Lemuel Smith
| Lemuel Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Lemuel Warren Smith July 23, 1941 Amsterdam, New York |
| Criminal penalty | Death, commuted to Life |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 6 |
|
Span of killings
|
January 21, 1958–May 15, 1981 |
| Country | U.S. |
| State(s) | New York |
|
Date apprehended
|
August 19, 1977 |
Lemuel Warren Smith (born July 23, 1941), is an American convicted serial killer and rapist who was the first convict to kill an on-duty female corrections officer.
Lemuel Smith was born in Amsterdam, New York, in a very religious African-American household. During later insanity claims, Smith stated that when he was 11 years old, he nearly smothered a nine-year-old girl to death. This claim was not substantiated, however.
On January 21, 1958, Dorothy Waterstreet was robbed and beaten to death near Smith's neighborhood in Amsterdam, New York. Evidence pointed towards the 16-year-old Smith, but the case fell apart when the district attorney was too hasty in trying to extract a confession, and Smith was not arrested.
During the following summer, while under continuing pressure from Amsterdam police, Smith relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he kidnapped a 25-year-old woman and beat her nearly to death. This time, a witness interrupted the crime and Smith left a living victim. He was quickly arrested, and on April 12, 1959, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for assault.
After nearly 10 years in custody, Smith was paroled in May 1968 and he moved back to the Capital District. On May 20, 1969, he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman who managed to escape. Later that same day, he kidnapped and raped a 46-year-old friend of his mother's. When the woman convinced Smith to let her go, he was arrested again and eventually sentenced to 4–15 years in a New York prison.
Smith spent 17 out of 18 years in prison until a law passed by the New York Legislature made him a free man on October 5, 1976. On November 24, 1976, the day before Thanksgiving, Robert Hedderman, 48, and Hedderman's secretary, Margaret Byron, 59, were found brutally murdered in the back of Hedderman's religious store in Albany. Human feces was found on evidence nearby, which later proved valuable. Smith was free and employed nearby and hair and blood evidence made him a main suspect.
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