Kriti Mehrotra
It was in October 2000 when John David Smith III was arrested in connection with the 1974 homicide of his first wife in Ohio and the 1991 disappearance of his second wife in New Jersey. The then-49-year-old was actually based in Escondido, California, at the time, where he seemed to be leading a relatively ordinary life with his third wife, Diane Smith (now Diane Beasley). His partner had no idea about his past, as explored in NBC’s ‘Dateline: Chameleon,’ so she was definitely shell-shocked when the FBI showed up at her doorstep to warn her about his reality.
Diane Beasley Once Believed John Smith to be Her Forever
When single mother Diane Beasley first came across professional engineer John Smith in the late 1980s, she felt as if she had found her soulmate because of how caring and kind he seemed. According to her own accounts, his tall frame and skinny physique were pretty unremarkable, plus he was painfully socially awkward at every turn, but he was also nice to her and her children. “I was not looking for another relationship at all,” she once said on a show. “I had been divorced for three years, and I was comfortable with occasionally dating,” yet he wrecked all her walls.
The man Diane met was “really sweet, really nice, very polite. He seemed like the perfect gentleman,” so when John got down on one knee after just 3 months of dating, she excitedly said yes! The couple tied the knot in 1998, unaware that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was already looking into the seemingly hard-working man in earnest for the disappearance of his first 2 wives. The newlywed wife knew her husband had been married twice before, but he had reportedly told her that while his childhood sweetheart, Janice Hartman, had divorced him, his second spouse, Betty Fran Gladden-Smith, had died of cancer.
That’s why Diane never minded the portrait of Betty Fran that John kept at his desk, believing he was a sensitive soul who continued to grieve the life he had lost to cancer over 7 years prior. It was in 1999 when she learned the truth through the FBI, with them making contact because they were truly worried for her safety as they thought her husband to be a womanizer and killer. She admittedly didn’t believe them at first, especially the part about him recently having been seen with another woman, and that being the catalyst for their contact. Yet, everything changed when he suddenly disappeared for 3 days.
Diane Beasley Remained With John Smith Until His Arrest Out of Fear
When the FBI initially approached Diane, she claims she “was in total, total shock. I could not believe what they were telling me… I did not see anything but love for me through John’s eyes.” However, the day she woke up to an empty house with her husband nowhere to be found, her gradually rising suspicions about his past grew even stronger before settling the moment he returned. Since John was all dirty when he returned home 3 days later – with dirt all over his clothes, on his hands, and underneath his nails – while pretending nothing was amiss, his wife stated it was as if he himself confirmed the FBI’s claims.
Diane was subsequently so terrified of John that she moved her daughter, Summer Hathaway, into their home, only to search all his belongings with her whenever he left for work. Her decision to remain with him was two-fold: she was scared he would hurt her the moment he realized she was planning to leave, and she wanted to help investigators potentially solve the cases of his first two wives as an insider. However, as time passed and no new evidence seemed to come to light, she filed for annulment in secret, timing her escape just as the papers were to be served to him in his office.
Unfortunately, according to the show, the papers were delivered to him before time, so he allegedly rushed home in a fury and banged on the front door as well as the nearby window while she locked herself inside alongside Summer. “He came up the stairs, like two at a time, and he had this look on his face… I mean, it wasn’t a mad person, it wasn’t an angry person,” she once recalled. “It was a devil person.” She added that he succeeded in breaking in, but his demeanor completely flipped the moment he saw Summer, so she was glad when the FBI arrested him soon after in October 2000.
Diane Beasley Has Since Moved On and is Currently Enjoying Time With Her Family
After John was arrested, Diane admittedly visited him in prison just once in the hopes of getting a confession, only to be disappointed when he maintained his innocence about everything. In the end, while he was convicted of Janice Hartman’s murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, he was given immunity in Fran’s case after he allegedly confessed to killing her and disposing of her remains. He was never officially convicted in connection with his second wife’s case because the charges against him were dismissed in 2023, but he remains the prime suspect in her presumed murder.
Since then, Diane has been doing her best to speak about John and the cases of his first two wives to not only ensure that he remains behind bars but also keep the memories of Janice and Fran alive. She believes it is her responsibility to carry on. She maintains, “There might be a possibility, because of good behavior, he might be paroled out of prison, and nobody wants that. Because he will murder again.” Apart from this, she is now focusing on her loved ones while residing in Pauma Valley, California. Diane has since found love again with Robert Beasley, with whom she has been happily married for at least 13 years as of writing.
The couple moved away from the bustling city and settled into their forever dream home among the mountains in San Diego County in late May 2021. There, they lead a quiet, happy life while seemingly earning passive income from their cabin in Oakzanita Springs, Descanso, California, which allows clients to camp in luxury. So, all their energy these days goes towards traveling and spending quality time with one another, their kids, their grandkids, and their cats. Sadly, they lost one of their beloved pets, 20-year-old Buckwheat, in October 2025. We should also mention that Diane seems to share a special bond with her grandson, Triston.
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