After 10 years, family of victim raises reward amount for information on slaying

Ten years of not knowing is forcing a tough decision for Karen and John Godfrey.

On the early afternoon of June 14, 2007, the body of their only daughter, Kelly Nicole Godfrey Smith, 27, of Brackenridge, was found in Chartiers Run at the Allegheny River in a remote part of Lower Burrell.

The coroner ruled the death a homicide.

Lower Burrell police and Westmoreland County detectives have been investigating ever since.

Lower Burrell police Lt. Scott Cardenas said Thursday that Smith's death is still an open case.

"This is again an active investigation," Cardenas said. "We are still getting tips and we check each one."

"We want to solve this," said county Detective John Clark, who was among the crime scene investigators 10 years ago.

In 2011, the Godfreys, a teacher and steelworker, came up with a $15,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of whoever killed their daughter.

On Thursday, the Harrison couple decided to increase the reward to $20,000 — but for one year only.

After that, the money will be spent on Smith's son, Mason, now 14, and other family members.

"We want justice," Karen Godfrey said. "The reward will be in place until June 14, 2018, and then we will withdraw it.

"I can understand if someone with information was afraid then, but not now," she said.

Her husband, John, is less patient.

"If someone knows something about who killed her, they should have come forward by now," he said.

Mason was only 4 when his mother was killed. He remembers only a little, like the time she took a bus to work and he stood by crying and she urged him to count school buses to distract him.

On Mother's Day, he makes a card for his grandmother and another that he takes to the cemetery. He feels uncomfortable when mothers cheer their sons at the Little League ballgame even though his family tries to fill in.

Mason still sheds tears when thinking about his mother. He, too, wants to know what happened.

"Telling Mason about his mother's death was the hardest thing that I've ever done in my life," John Godfrey said. He misses his daughter with whom he remembers playing with dolls with.

He also remembers the woman who had just graduated from business school and who emailed a lot of resumes just before her death to get a better job.

"They laid her out at the funeral home on Father's Day. For weeks later, we got calls from employers who wanted her," John Godfrey said. "They kept calling us."

Chuck Biedka is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4711 or cbiedka@tribweb.com or on Twitter @ChuckBiedka.