'I am a serial killer who only killed once’: Man sentenced decades after stabbing woman 49 times
A New York father and Army veteran has been sentenced to 70 years in prison three decades after he left his barracks and killed a northern Virginia woman.
Stephan Smerk of Niskayuna was sentenced Friday to life in prison with all but 70 years suspended, the Office of the Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney said in a news release.
The 53-year-old, who pleaded guilty in October, was convicted of the November 1994 murder of 37-year-old mother Robin Warr Lawrence, whose family waited decades to find out what happened to her.
Detectives in Fairfax County narrowed down a suspect, Smerk, using advanced genealogy techniques. Smerk, a software engineer, confessed hours after detectives went to his New York home to collect a DNA sample in September 2023, according to the commonwealth attorney’s office.
Man left his barracks ‘with intent to kill’
Back in November 1994, Smerk was a young U.S. Army soldier stationed at what is now Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington. He “left his barracks with intent to kill someone – though he did not yet know who,” the commonwealth attorney’s office said.
Smerk drove to West Springfield and broke into Lawrence’s home, stabbing her 49 times, the office said. Her husband was out of the country that night and she was home alone with her 2-year-old daughter, the office said. Authorities said the victim's daughter was not injured the day of the attack.
Lawrence's husband became worried when he hadn't been able to reach her for a few days, so he asked a neighbor to check on her, according to a 1994 report from the Post-Standard, a New York newspaper.
When the neighbor went to check on Lawrence on Nov. 20, 1994, the back door was open, so they called for Lawrence, who did not respond. When the neighbor called for Lawrence's daughter, the girl came to the door, the newspaper reported.
Lawrence's body around 12:30 p.m. that day, and police believed she had been dead for at least a few days. Her daughter, who had a liver transplant a year before the murder, was treated for dehydration when she was found, reported the Post-Standard.
Investigators collected blood samples at the scene but the murder went unsolved for nearly three decades.
Fairfax County Police detectives working the case were able to use forensic genealogy to narrow down a possible suspect. In September 2023, they traveled to Niskayuna, New York, where Smerk lived, to get a voluntary DNA sample.
Smerk turned himself in and confessed to killing Lawrence just a few hours after submitting a sample, the office said.
“I knew that I was going to kill somebody," he said in video footage of the confession. "I did not know who I was going to kill. Something inside of me just compelled me to do it … It was like this overbearing thought in my brain that I needed to kill somebody."
Smerk's confession: ‘I am a serial killer who only killed once’
On the night of the murder, Smerk told police that he was drinking and chose Lawrence’s house after driving to the neighborhood his friend lived in, WUSA reported.
He randomly chose her home and entered the home through a sliding glass door. He attacked her with a knife and cut the phone cord as she tried to call for help, he confessed.
During the murder, her daughter was in another room, reported Deputy Chief Eli Cory of the Fairfax County Police Department at a September 2023 news conference. Lawrence's daughter was not injured, he said.
Smerk said during his confession that Lawrence begged for her life and fought back.
“She clawed at my face," he said. "I had a little bit of a scar.”
When asked what he used to attack Lawrence, he said he used a knife and “cut her up pretty good.”
He told police that if he had no wife and kids, he’d probably commit more murders, saying: “I am a serial killer who only killed once."
Lauren Ovans, Lawrence’s niece, was just 8 years old when her aunt was murdered, she told Paste BN Tuesday morning. When her family found out Smerk had been found, they were shocked to find out the Warr family is from the same part of New York her aunt's killer lived in – Niskayuna.
"Some of my best friends lived across the street from him," Ovans said. "I had been by his house when I was a kid. He was living under our nose the whole time."
Ovans ended up relocating to the DMV area and shortly after, realized she moved close to the home where her aunt was killed.
"It's hard for me to even drive by the house," she said.
She recalls seeing the home as a child, months after her aunt’s murder – the blood stains on the carpet and the darkness permeating throughout the home, devoid of her aunt’s warmth and light.
Lawrence’s parents stayed in the house at one point while seeking answers. They offered a reward to find out what happened to their late daughter.
“They had a really hard time,” Ovans said. “Imagine staying in a house where your daughter was murdered for weeks.”
The Warr family is glad there are no more court proceedings but she doesn't think her family will ever truly "move on" from this loss.
"We feel relief that people are safe," she said. "He's where he needs to be and we know what happened. We have answers. But in terms of our feeling towards Robin and the situation or circumstances, I think that will live on with us for the rest of our lives."
Virginia woman was an artist and dancer, family says
Lawrence was the director of advertising for Merchant Tire Co. in Manassas, the Post-Standard reported in 1994. Her family had planned to celebrate her 38th birthday that year around Thanksgiving.
She was the daughter of Robert Warr, the first Black common councilor on the Syracuse Common Council, according to the Post-Standard.
Her niece, Ovans, said her aunt went to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, then moved to Washington, D.C. She eventually met her soon-to-be husband, Ollie and moved to Virginia.
Ovans remembers her aunt as a talented artist and dancer. She also designed a plaque memorializing Martin Luther King Jr. and worked with watercolors and pencil sketches.
"She was beyond talented," Ovans said. "I think that's the one thing my almost 101-year-old grandpa remembers, is just how much of a talented artist she was."
Ovans lived in New York as a child but spent holidays such as Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving with her aunt.
Ovans, who was older than Lawrence's daughter, would play and take care of the baby girl.
"She would laugh because I would try to take care of Nicole, and I was practically a child myself," Ovans said.
Her aunt was very active, always smiling and she was very extroverted. She had a lively personality that Ovans, an only child, was drawn to.
"It was really nice to be able to share that bond with someone," she said. "She almost felt like a sister to me, even if I was so much younger ... I fell in love with her artwork. I fell in love her. She was what I wanted to be when I grew up."
Her aunt was her own person who stayed true to herself, Ovans said. She also had a way of knowing how those around her were feeling. She supported them during those hard times.
"I didn't have that with a lot of my other family members, and so that's why I think this case is so important, for me to tell her story," Ovans said.
Woman's death impacted her daughter 'greatly,' niece says
After Lawrence's death, her husband raised her daughter, Nicole, Ovans said. Her daughter still lives in Virginia.
"This has impacted her greatly," Ovans said. "She's definitely staying strong ... I think it's hard for her to talk about it because she was so young when it happened. She doesn't have much of a remembrance of her mom."
Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement that Lawrence’s murder “scarred Fairfax County for more than 30 years.”
“The pain left by Robin Lawrence’s murder can never fully heal," he said. "But I hope that today’s sentence will help her loved ones finally close this difficult chapter."
This story has been updated with new information.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.