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 am on the police division to show myself in,” Wallace instructed “48 Hours” correspondent Anne-Marie Inexperienced, in “Closing the Chilly Case of Robin Lawrence,” now streaming on Paramount+. “And I stated, flip your self in for what?”
Smerk, a married 52-year-old father of two dwelling in Niskayuna, New York, was calling to admit to the 30-year-old chilly case homicide of Robin Warr Lawrence.
“One million issues begin going by way of my thoughts,” Wallace stated. “The adrenaline was pumping so arduous as a result of the truth hit … of what this implies and that we’re on the point of shut this case.”
Warr Lawrence Household
Robin Warr Lawrence, an artist and mom, was brutally murdered in her residence 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 For 2 days, her daughter Nicole, simply 2 years outdated on the time, roamed the home alone earlier than her mom’s physique was found.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 many years after that, detectives tried to determine who may have completed this to Robin.
“Who would do such a factor? Why?” stated Mary Warr Cowans, Robin’s sister. “I bear in mind pondering on the funeral, Robin’s killer could possibly be on this room with us. We did not know.”
It took many years, 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 by way of 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.
Fairfax County Police Division 
In genetic family tree, a suspect’s DNA is used to seek out their relations. Then investigators analysis these relations’ household timber till a possible particular person of curiosity is discovered — somebody who would have been the fitting age and in the fitting place on the proper time to commit the crime. Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA know-how firm that usually works with regulation 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 charge of zero on the case,” stated Wallace.
Fairfax County Police Division volunteer Liz, who requested that her final title not be used, thought she’d take a crack at it anyway. The method proved tough. “I used to be prepared to surrender a lot of instances,” Liz instructed “48 Hours.” “However I saved pondering, properly, I will simply end this or simply do that yet one more factor.”
After three years of doing only one thing more, Liz got here up with a potential suspect. He’d lived in Virginia in 1994 and would have been round the fitting age to commit the homicide. His title was Stephan Smerk.
“I wasn’t very hopeful on the time,” Wallace stated. “I used to be simply taking a look at this man’s background. I am pondering, there isn’t any means.”
Smerk had a totally clear report, with out a lot as a rushing 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 purpose 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 involves the door immediately,” Wallace stated. “All we stated is we’re detectives from Fairfax County, Virginia, and we’re trying into a chilly case from the 90s.”
Smerk, detectives say, had no response. “Stone-faced,” stated Lengthy. Smerk gave his DNA willingly, and Wallace and Lengthy went again to their lodge. Then Wallace obtained that decision.
“I used to be freaking out,” Wallace stated. “I run right down to [Long’s] room, whereas I am nonetheless on the cellphone, and I am banging on his door, and he involves the door, like, what’s the downside? I am like, we obtained to go to the police division.”
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 residence that night time in 1994, he instructed them, for no different motive than eager to kill somebody.
“I knew that I used to be going kill someone,” Smerk instructed the detectives. “I didn’t know who I used to be going to kill.” On the time, Smerk was within the army and posted at a base close by and was acquainted with Robin Warr Lawrence’s neighborhood as a result of a buddy had stayed there. He stated he had no concept who lived in Robin’s home.
“There may have been 50 folks in that home. I do not know. They may have all had weapons and shot me lifeless. I wasn’t even eager about that.” All Smerk was eager about, he instructed detectives, was killing. He stated he had compulsions that he could not management.
“I truthfully imagine that if it wasn’t for my spouse and my youngsters, I in all probability can be a serial killer,” Smerk stated. “I’m a serial killer who’s solely killed as soon as.”
Fairfax County Police Division 
“It is such a surprising assertion,” Wallace instructed “48 Hours.” “It is unnecessary. You recognize, should you’re a serial killer, you do not kill as soon as. However, then again, he was very candid and open and sincere all through the remainder of the interview. So, it could possibly be true that he has solely killed one particular person.”
Is it potential for somebody with the impulses of a serial killer to kill simply as soon as? Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole says it may well occur.
“We’ve realized over time with instances like BTK and the Golden State Killer and different instances the place they do cease,” she defined. “The compulsions do not go away … they inform us that they rechannel it. They put it into a special exercise. In order that exercise might be one thing that’s lower than homicide, however it may contain, for instance, Peeping Tom habits, autoerotic habits … however you do not simply lower these urges off. One thing has to interchange them.”
Smerk had zero incidents on his report. O’Toole says it is potential he by no means dedicated one other crime, however she doubts the concepts in his head went away. She stated she’d wish to know extra about his ideation so as to decide whether or not he could possibly be a menace sooner or later.
“That ideation that basically led to the homicide within the first place, that may be troubling to me till I knew much more about that. What triggered it? What are you doing with it now? Do not inform me it is by no means there. Do not inform me that it simply went out the window after you dedicated that homicide.”
In his interview, Smerk expressed no regret for what he had completed. When requested if he had something he’d like to inform Robin’s household, he replied, “How do I say this? I do know you are recording … I do not really feel something for the household. …I really feel dangerous that I did it as a result of I knew sometime my private freedom can be affected.”
Smerk pleaded responsible and was sentenced to 70 years in jail. He can be eligible for parole in 2037, when he’s 65. Robin’s household stated 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 an individual was discovered and being held accountable,” Warr Cowans stated in her assertion to the decide at Smerk’s sentencing, “however it did not assist to know what he did to [Robin] and the way she suffered … it does not assist and it does not convey her again. She would have been in our lives for the previous thirty years. However that was taken from us.”
She instructed “48 Hours” that for a very long time she lived in concern, not realizing who had dedicated this horrible crime.
“I really felt afraid at residence, in my mattress,” she stated. “Interested by somebody simply from out of the blue may present up from wherever and kill you in your home … That is only a scary thought that you simply’re not protected wherever.”
“It is scary,” echoed Lengthy. “From a neighborhood perspective, that is like your worst nightmare. Like, that is the explanation why you inform like your family members to ensure that your doorways are locked at night time. He’s the boogeyman.”
