Guilty plea expected in unsolved 1994 Fairfax Co. mother's murder case

It’s been almost 30 years since a mother was stabbed to death in her West Springfield, Virginia, home while her two-year-old daughter was in the next room. The man accused of Robin Lawrence’s death is expected to plead guilty on Friday.

Court records show Stephan Smerk, 52, is scheduled to appear for a plea hearing Friday in Fairfax County Circuit Court. Sources tell WTOP he is expected to plead guilty to first-degree murder.

Robin Lawrence’s body was discovered inside her home on the leafy cul-de-sac of Reseca Lane in the county’s West Springfield area on November 20, 1994. Her husband was out of the country traveling business and when he could, Not reaching her, he got worried and asked a family friend to check in.

The friend alerted police to the grisly scene and found Lawrence’s young daughter unattended.

Detectives collected DNA evidence at the time and uploaded it to the national CODIS database of DNA profiles – but there were no matches and the case eventually went cold.

In 2019, police began working with Reston-based Parabon NanoLabs, a DNA technology company that has helped Washington-area police departments finally solve several other cold cases.

Parabon investigators and detectives also began searching online genealogy databases to build a family tree, which ultimately led to Smerk, who lived in Niskayuna, New York.

In 1994, Smerk was an active-duty soldier, based at what is now Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, near Arlington National Cemetery.

Fairfax County detectives Melissa Wallace and JD Long traveled the 400 miles to upstate New York.

When detectives arrived at Smerk’s home, he was in his driveway throwing trash cans onto the sidewalk. He spoke to detectives and agreed to have them take a DNA sample from his home, according to Davis. Detectives left a business card with a cell phone number.

When the detectives returned to their hotel, Smerk called them and said he wanted to talk. Police say he confessed.

At the time of his arrest in September 2023, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said Smerk had “no criminal history.”

In April 2024, Fairfax County prosecutors played Smerk’s confession during a probable cause hearing. Smerk told detectives he did not know the victim, but was familiar with the area, as a friend lived next door.

“I knew I was going to kill someone; I didn’t know who I was going to kill,” he told police, according to News 4. As the questioning continued, Smerk said, “You know what I did, I know what that I did – I cut it out pretty well. »

Smerk’s public defender previously said Smerk’s confession differed from the details of the crime.

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