Forty-two years after a young journalism student was shot dead in his Boulder apartment, the FBI has released age-progression images of his former roommate — a man who has never been arrested, never been tried, and never stopped being sought. Thayne Alan Smika, now believed to be 67, vanished into the margins of the world before justice could reach him, leaving behind a stolen license plate, a cold case, and a family still waiting. The release of these renderings is less a breakthrough than a declaration: that the passage of time is not the same as the passage of accountability.
FBI releases age-progression images of fugitive in 42-year-old Boulder student murder
Sidney Lee Wells, 22, a University of Colorado senior and Navy ROTC student, was shot to death in his Boulder apartment on August 1, 1983.
Crime & Justice