dating Redford’s daughter Shauna.
, was found dead inside his Spanish Towers condo by his brother, Robert.
Police suspected Wells had been killed by Smika, who was his roommate. A few months after the crime, evidence linked Smika to the crime and he was arrested, Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said
.
However, then-Boulder District Attorney Alex Hunter declined to file charges, and Smika moved away in 1986. After the warrant was issued in 2011, police attempted to locate Smika but have been unsuccessful.
