In 1994, 37-year-old Robin Warr Lawrence was brutally murdered in her Virginia home, stabbed 49 times, leaving her 2-year-old daughter alone for two days until a neighbor discovered her body. For decades, the case went cold — until a breakthrough in DNA technology finally led investigators to a suspect.
The story is featured in a new episode of “48 Hours,” which introduces Stephan Smerk, the man who pled guilty to Robin’s murder in 2024 and was sentenced to 70 years in prison in March 2025.
Back at the original crime scene, investigators collected blood from a bathroom towel, but DNA testing at the time — before the O.J. Simpson trial catapulted the field into the spotlight — yielded no leads.
Decades later, Parabon NanoLabs, a company specializing in genetic genealogy and DNA phenotyping, helped generate a suspect profile that pointed to a relative of Smerk. Police tracked him down outside his New York home while he was taking out the trash. After voluntarily providing a DNA sample, Smerk later turned himself in.
In a chilling confession, Smerk told police he had been an active-duty soldier stationed near Northern Virginia when he randomly chose Robin’s house and killed her. He even admitted, “I honestly believe that if it wasn’t for my wife and my kids, I probably would be a serial killer.” After the murder, he showered, disposed of his clothes, and went on with life as if nothing had happened, claiming he had been drinking at the time.
Robin’s husband had asked a neighbor to check on her after days without contact. When they arrived, they found the back door open and called for her daughter, who was treated for dehydration.
Repentance is good