A New York software engineer pleaded guilty on Friday to killing a Virginia mother 30 years ago as prosecutors read his chilling confession in which he ominously mused he “probably would be a serial killer” if he never got married.
Stephen Smerk, 52, admitted to fatally stabbing 37-year-old Robin Lawrence, who he targeted at random in her Springfield home in November 1994 while her 2-year-old daughter was also inside.
Smerk, then 22, was stationed at Fort Myer in Arlington for his first year in the Army when he drove from the base intent on killing anyone he came across.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if there were 50 people in that house,” Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Kelsey Gill said. “He set out to kill someone.”
Gill added that Smerk drove as far away from the barracks to a location where he felt comfortable enough to kill, according to WUSA9.
The software engineer was taken into custody in Niskayuna in upstate New York in September 2023 after DNA evidence matched him to the murder.
Gill read part of his disturbing confession video in court Friday.
“[Smerk] said, ‘I’ve not killed anyone else, but I could be a serial killer,’” the prosecutor read.
In the same confession video, Smerk added that he “cut [Lawrence] up pretty good.”
He described stabbing her twice — however Lawrence was found with 49 total stab wounds, WUSA9 reported.
“If not for my wife and kids, I probably would be a serial killer,” Smerk said at one point.
The gut-churning confession was difficult for Lawrence’s relatives to hear.
“I can’t grapple with that or anything that he did that he happened to pick my sister’s house to go in and take her life for no reason other than what was in his head.” Mary Cowans, Lawrence’s sister, told the outlet.
“He looks like he doesn’t have a soul,” said Lauren Ovans, Lawrence’s niece.
Lawrence’s body was found days after the killing by a friend of the family after Lawrence’s husband asked for a wellness check while he was away on a business trip.
The friend testified that she found the screen cut out from a large back window at Lawrence’s home.
When the friend got inside, Lawrence’s shocked toddler crawled over to her in soiled diapers.
The friend described seeing blood splattered on the bedroom walls, and running to a neighbor’s house to call police.
When police arrived, they found Lawrence face down next to her bed with a pillow between her legs, the detective assigned to the case testified. He recalled wounds to her head, face and neck.
Lawrence’s husband, who lives in France, was present for the hearing via video conference call, WUSA9 reported.
“It blew our family apart and for many, many years, it was very difficult and hard for all of us,” Cowans said. “At least he’s no longer on the streets, no longer a danger to any other family or person and we will move on.”
Smerk is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.
He could face up to 70 years in prison, per his plea deal.
