Sex, Lies & Murder: The Pamela Smart Case

Cecelia Pierce from South Seabrook became Pam's student intern in the media services office. The blond-haired, blue eyed, large-framed 15-year-old enjoyed all the attention she was getting from Pam. It probably gave her a heady feeling to be treated like an intimate associate.

"In spite of the large discrepancy in their ages," writes Sawicki, "they were best friends and Cecelia was very proud of that. Cecelia had never had a friend like Pam, someone who was pretty and intelligent and self-assured. She made Cecelia feel important just being with her. Pam paid for everything when they went out, be it lunch or whatever incidentals came up. And when Cecelia began to learn to drive, Pam would always let the teenager take the wheel of her Honda CRX."

But her friendship with Pam, unequal from the start, soon began to interfere in every facet of her life: with her friends, in her schoolwork, and in her home life, particularly with her mother who had nicknamed her "Critters." "As this relationship went on and on," said her mother, Cecelia Eaton, "I liked it less and less. I was actually getting angry. I even said to Crit: 'You'd think Pam was your mother. Well, I'm your mother, not Pam.'"

Soon after meeting Pam, Cecelia's grades began to slip. Mrs. Eaton even spoke to school officials about the inordinate amount of time that Cecelia was at the school board's media center. The assistant principal agreed, "I noticed it, too." Apparently, that is as far as it went.

Pam, Bill, and Cecelia hung out together. They frequented teenager hang-outs such as shopping malls, restaurants, beachfront arcades, and clubs.

Pam was ecstatic to be managing a video project with a few teens, most from South Seabrook. She would invite them to her condo to work on the project. While her husband Greg was spending more and more time with his friends, Pam too was exclusive with her newfound friends. Pamela set her sights on 15-year-old Billy Flynn.