FBI releases updated age-progressed images of fugitive Colorado murder suspect
The FBI has issued new age-progression pictures of Thayne Alan Smika, wanted for the 1983 killing of University of Colorado student Sidney Lee Wells, and is offering a $10,000 reward for information.
More than four decades after Sidney Lee Wells was found shot dead in his Boulder apartment, the FBI has released new age-progressed images of the alleged killer, Thayne Alan Smika. Smika, then a 24-year-old student, was identified early in the investigation but evaded capture, with his abandoned car discovered in Beverly Hills in 1986. A Boulder County judge issued a state first-degree murder warrant in 2010, and federal authorities added an unlawful-flight charge shortly thereafter.
The FBI now estimates Smika to be 67, possibly clean-shaven or bearded, and may have lived in Yelapa, Mexico, before 2007. Special Agent in Charge Amanda Koldjeski and Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn appealed for public assistance, offering a reward of up to $10,000. Tips can be submitted to local police, the FBI, or Metro Denver Crime Stoppers.
Why it matters
The case remains unsolved, and new leads could finally bring a decades-old murder suspect to justice.
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