A man pleaded guilty Friday to murdering a Virginia woman who was found slain in her Fairfax County home nearly three decades ago. Her toddler was alone at the home for days after the killing.
Robin Lawrence, 37, was stabbed to death in her home on Reseca Lane in Springfield, Virginia, on Nov. 20, 1994, while her 2-year-old daughter was inside.
Advances in DNA technology ultimately led investigators to Stephen Smerk.
Smerk, 52, pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree murder and faces a maximum sentence of 70 years, prosecutors said.
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"For many years, we never thought we would know what happened to Robin. And that was probably the hardest part, not knowing and never being able to put it to rest," Lawrence's sister Mary Cowens said outside the courthouse Friday.
At the time of the killing, Lawrence's husband was out of town. After he wasn't able to contact his wife, he asked a family friend to check in on her. The friend found Lawrence's body, as well as the couple's toddler. Left alone for days, the little girl was dehydrated, but not otherwise physically harmed.
Detectives couldn't solve the case at the time, but were able to develop a DNA profile of Lawrence's killer.
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Last year, advancements in DNA technology lead to a break in the case last year.
Fairfax County police said Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA company based in Northern Virginia, used genealogical DNA family trees to develop Smerk as a possible suspect. They also created a digital composite of the suspect in Lawrence's killing, which police compared to photos of Smerk from 1988 and 1998.
Smerk had since moved to Niskayuna in upstate New York. When police traveled there to meet with him, they said Smerk confessed to the crime.
In a video-recorded interview, Smerk told detectives he didn't know Lawrence, but was familiar with the neighborhood and went to her house because his friends lived next door.
"That he just happened to pick my sister’s house and go in and take her life for no reason, other than what was in his head, there is no grappling with that," Cowens said.
“I knew that I was going to kill somebody; I did not know who I was going to kill,” he confessed to police.
As questioning continued, Smerk said, “You guys know what I did. I know what I did … I cut her up pretty good.”
Prosecutors said Smerk described himself as a potential serial killer and he told police he would've killed more people if not for his wife and children.
The defense pointed out in court that Virginia abolished parole for such convictions in 1995, but because the crime happened in 1994, Smerk would still be eligible for parole.
"It’s extremely difficult to know that he could be out before 70 years, and I try not to think about it, but it’s hard not to," Lawrence's neice Lauren Ovans said.
Ovans said her family happened to live in the same area of New York where Smerk eventually settled down. She said she'd played with her friends near his house, never knowing who he was or what he'd done.
The defense argued in April that Smerk's confession didn't match up with the actual details of the crime.
Smerk's sentencing hearing is set for March 2025.
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