Man Gets Out of Prison and Kills Again
Freckle-faced killer Eric Smith, now 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" did not air on Saturday, March 19. It will air on Sat, March 26 at 10/9c.
Eric Smith spent 28 years behind bars for the 1993 murder of a iv-twelvemonth-old male child. He was released from prison in February. Is he a changed man? The parents of the murdered child speak with "48 Hours" and CBS News chief investigative and senior national correspondent Jim Axelrod in their showtime extensive interview since Smith was released in "Eric Smith: Gambling on a Killer."
August two, 1993, marked a horrific day for pocket-size town Savona, New York, when local teenager Eric Smith murdered a 4-year-quondam boy, Derrick Robie, who lived across town. Early on that morning, Smith, 13, had spotted the child walking lonely to a summertime camp at the park.
"It'south the first time I e'er let [Derrick] get anywhere lonely," Derrick's grieving mother, Doreen Robie, told "48 Hours." "And it was one block downwards, aforementioned side of the street. … He gave me a kiss and I said, 'I love you.' He says, 'I love you, Mom.' And he went hopping off the sidewalk."
Smith lured the child into a wooded surface area, promising to testify 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 on, searchers constitute Derrick's torso just yards away from the park, in the woods.
With the killer at large, Savona residents feared for their ain children. They couldn't imagine anyone wanting to impale the popular little T-brawl player they called "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 well-nigh Eric's behavior. Marlene Heskell told "48 Hours" that on the nighttime of the murder, "[Eric] asked me what would happen if it turned out to exist a kid. I said, 'I think they seriously need some psychiatric help.' And he-- 'Oh, OK,' you know. And he walked away." She remembered that Eric had gone to the same park most the crime scene. "And that's when information technology all kind of come to together for me that, OK, he might actually know something or have seen something."
Heskell chosen Smith's female parent and they took Eric to the police command mail to come across with investigators. Investigator John Hibsch said Eric seemed to enjoy speaking about the murder. "Totally enjoyed it. Didn't want information technology to end."
Eric denied seeing the little boy at start, merely later confessed to the crime.
His grandfather was there and recalled Eric proverb, "'I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry. I killed that little boy.'"
In August 1994, Smith, now xiv, was tried every bit an adult and sentenced to ix 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 9 years after his law-breaking, Smith had his first parole hearing. His parole was denied.
But Smith would have more opportunities for parole every two years for well-nigh 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 backside bars," Doreen Robie said. "They could decide that well, now he'south washed his time and we're going to permit him go … Information technology scares the hell out of me."
Over the years, Smith spoke out near his experience. In 2004, Smith, and so 24 years one-time, told "48 Hours" that he had killed Derrick Robie after years of being relentlessly bullied past other kids.
John Tunney, who prosecuted Smith, told "48 Hours" contributor Jim Axelrod, "What I do believe is that Eric was tired of being the victim in his listen … and he wanted to come across what information technology felt like to exist the victimizer."
In his 2004 parole board hearing, Smith admitted to the board that he got a good feeling from strangling Derrick at the fourth dimension "considering -- instead of me existence hurt, I was hurting somebody else." He besides admitted if he hadn't been charged back in 1993, that he probably would take killed again, confirming John Tunney's belief that at historic period 13, Smith was a budding serial killer. Smith'south parole was denied in 2004.
Smith was interviewed a few years later by CBS News affiliate WENY-Idiot box. In 2009, he said he hoped to become a counselor so he could assistance other kids who were bullied like he was.
"My acrimony wasn't directed at Derrick at all," Smith explained. "It was directed at … all the other guys that used to pick on me. And when I was torturing and killing Derrick … that was what I saw in my head."
He understood why the Robies didn't desire him released. "I did kill Derrick," Smith said. "And for that, you know, I am sorry … if I could switch places with him and take the grave for him to alive, I'd practice it in a second…"
Smith said after years of therapy, he was a changed human. "You can label me a monster, a cold-blooded killer, a demon child, Satan incarnate. … Doesn't mean that'due south who I am."
He besides believed he would exist released anytime. "I desire to, you know, go married and enhance a family unit. Y'all know, hold downwards, you know, a chore. Pursue the American dream."
Dream though he might, his parole would be denied again and again — until Oct 2021. Smith, now 41, went earlier the board for the 11th time.
During this parole hearing, Smith revealed his futurity plans, and said he even had a fiancée. He said she had written to him with questions about the juvenile justice arrangement, he said, since she was studying to be 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 and said that while incarcerated, he was working on getting his college caste in cause evangelism. He was also looking forward to working in electrical installation or carpentry.
"I'm not a threat," Smith said to the lath. "The 13-year-quondam kid that took [Derrick's] life… is not the man sitting in front of y'all talking … if y'all were to give me the take a chance, I would not but show that I'm non a threat. I would definitely be an asset to social club."
The lath decided to give Smith that adventure. After news broke that Smith would be released, in Nov 2021, the Savona customs held a peaceful protest to make it clear they didn't want Eric back.
"I wasn't and so much worried about united states every bit I was everybody else," Doreen Robie said.
"I but knew where a lot of people in town in the village stood," Dale Robie added.
Smith'southward release was delayed for months until he had secured canonical housing. In Feb, after serving 28 years, the now 42-year-former was released. He is at present a free homo living in Queens, New York.
"I don't let him accept space in my head," Doreen Robie said. "I practise not focus on where he is, what he's doing. … 'cause I don't intendance. As long equally he'southward non near friends and family."
Axelrod spoke with John Tunney later on Smith's release. "Will Eric Smith be a success story?" he asked. "Or somebody we're pointing to and proverb, 'The organization blew information technology with that one'?"
"That's exactly right," Tunney said. "I keep going dorsum to my promise … Time volition tell."
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Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eric-smith-murderer-parole-derrick-robie/
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