Katharina Buczek
Kyra detailed how she had no idea her sister Tera was involved in anything other than a student-mentor relationship with Troy.
“I didn’t have a clue. I knew Tera looked up to him a lot– like idolized him,” she said.
It was not until 11:00 p.m. that evening that Troy finally called the Smith family back. He claimed to have picked Tera up earlier that day, then dropped her off a mile or two away from her home in Reddington. Finally, Troy claimed he went up to a hill known as Hang Glider Hill to pray for five hours.
Facebook; pictured above is another photo of Tera
And with little information to go on from Troy, the Smiths were forced to go through Tera’s belongings in hopes of finding a clue about where she might have gone. It was at that point that Marilyn and Terry discovered a long, written letter that Tera had intended to give to Troy.
According to Tera’s parents, the letter indicated that Tera planned to tell Troy that their relationship was over. The Smiths also believe that although she originally wrote the letter and perhaps intended to mail it or give it to Troy, she ultimately decided to tell him in person.
The news of Tera’s relationship with her Taekwondo instructor shocked her family, and they began to look further into who Troy really was.
They later learned he had a prior spousal assault conviction in 1992. And according to court documents, Troy denied ever forcing his ex-wife to be intimate with him while holding her at knifepoint.
Instead, Troy told the court that he was intimate with his ex-wife. But, rather than holding her at knifepoint, he told her he was going to kill himself.
Investigators on Tera’s case eventually searched Troy’s properties and also discovered various shotguns and old sporting rifles tucked away in the attic of his Taekwondo studio. And since he was a felon, possessing these firearms was not allowed.
