California Murderer Released and Kills Again
Freckle-faced killer Eric Smith, at present 42, freed on parole, says he's engaged
PROGRAM Annotation: Due to the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament on CBS, "Eric Smith: Gambling on a Killer" will not air on Saturday, March 19. It will air on Saturday, March 26 at 10/9c.
Eric Smith spent 28 years behind bars for the 1993 murder of a 4-year-old boy. He was released from prison in February. Is he a changed man? The parents of the murdered kid speak with "48 Hours" and CBS News main investigative and senior national contributor Jim Axelrod in their first all-encompassing interview since Smith was released in "Eric Smith: Gambling on a Killer" .
August two, 1993, marked a horrific solar day for pocket-size town Savona, New York, when local teenager Eric Smith murdered a iv-year-erstwhile male child, Derrick Robie, who lived beyond town. Early on that morning, Smith, 13, had spotted the kid walking alone to a summer campsite at the park.
"Information technology's the first time I ever let [Derrick] go anywhere alone," Derrick's grieving mother, Doreen Robie, told "48 Hours." "And it was i block downwards, same side of the street. … He gave me a kiss and I said, 'I honey y'all.' He says, 'I love you lot, Mom.' And he went hopping off the sidewalk."
Smith lured the child into a wooded area, promising to bear witness him a shortcut. When they were alone, he strangled Derrick and beat him to death with rocks.
Robie reported her son missing after being told he never arrived at the park. Hours later, searchers institute Derrick'due south body just yards away from the park, in the woods.
With the killer at big, Savona residents feared for their ain children. They couldn't imagine anyone wanting to kill the popular niggling T-ball player they chosen "the unofficial mayor of Savona," the happy kid who would sit at the corner greeting people. They assumed the killer was a stranger, from out of town.
In the days that followed, a family friend of the Smiths grew concerned about Eric's beliefs. Marlene Heskell told "48 Hours" that on the night of the murder, "[Eric] asked me what would happen if information technology turned out to exist a kid. I said, 'I call up they seriously need some psychiatric assist.' And he-- 'Oh, OK,' you know. And he walked abroad." She remembered that Eric had gone to the same park nearly the crime scene. "And that'south when it all kind of come to together for me that, OK, he might really know something or have seen something."
Heskell called Smith's mother and they took Eric to the police command mail to meet with investigators. Investigator John Hibsch said Eric seemed to enjoy speaking about the murder. "Totally enjoyed it. Didn't want it to end."
Eric denied seeing the fiddling boy at first, but later confessed to the offense.
His grandfather was there and recalled Eric saying, "'I'yard sorry, Mom. I'one thousand sorry. I killed that little boy.'"
In Baronial 1994, Smith, now 14, was tried as an developed and sentenced to nine years to life in prison. Smith was held in a juvenile detention center and transferred to a prison for adults after he turned 21.
Almost nine years after his offense, Smith had his first parole hearing. His parole was denied.
Only Smith would have more opportunities for parole every two years for nearly two decades. It was a recurring nightmare for the Robie family.
"It upsets me, the fact that we have to beg to keep this killer behind bars," Doreen Robie said. "They could determine that well, now he'southward done his time and we're going to let him go … It scares the hell out of me."
Over the years, Smith spoke out most his feel. In 2004, Smith, and then 24 years sometime, told "48 Hours" that he had killed Derrick Robie afterwards years of being relentlessly bullied by other kids.
John Tunney, who prosecuted Smith, told "48 Hours" correspondent Jim Axelrod, "What I practise believe is that Eric was tired of beingness the victim in his heed … and he wanted to encounter what it felt similar to be the victimizer."
In his 2004 parole lath hearing, Smith admitted to the board that he got a proficient feeling from strangling Derrick at the fourth dimension "because -- instead of me being injure, I was hurting somebody else." He also admitted if he hadn't been charged back in 1993, that he probably would have killed once more, confirming John Tunney's belief that at age 13, Smith was a budding serial killer. Smith's parole was denied in 2004.
Smith was interviewed a few years afterward by CBS News affiliate WENY-Television. In 2009, he said he hoped to become a advisor then he could help other kids who were bullied like he was.
"My anger wasn't directed at Derrick at all," Smith explained. "It was directed at … all the other guys that used to choice on me. And when I was torturing and killing Derrick … that was what I saw in my caput."
He understood why the Robies didn't want him released. "I did impale Derrick," Smith said. "And for that, you know, I am sorry … if I could switch places with him and have the grave for him to live, I'd do it in a 2nd…"
Smith said later years of therapy, he was a inverse man. "You tin can characterization me a monster, a common cold-blooded killer, a demon child, Satan incarnate. … Doesn't mean that's who I am."
He also believed he would be released someday. "I want to, you know, get married and raise a family unit. You know, agree down, you lot know, a task. Pursue the American dream."
Dream though he might, his parole would exist denied again and again — until Oct 2021. Smith, now 41, went before the board for the 11th time.
During this parole hearing, Smith revealed his future plans, and said he even had a fiancée. He said she had written to him with questions about the juvenile justice system, he said, since she was studying to exist a lawyer. They started getting to know each other and eventually, he says, they fell in love.
He felt God was calling on him to do ministry building and said that while incarcerated, he was working on getting his college caste in cause evangelism. He was too looking forward to working in electric installation or carpentry.
"I'm non a threat," Smith said to the board. "The xiii-year-quondam kid that took [Derrick'due south] life… is not the human sitting in front of yous talking … if yous were to requite me the chance, I would not only prove that I'm not a threat. I would definitely be an asset to lodge."
The board decided to give Smith that chance. After news broke that Smith would exist released, in November 2021, the Savona community held a peaceful protest to make it clear they didn't want Eric back.
"I wasn't then much worried about us equally I was everybody else," Doreen Robie said.
"I simply knew where a lot of people in town in the village stood," Dale Robie added.
Smith's release was delayed for months until he had secured approved housing. In February, after serving 28 years, the now 42-year-old was released. He is now a free human being living in Queens, New York.
"I don't allow him accept space in my head," Doreen Robie said. "I practice not focus on where he is, what he'due south doing. … 'cause I don't care. As long every bit he'southward not near friends and family unit."
Axelrod spoke with John Tunney after Smith'due south release. "Will Eric Smith be a success story?" he asked. "Or somebody nosotros're pointing to and saying, 'The arrangement blew information technology with that one'?"
"That's exactly correct," Tunney said. "I keep going dorsum to my hope … Fourth dimension will tell."
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Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eric-smith-murderer-parole-derrick-robie/