When Stephan Smerk known as Fairfax County Police Detective Melissa Wallace on Sept. 7, 2023, she was shocked to listen to what he needed to say.
“He says, I’m at the police department to turn myself in,” Wallace instructed “48 Hours” correspondent Anne-Marie Inexperienced, in “Closing the Cold Case of Robin Lawrence,” airing Saturday, Oct. 25 at 10/9c on CBS and Paramount+. “And I said, turn yourself in for what?”
Smerk, a married 52-year-old father of two residing in Niskayuna, New York, was calling to admit to the 30-year-old chilly case homicide of Robin Warr Lawrence.
“A million things start going through my mind,” Wallace mentioned. “The adrenaline was pumping so hard because the reality hit … of what this means and that we’re getting ready to close this case.”
Robin Lawrence together with her daughter Nicole.
Warr Lawrence Household
Robin Warr Lawrence, an artist and mom, was brutally murdered in her house in Springfield, Virginia, in 1994. For 2 days, her daughter Nicole, simply 2 years outdated on the time, roamed the home alone earlier than her mom’s physique was found. And for 3 a long time after that, detectives tried to determine who might have carried out this to Robin.
“Who would do such a thing? Why?” mentioned Mary Warr Cowans, Robin’s sister. “I remember thinking at the funeral, Robin’s killer could be in this room with us. We didn’t know.”
It took a long time, however ultimately the household would get their solutions. DNA proof — within the type of blood left on a washcloth — had been discovered on the crime scene again in 1994, and on the time it had turned up no matches when investigators ran it via CODIS — the FBI’s nationwide database. Years glided by and new methods have been developed, together with a course of known as genetic family tree.
DNA proof was recovered on a washcloth in Robin Lawrence’s lavatory.
Fairfax County Police Division
In genetic family tree, a suspect’s DNA is used to search out their family members. Then investigators analysis these family members’ household bushes till a possible particular person of curiosity is discovered — somebody who would have been the correct age and in the correct place on the proper time to commit the crime. Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA expertise firm that usually works with legislation enforcement, didn’t have excessive hopes for fixing Robin’s case utilizing this system as a result of the database matches have been very distant.
“Parabon gave us a solvability rate of zero on the case,” mentioned Wallace.
Fairfax County Police Division volunteer Liz, who requested that her final identify not be used, thought she’d take a crack at it anyway. The method proved tough. “I was ready to give up a number of times,” Liz instructed “48 Hours.” “But I kept thinking, well, I’ll just finish this or just do this one more thing.”
After three years of doing only one thing more, Liz got here up with a doable suspect. He’d lived in Virginia in 1994 and would have been round the correct age to commit the homicide. His identify was Stephan Smerk.
“I wasn’t very hopeful at the time,” Wallace mentioned. “I was just looking at this guy’s background. I’m thinking, there is no way.”
Smerk had a very clear report, with out a lot as a dashing ticket. He labored as a pc programmer in suburban Niskayuna.
Although that they had their doubts, Detectives Melissa Wallace and Jon Lengthy took the journey as much as Niskayuna to speak to Smerk. Their aim was to get his DNA, to see if he was associated to the one who had left their DNA on the crime scene – or if he was that particular person.
“He comes to the door right away,” Wallace mentioned. “All we said is we are detectives from Fairfax County, Virginia, and we’re looking into a cold case from the 90s.”
Smerk, detectives say, had no response. “Stone-faced,” mentioned Lengthy. Smerk gave his DNA willingly, and Wallace and Lengthy went again to their resort. Then Wallace obtained that decision.
“I was freaking out,” Wallace mentioned. “I run down to [Long’s] room, while I’m still on the phone, and I’m banging on his door, and he comes to the door, like, what is the problem? I’m like, we got to go to the police department.”
DNA left on a washcloth results in suspect in homicide case a long time later
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Once they met Smerk on the Niskayuna Police Division, officers had taken him into custody and he was prepared to speak. Wallace and Lengthy sat him down in an interrogation room, and with out a lot prompting, Smerk confessed to the homicide of Robin Warr Lawrence. He had gone to Robin’s house that night time in 1994, he instructed them, for no different purpose than eager to kill somebody.
“I knew that I was going kill somebody,” Smerk instructed the detectives. “I did not know who I was going to kill.” On the time, Smerk was within the army and posted at a base close by and was conversant in Robin Warr Lawrence’s neighborhood as a result of a good friend had stayed there. He mentioned he had no concept who lived in Robin’s home.
“There could have been 50 people in that house. I don’t know. They could have all had guns and shot me dead. I wasn’t even thinking about that.” All Smerk was interested by, he instructed detectives, was killing. He mentioned he had compulsions that he couldn’t management.
“I honestly believe that if it wasn’t for my wife and my kids, I probably would be a serial killer,” Smerk mentioned. “I am a serial killer who’s only killed once.”
Throughout questioning, Stephan Smerk, who confessed to killing Robin Lawrence, instructed detectives, “I honestly believe that if it wasn’t for my wife and my kids, I probably would be a serial killer … I am a serial killer who’s only killed once.”
Fairfax County Police Division
“It’s such a shocking statement,” Wallace instructed “48 Hours.” “It makes no sense. You know, if you’re a serial killer, you don’t kill once. But, on the other hand, he was very candid and open and honest throughout the rest of the interview. So, it could be true that he has only killed one person.”
Is it doable for somebody with the impulses of a serial killer to kill simply as soon as? Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole says it will probably occur.
“We have learned over the years with cases like BTK and the Golden State Killer and other cases where they do stop,” she defined. “The compulsions don’t go away … they tell us that they rechannel it. They put it into a different activity. So that activity can be something that is less than murder, but it could involve, for example, Peeping Tom behavior, autoerotic behavior … but you don’t just cut those urges off. Something has to replace them.”
Smerk had zero incidents on his report. O’Toole says it’s doable he by no means dedicated one other crime, however she doubts the concepts in his head went away. She mentioned she’d wish to know extra about his ideation to be able to decide whether or not he might be a menace sooner or later.
“That ideation that really led to the murder in the first place, that would be troubling to me until I knew a lot more about that. What triggered it? What are you doing with it now? Don’t tell me it’s never there. Don’t tell me that it just went out the window after you committed that murder.”
In his interview, Smerk expressed no regret for what he had carried out. When requested if he had something he’d like to inform Robin’s household, he replied, “How do I say this? I know you’re recording … I don’t feel anything for the family. …I feel bad that I did it because I knew someday my personal freedom would be affected.”
Smerk pleaded responsible and was sentenced to 70 years in jail. He shall be eligible for parole in 2037, when he’s 65. Robin’s household mentioned they’re glad to have closure so long as Smerk spends the remainder of his life behind bars, however the penalties of his actions won’t ever go away them.
“It helped to know that a person was found and being held responsible,” Warr Cowans mentioned in her assertion to the decide at Smerk’s sentencing, “but it didn’t help to know what he did to [Robin] and how she suffered … it doesn’t help and it doesn’t bring her back. She would have been in our lives for the past thirty years. But that was taken from us.”
She instructed “48 Hours” that for a very long time she lived in concern, not understanding who had dedicated this horrible crime.
“I actually felt afraid at home, in my bed,” she mentioned. “Thinking about someone just from out of the blue could show up from anywhere and kill you in your house … That’s just a scary thought that you’re not safe anywhere.”
“It’s scary,” echoed Lengthy. “From a community perspective, that’s like your worst nightmare. Like, that’s the reason why you tell like your loved ones to make sure that your doors are locked at night. He is the boogeyman.”
