Closing the Cold Case of Robin Lawrence

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Closing the Cold Case of Robin Lawrence"

Podcast: 48 Hours
Date: October 27, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of "48 Hours" delves into the decades-old murder of Robin Lawrence, a 37-year-old mother and renowned artist who was brutally stabbed to death in her Virginia home in 1994. The investigation, which left her family and community devastated for nearly 30 years, is reopened and resolved thanks to advances in DNA technology and the dedication of volunteer genealogists and law enforcement. The episode explores the emotional impact of Robin's death, the procedural advances in cold case investigations, and the shocking confession of her killer, Steven Smirk, almost three decades later.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Discovery of the Crime (02:26–04:44)

• Robin’s body was found after her husband, Ollie, unable to reach her while abroad, asked friend Lori Lindbergh to check on her.
• Lori describes finding a cut window screen and entering the house to discover Robin's two-year-old daughter, Nicole, wandering in shock with “no expression on it.”
• First impressions: “I can see into the master bedroom, and I can see on the wall these large splatters and swaths of blood. I was terrified, and I went and I called the police.” – Lori Lindbergh (03:41)

Crime Scene and Early Investigation (07:03–10:01)

• Lead detective Mark Garman recalls the brutality: “A lot of knife wounds. Severe gaping knife wound in her neck. Unbelievable number of defensive wounds.” (08:48)
• Nicole, Robin's young daughter, appeared unharmed but had liver transplant medication needs, intensifying fears about her survival while alone in the house.
• Detectives quickly notice valuables untouched, indicating the attack was likely personal rather than a robbery.

Family and Emotional Fallout (10:10–14:22)

• The news devastates Robin’s family, who recall her as a “powerful lady” and a talented artist selected to design medals for Rosa Parks.
• Robin’s sister, Mary Cohen: “After the words Robin is dead, it was like a nightmare. Yeah, you're just like your world shattered.” (11:14)

Initial Suspicions and Dead Ends (13:52–20:08)

• Investigators focus early suspicion on Robin’s husband, Ollie, after learning he’d had an affair, but his alibi checks out and he is cleared.
• DNA evidence from a bloodied washcloth is collected but doesn’t match anyone in law enforcement databases, stalling the case for years.

Generational Trauma and Lasting Grief (20:19–21:54)

• Family members, especially Robin’s niece Lauren, describe the unspoken void: “I think I lost an extension of myself because she was the one who just taught me to be comfortable with who I was. So you... I lost a piece of me.” (20:54)

Turning to Genetic Genealogy (21:54–27:11)

• Parabon Nanolabs is enlisted for advanced DNA analysis, concluding the killer likely had mixed European ancestry.
• Initial results yield too-distant matches—“Parabon gave us a solvability rate of 0 on the case.” (22:38), so the database results seem hopeless.
• Volunteer genealogist Liz offers to help, spending years building family trees from distant DNA cousins. “I was not certain that I could crack it. There were no first cousins or second cousins. There was really more fourth to sixth.” – Liz (23:49)

DNA Phenotyping and Breakthrough (24:12–27:34)

• Detectives create a facial composite using DNA phenotyping; present it to Robin’s husband with no recognition.
• Liz finally connects two family trees, tracing them to a married couple in Canada, leading to a living descendant: Steven Smirk.

Identification and Confession of the Killer (27:34–31:18)

• Detectives visit Smirk in upstate New York. He cooperates and gives a DNA sample without hesitation.
• Smirk later calls detectives: “I’m at the police department to turn myself in… I’m here to turn myself in for the murder.” (29:59)
• Detective Wallace recalls the moment: “I was freaking out. So I’m on [the phone]—I run down to his room and I’m banging on his door. I’m like, we gotta go to the police department. He’s turning himself in.” (30:51)

Smirk’s Chilling Interrogation (33:47–38:07)

• Smirk calmly recounts the murder without prompting, replying, “It was 100% intentional. I am a serial killer who's only killed once.” (31:40, 39:22)
• He details being high on alcohol and ephedrine, wearing a ski mask and gloves, picking the house at random, and using military hand-to-hand combat skills.
• Admits, “I honestly believe that if it wasn’t for my wife and my kids, I probably would be a serial killer.” (36:44)
• Shows little or no empathy: “I feel bad that I did it because I knew someday my personal freedom would be affected.” (37:35)

Expert Analysis of Smirk’s Mindset (38:07–40:16)

• FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole disputes the “randomness”: “This was purposeful… That suggests to me more of a targeting than it does randomness.” (38:47)
• O’Toole on serial killers: “The absence of a rap sheet does not mean that criminal behavior is absent. It means that they didn’t get arrested for it.” (40:01)

Legal Resolution and Family’s Perspective (42:24–47:49)

• Forensic evidence firmly links Smirk: “It’s a 1 in over 7 million chance that it would not have been his DNA.” (42:40)
• Smirk pleads guilty to first-degree murder for a 70-year sentence, eligible for parole in 2037.
• The family is disappointed by the absence of a public trial: “As much as it’s a sigh of relief, we still have to live with this. It just doesn’t go away.” (47:14)
• On Robin’s legacy: “I want people to remember her as creative, exuberant, very vocal, caring, a beautiful mother. She just had a light that shined from within.” – Lauren (47:33)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the crime scene:
  “That was the first time I thought, oh, my God, something is wrong here.”
  — Lori Lindbergh (03:41)

• On supporting Nicole:
  “I think she was trying to stop the blood.”
  — Det. Mark Garman, referring to tissues left by two-year-old Nicole (09:34)

• On living with loss:
  “I lost a piece of me.”
  — Lauren Ovens, Robin’s niece (20:54)

• On genealogy’s challenge:
  “I was not certain that I could crack it… there were really more fourth to sixth cousins.”
  — Liz, volunteer genealogist (23:49)

• On Smirk’s confession:
  “I am a serial killer who's only killed once.”
  — Steven Smirk (31:40, 39:22)

• On justice:
  “We wanted the world to know what he did, and we wanted the spectacle of that — a satisfaction.”
  — Robin’s family (40:58)

• On closure:
  “As long as he never comes out of prison ever brings closure for me.”
  — Robin’s family member (46:46)

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Important Timestamps for Key Segments

• Crime discovered and initial investigation: 02:26–10:01
• Family reflections and impact: 10:10–14:22, 20:19–21:54
• DNA/genealogy context and volunteer breakthrough: 21:54–27:34
• Detectives identify and confront Smirk: 27:34–31:18
• Smirk’s confession: 33:47–38:07
• Expert profiling and legal analysis: 38:07–40:16
• Trial outcome and family reaction: 42:24–47:49
• Legacy of Robin Lawrence: 47:33–48:02

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

The episode is both somber and relentless in its pursuit of justice, respecting the emotional devastation left in the wake of Robin Lawrence’s murder while highlighting the contemporary tools and dedicated individuals—both law enforcement and passionate civilians—that can at last bring closure to a family, even decades later. The direct language of family testimonies and Smirk’s own chilling, matter-of-fact confessions give the story both gravity and authenticity.

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For further discussion and behind-the-scenes details, “48 Hours” invites listeners to join their “Post Mortem” follow-up episode.

Transcript

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Quince.com 48hours when you're dealing with a 30 year old cold case, it seems like there's not a lot of hope. It's a great photo of Robin. Mm. But look what happened in the Robin Lawrence case. Something sparked it that nobody ever expected. That just caught everybody off guard. Her husband, Ollie had been trying to reach Robin all weekend. Ollie was out of the country.

[A]

Who else was in the house?

[B]

Nicole? Her baby? Well, Ollie contacted me. He said, would you mind going over to the house and checking on her. And I was like, yeah, sure. There's no answer at the front door. So went around to the back.

[A]

So when you go around to the back deck, what do you notice?

[B]

That the window screen is cut. That was the first time I thought, oh, my God, something is wrong here. I had to climb in through the window, and Nicole comes down the hall. Her eyes were just so big, and her little face was just. There's no expression on it. I'm going down the hall, and I can see into the master bedroom, and I can see on the wall these large splatters and swaths of blood. I was terrified, and I went and I called the police. It was a very, very violent attack on Robin. She was stabbed 49 times. It looks like a personal attack. It looked like Nicole had been kind of roaming around the house. Clearly, she had been in that room with her mom. It's hard to think about. That's like a horror movie, but it's not a movie. This is our family. This is our lives. This was Robyn's life. I did think that maybe it was someone she knew. That always kind of sat with my mind, like, who did she know that could have done this? Here's the photo of the washcloth where the key piece of evidence is a washcloth that they find in the bathroom, and it has blood on both sides. I knew that we had a really strong DNA profile which obviously stood out. So detectives just kept waiting to get that phone call from the lab, saying, then we have a match. And unfortunately, that call never came. And then just another year would go by and another year would go by. So you switch tracks and try what we call genetic genealogy. And that was becoming really big at that time. That's when we turned to the help of a volunteer, and she said, genealogy is a hobby of mine. I dabble in it on the side. I'd be willing to do this case for free when I have spare time. I knew it was gonna be a needle in the haystack, but I felt it was worth trying. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 generations away from even these people. And I think It's August of 2023. She sends me an email. She says, I think I found someone of interest.

[A]

What happens as you start looking into him?

[B]

Well, we find out computer programmer up in New York, married to a defense attorney, two kids in high school, nice house in the suburbs. Not so much as a speeding ticket. On his background, I am a serial killer who's only killed once. Ann Marie Green reports closing the cold case of Robin Lawrence. So here's the crime scene pictures. There's a bunch of contact sheets in here. You can tell it starts from the pictures from the outside of the house and then moves in to the scene.

[A]

Cold case detectives Melissa Wallace and John Long of the Fairfax county police department began reviewing Robin Lawrence's murder case in April of 2021.

[B]

That's like your worst nightmare. Here's the bedroom. Obviously her body's here, but you can.

[A]

See they were struck by the sheer violence of the attack on the 37 year old mother.

[B]

It looked brutal. See, is that blood on the book? That's the reason why you tell your loved ones to make sure that your doors are locked at night. He is the boogeyman.

[A]

On November 20, 1994, Robin's friend Lori Lindbergh had entered her home to check on her and saw blood on the bedroom walls and Robin's two year old daughter Nicole wandering around Alarmed, Lori called 911 and then rushed the little girl to the hospital. Although Nicole did not appear hurt, she had undergone a liver transplant after she was born. And her health was fragile because of.

[B]

Course she's taking immunosuppressive medications. I mean this is life saving medication. She needs to have it because you.

[A]

Don'T know how long she's been in.

[B]

That house by herself. Right.

[A]

Lead crime scene detective Mark Garman was one of the first on site.

[B]

This is what we determined to be the entry point to the home.

[A]

According to detective garment, who photographed the evidence, the intruder came through that window off the back deck, the one Lori had used to get inside. He entered the house the same way.

[B]

I had no idea what the scene looked like until I walked around the corner into the master bedroom.

[A]

Tell me the state that Robin was in when you saw her.

[B]

Very damaged, a lot of knife wounds, Severe gaping knife wound in her neck. Unbelievable number of defensive wounds on her hands, Knife wounds in her back, on her legs.

[A]

He says signs of a struggle were obvious in the room.

[B]

This is the phone that was on the floor near Mrs. Lawrence. The phone cord was cut. She was assaulted in the bed and then fought her way out of the bed and continued to fight and struggle.

[A]

Garmin says one of the first things that stood out were bloody tissues scattered around the house and near Robyn's body. He believes it was Robin's daughter Nicole who left them behind, trying to help her mother.

[B]

Even at that age, kids know what blood is and blood come from wounds and cuts and they know that mom puts tissues on them or band aids. I think she was trying to stop the blood.

[A]

And there was another heart wrenching discovery. Empty baby bottles had been left around her mother's body.

[B]

Having kids, when they got hungry, they brought you your baby bottle. And that's what I'm thinking. Nicole would have taken it to mom.

[A]

While investigators process the scene, officers at the hospital asked Lori to to call Robin's parents.

[B]

Robin's dad answered. I think I said, Robin is dead. But what I remember is Jessie, her mom must have just been in the overheard because she was just wailing, just a sort of primal anguish. That was really horrible. That's probably the most horrible thing that's ever happened to me is calling.

[A]

Robin's father, Robert War Sr. A World War II veteran and now 101 years old, says he tried to forget that call, but one memory has never left him.

[B]

My granddaughter was right next to where she was murdered. I'll never forget that. No.

[A]

He had to break the news to his surviving children, including his daughter Mary Warr Cohen, and his son Robert Ward.

[B]

Jr. After the words Robin is dead, it was like a nightmare. Yeah, you're just like your world shattered.

[A]

Mary says in those first few days, they didn't have a clear picture of what had happened to their sister.

[B]

The details were very sketchy and slow to come. And the police asked, well, do you know anybody who had a grudge or something against Robin? And of course the answer is no.

[A]

Robin was a gifted artist with a fine arts degree from Carnegie Mellon University. After college, she was selected to mold the first medal for the Martin Luther King Jr. Non violent peace Prize, which was awarded to Rosa Parks.

[B]

That was a big deal. And for my parents who grew up in Memphis, Tennessee during Jim Crow and they could not ride in the front of the bus, they could not go to the zoo except on Tuesdays, that was a big deal.

[A]

Robin's father, Robert Sr. Says his daughter's accomplishments were his greatest source of pride.

[B]

She was a powerful lady in this world. Her drawings are not just paintings, they are powerful.

[A]

Laurie first met Robyn in ballet class.

[B]

I was like, oh my God, this woman is beautiful. But what was really fun about Robin was she's very personable, very fun loving, just very down to earth.

[A]

Lori and Robyn shared an apartment in Washington, D.C. around the time Robyn was dating her future husband, Ollie. Lori says they were a great match.

[B]

Ollie has a very calm and kind demeanor, and you kind of feel very confident around him, very at ease with him.

[A]

The couple were married on New Year's Eve, 1989. Three years later, they welcomed their daughter Nicole at the Time of her death, Robin was working in advertising. Ollie, who was away on a business trip in the Bahamas, was an executive at an airline.

[B]

I think they had a relatively what I call normal family life. They were working on doing home improvements, getting the yard fixed up.

[A]

Now that home with so much promise was an active crime scene.

[B]

There were valuables that were in the bedroom. There was cash. There was jewelry. There wasn't anything stolen.

[A]

Investigators suspected Robyn was killed by someone she knew.

[B]

They started looking at the family dynamic. They started looking at the marriage.

[A]

Was Ollie cooperative?

[B]

He was.

[A]

But as authorities dug further, they learned something. Ollie had been having an affair with a colleague.

[B]

Then what does that mean? You think, oh, how convenient. The weekend you go out of town for three days, your wife is brutally Murray.

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[B]

It just was surreal. It really was like for me walking through a dream state because you just can't make sense of it.

[A]

Just three days after what would have been Robyn's 38th birthday on November 26, 1994, her family and friends gathered for her funeral.

[B]

We were still very much just bewildered.

[A]

And lost, mary says. Robyn's injuries were so severe the family had a closed casket.

[B]

That was hard for me because I never got a chance to see her one last time. I always wanted to be able to say goodbye and see her.

[A]

As Robyn's family mourned her death, investigators pieced together a timeline and determined that the last time anyone had heard from Robin was around 6pm on Friday, November 18th.

[B]

We believe Robin was killed around 9:30ish.

[A]

Her body was discovered two days later. Investigators zeroed in on her husband Ollie, who they had discovered was having an affair. They followed up on his alibi.

[B]

The detectives flew down to the Bahamas, confirmed that he was on the flight he was supposed to be on. He was at the hotel he was supposed to be at.

[A]

Detectives also interviewed Ollie's lover, but found no evidence she was involved. Robyn's sister and brother were surprised to learn about the affair, but they say they never believed Ollie had anything to do with Robin's murder.

[B]

I never thought that thou is that he harmed her.

[A]

And how about you? Did it ever cross your mind maybe.

[B]

He'S involved in this somehow? No, I didn't think that. He's not that type of person.

[A]

Ali chose not to talk to 48 Hours about his experience. Investigators didn't have much else to go on. The killer left no fingerprints, but something had caught crime scene detective Mark Garman's eye while he was documenting the bathroom.

[B]

On the towel rod to the sliding tub door. There's a washcloth. I do notice a small stain on this towel right here. Small brownish stain.

[A]

That brown stain turned out to be blood, and authorities extracted DNA from it, but it didn't match anyone close to the case, including Ollie or the woman he had had a relationship with. Detectives believed it belonged to Robin's killer and uploaded it to the FBI's national database.

[B]

The suspect's DNA is uploaded to CODIS? Yes.

[A]

But CODIS also returned no matches, and with no new leads, the investigation stalled. How much did the adults tell you?

[B]

Nothing.

[A]

Mary's daughter, Lauren Ovens, was just eight years old when her aunt Robin was killed.

[B]

I remember her being angelic.

[A]

She says even though her family avoided the topic, she could feel the void Robin's murder left behind.

[B]

Out of all of my family members, she was the most like me. So everybody always called me Robyn. I just knew that they were still thinking of her.

[A]

Can you describe what you lost when you lost Robin?

[B]

I think I lost an extension of myself because she was the one who just taught me to be comfortable with who I was. So you. I lost a piece of me.

[A]

Lauren says she stayed close with her cousin Nicole, who rarely spoke about her mother.

[B]

I think she didn't know much about her mother, so there wasn't really much to share, and I didn't want to ever bring it up because I didn't want to make her anxious or make her nervous. It was better just left unsaid.

[A]

The family eventually resigned themselves to the idea that the case may never be solved.

[B]

When my mother died, that was kind of like, well, she went to her grave not knowing what happened to her child. And at that point, I said, well, I have to just kind of let it go. Have to let it go.

[A]

Then, decades later, in 2019, investigators turned to Parabon Nanolabs, a DNA technology company, hoping genetic genealogy could identify Robin's killer. Ellen Greytach is the director of bioinformatics at Parabon.

[B]

We take DNA from a crime scene, we upload it to GEDmatch and to Family Tree DNA, which are two databases. And what they give us back is people in our database who share DNA with your unknown person.

[A]

Greytac says that while their analysis showed Robin's killer likely had European ancestry, tracing him through his relatives proved nearly impossible.

[B]

So in this case, the database matches were just really distant. They only shared little, tiny pieces of DNA, which means that their shared ancestor with our unknown person was pretty far back in time. And that means that those people had a lot of descendants. Today, Parabon gave us a solvability rate of 0 on the case and essentially said, you do not have the time nor the money to get it moving forward.

[A]

Investigators say they could have walked away, but Liz, an amateur genealogist and volunteer with the police department, who asked that her last name not be used, offered to take on the case in her spare time for free.

[B]

I just felt I wanted to give something back to the community, and I believed that I could actually be helpful in way some solving some of these cases.

[A]

Investigators gave Liz everything Parabon had uncovered about the suspect's ethnicity.

[B]

It was about half eastern European, about 25% Irish. Another 25% was a combination of, I think, English and Italian and Scandinavian, along.

[A]

With a list of cousins who shared his DNA.

[B]

So what I got was approximately 1500 cousins. I was not certain that I could crack it. There were no first cousins or second cousins. There was really more fourth to sixth.

[A]

As Liz worked to trace the suspect through his family tree, Detective Wallace turned to another DNA tool and asked Parabon to produce a phenotyping sketch of Robin's killer.

[B]

DNA phenotyping. It means actually predicting what that person looked like from their DNA.

[A]

But would anyone recognize him?

[B]

Tonight's 48 Hours will continue.

[A]

In 2021, nearly 30 years after Robin Lord Lawrence's murder, Parabon Nanolabs was tasked with producing a composite of the man investigators believe was her killer.

[B]

So I get a report from our bioinformatics scientists, and it lays out all the predictions from the DNA.

[A]

Scientists created this facial model based on the DNA predictions.

[B]

It starts off with his skin color, which he's predicted to have very fair or fair skin color. He's most likely going to have a larger chin than average, wider jaw or cheeks than average, kind of a narrower nose than average.

[A]

Tom Shaw, a forensic artist at Parabon, says his job was to refine the model by applying other details like hair and eye color.

[B]

I've kind of outlined where his eyes are because I'm going to be putting new ones in. So here's one kind of that dark blue that are predicted. I'll do eyebrows. We're looking at kind of most likely like a lighter brownish hair. And so I gave him a little bit lighter eyebrows to match what his hair color is going to be. I'll go and find a hairstyle, something generic.

[A]

Shah says DNA doesn't reveal a person's age, so the composites are generated as a young adult, typically around 25 years old.

[B]

So this is him. Does this look like their mailman? Was this the neighbor's kid? Was it somebody from work?

[A]

Detective Melissa Wallace set up a video call with Robin's husband, Ollie, to see if he recognized the man in the composite.

[B]

I was really hoping that when Ollie saw that, that he would go, oh, my gosh. That looks exactly like so and so.

[A]

And did he?

[B]

He did not. He said, that doesn't spark my memory at all. Looks like nobody I know.

[A]

The investigation stalled again. But behind the scenes, volunteer genealogist Liz kept working with that list of 1500 cousins distantly related to the suspect. Liz had eventually traced some of the suspect's ancestors to Canada, where they had settled. That's where she found two cousins that were not related to each other.

[B]

And so I ended up with two trees with that were highly reliable. They were the people that were truly cousins to this suspect. Where did their two trees come together?

[A]

Liz says if she could figure out where those two trees were linked through a marriage, the suspect would be a descendant of that couple.

[B]

And what I found was this woman on this tree married this man on this tree. That was it. That was the aha moment. That was when I realized that he is a descendant of this couple right here.

[A]

After three and a half years, Liz finally had a lead and had pointed her to a man named Steven Smirk.

[B]

I felt like this really was him. I didn't know it for certain, but I believed it was. Contacted the detectives. So she sends me an email. She says, I think I found someone of interest.

[A]

What happens as you start looking into it?

[B]

Well, we find out. Computer programmer up in New York, married to a defense attorney, two kids in high school, nice house in the suburbs, not so much as a speeding ticket. On his background, I'm thinking there's no way this is our guy.

[A]

But according to Detective John Long, things got a bit more interesting when they found his yearbook photo at age 16.

[B]

It looked very similar to the phenotyping sketch. We're like, well, you know, maybe this does make sense.

[A]

Steven Smirk lived in Niskayuna, a town in upstate New York. So investigators decided to pay him a visit. Does he know you're coming?

[B]

No, no.

[A]

They were hoping he would call and provide his DNA. Wallace and Long say he appeared to be home alone, so they knocked on his door.

[B]

All we said is, we are detectives from Fairfax County, Virginia, and we're looking into a cold case from the 90s. Do you mind if we come in and talk to you? He said, sure. He invited us in and. Okay, hold on a minute.

[A]

So you say we're from Virginia were investigating this murder. His initial reaction, no reaction.

[B]

None, None. Stone faced. There was no surprise. There was no fear, nothing.

[A]

They found his demeanor unusual.

[B]

When we're asking for DNA, this conversation typically takes a solid 45 minutes. People generally have a lot of questions like, what do you mean someone in my family has committed a murder? Who was killed? There was not a single question from him. We were in and out of his house in five minutes with his DNA consent form, signed, swabbed, collected, packaged up, that was it.

[A]

After the visit, detectives checked into their hotel. But then Detective Wallace got an unexpected call.

[B]

It's Steve Smart calling me. And he says, I'm at the police department to turn myself in. And I said, turn yourself in for what? And he said, I'm here to turn myself in for the murder. A million things started going through my mind.

[A]

Smirk told detectives he was having trouble getting into the Niskayuna Police Department, which was locked.

[B]

So then I'm thinking it must be a smaller police station. And I said, okay, what I need you to do is we're going to hang up. I need you to come call 911 and tell them that you're there.

[A]

Stephen Smirk's call was recorded.

[B]

91 1, the address of your emergency. I'm actually here to turn myself in for a cold case crime. You're here to turn yourself in? Well, they collected DNA, so it's. What's your last name? Wow.

[A]

So when do you tell him?

[B]

Oh, my God. I was freaking out. So I'm on freak me out. I run down to his room and I'm banging on his door. I'm like, we gotta go to the police department. He's turning himself in.

[A]

Wallace also reached out to local police, and Steven Smerk was taken into custody.

[B]

The adrenaline was pumping so hard because the reality hit and it sounds like he's going to talk to us about it.

[A]

Detective Long says they had to refocus fast and figure out how they would handle Stephen Smirk's interrogation.

[B]

We need to make sure this is a sound interview that could potentially be used in court down the road. All right, go ahead and have a seat.

[A]

When they finally sat down with him.

[B]

Where do you want to sit?

[A]

Investigators say he didn't need much prompting.

[B]

It was 100% intentional. I am a serial killer who's only killed once. Tonight's 48 Hours will continue. I'm done with subscriptions, streaming, fitness razors, vitamins. I've got subscriptions for everything in my life. They lock you in, and half the time I can't figure out how to unsubscribe. That's why I'm so excited about the new Blue Apron. Now you can get delicious meals delivered with no subscription needed, including new pre made options. Keep the flavor. Ditch the subscription. Get 20% off your first two orders with code APRON20. Terms and conditions apply. Visit blue apron.com terms for more. I'm Investigator Slater, host of the Cyclopedia True Crime podcast. Spooky season is officially here and for the entire month of October we are transforming into Spookopedia. All episodes, including bonus content will delve.

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[A]

When investigators met with Stephen Smirk on September 7, 2023, they were skeptical.

[B]

This doesn't happen every day. So we, we had to really think through, well, why is he doing this?

[A]

Detectives had not yet received the results of the the DNA samples Smirk had provided linking him definitively.

[B]

We needed to be very careful to make sure that we weren't getting a false confession.

[A]

So then what was your approach going to be?

[B]

We started talking about things like, hey, let's make sure that he's going to bring up details of the case without us telling him first. Can you remind me her name again? Can you say that? I can. Do you remember anything about the person? She was African American. Okay. That's all I remember. He starts volunteering information, which is great. So it was just like he wanted to talk about, you know, his weekend or some other family event that he went to. It was a very calm conversation, nonchalant. I was not in the right frame of mind.

[A]

Stephen Smirk told detectives that back in November 1994 he was a 22 year old soldier stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia. And on the night of the murder, he had been drinking beer.

[B]

I was drunk and under ephedrine.

[A]

He says he had been taking ephedrine pills, a stimulant.

[B]

Something inside me said that it's hard to explain. I knew that I was going to kill somebody. I did not know who I was going to kill. It was like this overbearing thought in my brain that I just had to kill somebody.

[A]

Smerg said he drove to Robin's neighborhood because he was familiar with the area. He visited friends who stayed in a house nearby.

[B]

Had you had any contact with her, spoke to her or anything like that? No, I didn't even to be honest with you, I don't know. Didn't even know who lived there. I never met this person before or see her or anything.

[A]

Smirk confirmed he entered the house from the back deck and told detectives he was wearing a ski mask and leather gloves.

[B]

I went in and noticed that she had a baby in one of the rooms.

[A]

He said he went down the hall to Robin's bedroom.

[B]

I startled her. She got out of bed. She was on her knees. She was just begging for her life. I cut her up pretty good. I did everything they taught me in the military, hand to hand combat. I'm highly, highly influenced by demons.

[A]

He told investigators one of the reasons he enlisted was because he wanted to kill.

[B]

But I want to tell you right now that she's the only person that I've killed.

[A]

I'm married.

[B]

I have kids. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for my wife and my kids, I probably would be a serial killer.

[A]

Detective Wallace knew it was critical to link him to that washcloth found in the bathroom. So she asked him if he'd been injured that night.

[B]

She clawed at my face. I had a little bit of a scar here. Did you ever go into her bathroom at all? I don't remember that. If I did go into the bathroom, it would have been to look at what she did to my face. That's when I knew that we were in business with putting him in the bathroom and why his DNA was there. That was the biggest confirmation.

[A]

As the interview wrapped up, Detective Long asked Smerk if he wanted to express any remorse to Robinson family.

[B]

How do I say this? I don't know. You're recording. I don't do anything for the family. I can't say that any other way. I feel bad that I did it because I knew someday my personal freedom would be Affected. I think what you see is 100% what you get from him. Arrogance, entitlement. He wanted to do it, so we did it, and that's it.

[A]

Detective Wallace believes Steven Smerk confessed because he knew he was caught and wanted to turn himself in on his own terms.

[B]

It wasn't because he was sorry. It wasn't because he was tired of running for 30 years. He wanted to maintain control.

[A]

Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O', Toole, who reviewed the case for 48 hours, agrees that Smirk wanted to control the narrative.

[B]

He was prepared that he was going to tell his version of the story.

[A]

O' Toole says she doesn't buy Smirk's claim that Robin's murder was random. She classifies it as a mission oriented homicide.

[B]

Went down the hallway, bedroom was a. He brought the weapon with him. He had a mask, he had gloves. It also happens to be on an evening when the victim's husband is in a travel status. This was purposeful when inside somebody's home. Took enormous risk. So that suggests to me more of a targeting than it does randomness.

[A]

In her analysis, o' Toole says she was struck by Smirk identifying himself as. As a serial killer.

[B]

I am a serial killer who's only killed once. He did come across as someone that had admiration for them.

[A]

So here's kind of like the big question, though. Do serial killers stop killing?

[B]

Yes, they do.

[A]

According to o', Toole, serial offenders can sometimes channel their compulsion to kill into other crimes, like stalking or voyeurism.

[B]

I think it's also possible that he engaged in other behaviors much less serious than homicide that satisfied him.

[A]

He has no criminal history of any kind. How unusual is that?

[B]

Not very unusual. But here's the important thing to keep in mind. The absence of a rap sheet does not mean that criminal behavior is absent. It means that they didn't get arrested for it.

[A]

After his confession, Stephen Smirk was arrested and charged with the murder of Robin Lawrence. Detective Wallace says her first phone call was to Robin's daughter Nicole.

[B]

You could tell the shock, but she didn't break down or crumble. I could tell that she was like, okay, now my job is to notify the rest of the family. How is it that he could live his life with his family when he blew up our family 30 years ago? Where's the justice in that?

[A]

Robin's family prepared for the next step.

[B]

We really wanted to do a trial. We wanted the world to know what he did, and we wanted the spectacle of that a satisfaction.

[A]

But would they get that chance?

[B]

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[A]

A week after Stephen Smirk's interview with police, forensic testing confirmed Stephen Smirk's DNA was a match to the blood on the washcloth found in Robin's bathroom.

[B]

It's a 1 in over 7 million chance that it would not have been his DNA.

[A]

On April 4, 2024, Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano's office presented the case at a preliminary hearing to determine if there was enough evidence to move forward.

[B]

Look, I've dealt with murderers before. I can tell you that in my mind, Stephen Smirk stands alone as somebody who represents a true danger to the community.

[A]

Robin's family saw Stephen Smirk for the first time at the hearing.

[B]

I was amazed how big he was. He needed two, two bailiffs around him. The first thing I thought of was like, my aunt didn't stand a chance.

[A]

Prosecutors played Smirk's confession and the family heard the details of Robyn's murder.

[B]

In Smerk's own words, there was no emotion. It didn't feel real. It just made me feel angry. Like, how could he have done that?

[A]

The judge found probable cause that Stephen Smirk killed Robin and allowed the case to proceed to a grand jury. On April 15th, a grand jury indicted him, but six months later, he accepted a plea deal for first degree murder.

[B]

We get guaranteed accountability.

[A]

Descano says the agreement ensured Smirk would be held accountable.

[B]

We had the challenge of some witnesses passing other witnesses, their memories becoming a little bit cloudy and not as sharp.

[A]

Robin's family, however, say they were disappointed.

[B]

They wanted him to be put on trial.

[A]

On March 7, 2025, Stephen Smirk returned to court for sentencing as part of the mitigation strategy for a more lenient sentence. His attorney, Don Boudarak, told the judge that in the early 90s, Smerk was a troubled young man struggling with alcohol and substance abuse.

[B]

He eventually decided, I'm going to join the military, thinking that that would be a good choice for him to maybe get his life stabilized.

[A]

He said he joined the military so he could kill people. What did he mean by that?

[B]

I never asked him what he meant by that. I think it was an idea that if I go, maybe I can take my anger out on this. Maybe this will get me back on the right track.

[A]

According to Butyrak, Smirk was also crippled with an undiagnosed mental illness.

[B]

It wasn't until several years later that he eventually was diagnosed with bipolar 2 disorder. And when you add ephedra and alcohol, he was struggling a lot.

[A]

The FDA banned some Ephedra products in 2004, and Boudarak says that was in part because when abused with other substances, they could trigger dangerous psychiatric side effects. Did Steve Smirk tell you that he ever had hallucinations or heard voices, anything along those lines while taking ephedra?

[B]

No. But you have to remember at the time, also, he had undiagnosed bipolar, so it's hard to figure out exactly what his mental state was attributable to.

[A]

She says. By the time investigators came to Smerc's door nearly 30 years later, Smerk had sought help for his mental health problems and become sober. Boudarak says her client confessed and waived his right to a trial because he felt genuine remorse. But over the 30 years, did he.

[B]

Think about Robin every day?

[A]

Every day?

[B]

Every day he'd think about it.

[A]

But during his statement to investigators, he doesn't express empathy or remorse.

[B]

He always wanted to accept responsibility. Acceptance of responsibility is one form of remorse.

[A]

In the end, the judge sentenced Stephen Smirk to the maximum sentence allowed under the plea deal, 70 years with the possibility of parole.

[B]

I think what he got, as long as he never comes out of prison ever brings closure for me.

[A]

After the sentencing, Ollie Lawrence gave a statement to the press.

[B]

The Warren Lawrence family are grateful that justice has finally been done for the murder of our beloved Robin.

[A]

Lauren answered a few questions with Robyn's daughter Nicole by her side.

[B]

As much as it's a sigh of relief, we still have to. To live with this just doesn't go away. She's strong. She stood next to me, and she held my hand. Oh, my God. If her mom could see us. It was great.

[A]

How do you want people to remember your aunt?

[B]

I want people to remember her as creative, exuberant, very vocal, caring, a beautiful mother. She just had a light that shined from within.

[A]

I feel like she is living through her art because her art emotes. So when you do look at her art, what do you see?

[B]

I kind of see the spirit of Robin. Who she was, how she looked at the world, you know, through her eyes. And it was good things, happy things, warm things. Stephen Smirk will be eligible for parole in 2037 when he turns 65. Now streaming on Paramount plus it's the epic return of Mayor of Kingstowne. Warden. You know who I am. Starring Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner, I sway in these walls. Emmy award winner Edie Falco. You're an ex con who ran this place for years. And now, now you can't do that. And BAFTA award winner Lenny James. You're about to have a plague of outsiders descend on your town. Let me tell you this. There's gonna be consequences. Mayor of Kingstowne new season now streaming on Paramount plus this October, fear is free on Pluto tv. With horror movie collections from Paranorma, the Ring, you will die in seven days. Scream. And from dusk till dawn. This is my kind of place. And don't miss the man made nightmares in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or the world ending chaos in 28 days later.

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Join me Tuesday for postmortem from 48 Hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case.