Suspect in ’76 murder arrested in Maine

MIAMI – A 51-year-old Florida woman on the run from authorities for 26 years after failing to appear for her murder trial was arrested in Maine, officials said Saturday.

Lynn Smith was arrested Friday night at her home in Standish, Maine, by a task force of federal, state and county agents, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a news release.

Smith was charged with murder in December 1976 by the Miami Beach Police Department, and had been a fugitive since February 1978.

Using the name Lynne Harrison, Smith was discovered by Brunswick, Maine, detectives only after giving fingerprints and an application to the local housing authority.

Smith was being held at Cumberland County Jail in Maine, pending a Tuesday extradition hearing. It was not known Saturday if she had a lawyer.