Lemuel Smith

Overview

Lemuel Warren Smith, born on July 23, 1941, in Amsterdam, New York, is an American serial killer infamous for being the first convict to kill an on-duty female corrections officer. While already serving time for the murders of at least five people, he took the life of prison guard Donna Payant at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in 1981, a shocking event that rattled the New York prison system and raised serious questions about security measures in place.

Quick Facts

• Born: July 23, 1941 (age 83)
• Place of Birth: Amsterdam, New York, U.S.
• Convictions:
  • First-degree murder
  • Second-degree murder (2 counts)
  • Assault with intent to kill
  • Second-degree kidnapping
• Criminal Penalty: Death sentence commuted to life imprisonment
• Victims: 6 confirmed
• Span of Crimes: January 21, 1958 – May 15, 1981
• Country: United States
• State: New York
• Date Apprehended: August 19, 1977

Smith is currently considered one of the most dangerous inmates in the New York prison system and remains in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.

Early Life

Lemuel Smith grew up in a deeply religious household, which would later play a role in the complex narratives surrounding his mental health. During later claims of insanity, he recounted an unsettling incident from his childhood, stating that at the age of 11, he nearly smothered a nine-year-old girl to death. However, this claim remains unverified.

The first indication of his violent tendencies emerged on January 21, 1958, when 16-year-old Smith became a suspect in the robbery and brutal murder of Dorothy Waterstreet, who was found beaten to death near his neighborhood. Despite evidence pointing in his direction, the case collapsed due to a premature push from the district attorney for a confession, allowing Smith to evade arrest.

Early Criminal Activity and Prison Time

Under increasing scrutiny from the Amsterdam police, Smith relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he escalated his criminal behavior. During the summer of 1958, he kidnapped a 25-year-old woman and severely beat her. Thanks to a witness who interrupted the attack, she survived, leading to Smith's arrest. On April 12, 1959, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for assault with intent to murder.

After serving nearly a decade, Smith was paroled in May 1968. However, he quickly fell back into his violent ways. Just days after his release, on May 20, 1969, he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman. Thanks to the bravery of Anthony Scipione and his wife Kathleen, the victim managed to escape. Later that same day, he kidnapped and raped a 46-year-old family friend, leading to another arrest and a subsequent 4 to 15-year prison sentence.

Freedom and Serial Murders

Paroled in October 1976 after serving just over four years for attempted rape, Smith wasted no time returning to his violent past. On November 24, 1976—just days before Thanksgiving—Robert Hedderman, 48, and his secretary, Margaret Byron, 59, were found brutally murdered in the back of Hedderman's religious store in Albany. The crime scene revealed human feces, which would later prove pivotal in linking Smith to the murders as hair and blood evidence emerged, positioning him as a prime suspect.

The horror escalated on December 23, 1976, when Joan Richburg, 24, was found raped, murdered, and mutilated in her car at the Colonie Center mall. The brutality of the crime, coupled with emerging evidence, kept Smith firmly on the police radar, but he remained free as investigations stalled.

In a chilling turn of events, on January 10, 1977, he attempted to lure a young woman out of a gift shop, but when she resisted, he took her elderly grandmother hostage, threatening her life. The grandmother would later recognize Smith from a newspaper photograph.

As the murder investigations stagnated, Maralie Wilson, 30, was found strangled and mutilated near train tracks in Schenectady, New York, on July 22, 1977. The horrific nature of the mutilation shocked even veteran investigators. Witnesses recalled seeing Wilson being approached by a large man—Smith, who was quickly identified as a suspect.

On August 19, 1977, Smith's reign of terror came to an end when he kidnapped 18-year-old Marianne Maggio. Police apprehended him without incident after stopping the vehicle in which he was forcing her to drive.

Experiment and Confessions

While Smith was in custody, New York State Police Lt. Don Pinto examined photographs of Maralie Wilson and noted a potential bite mark on her nose. An exhumation of Wilson's body confirmed the bite mark matched Smith's dental impression.

In late October 1977, police conducted a remarkable experiment at Bleecker Stadium in Albany. They placed Smith and four other men behind screens while a police dog, trained on the feces-stained clothing from the Hedderman store murders, was released. Remarkably, the dog consistently identified Smith, even after rearranging the men multiple times—a clear indication of his involvement.

On March 5, 1978, armed with the bite mark evidence, Smith confessed to five murders, including the long-ago murder of Dorothy Waterstreet. His confession was given under the condition that it remained secret, but investigators were allowed to follow leads based on the details he provided.

Insanity Defense

Smith's confessions were laced with revelations about his troubled psyche. He claimed to suffer from multiple personality disorder and asserted that he was controlled by the spirit of his deceased brother, John Jr., who had died from encephalitis before Smith was born. Mental health professionals examined him and concluded that he had suffered multiple head injuries and severe psychological trauma due to his father's zealous religious beliefs.

Initially, there were concerns about Smith's fitness to stand trial. However, as proceedings moved forward, two doctors testified to his delusions, though they stopped short of declaring him criminally insane. Smith was ultimately found guilty of rape in Saratoga County on March 9, 1978, receiving a ten to twenty-year sentence. Following a four-day bench trial in Schenectady, he was found guilty of kidnapping and received another 25 years to life.

While awaiting trial for the double murder in Albany, Smith attempted suicide. He was later indicted for the murders of Wilson and Richburg, but with a life sentence already secured, those indictments were dismissed.

The Prison Murder of Donna Payant

In a chilling twist, on May 15, 1981, while at the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility, Smith killed corrections officer Donna Payant. On that fateful day, Payant was called away during her shift, never to return. A massive search ensued, and tragically, her mutilated body was discovered in a dumpster the next morning. This marked the first instance in U.S. history of a female corrections officer being killed inside a prison.

The same forensic expert who had identified the bite marks on Wilson was called to examine Payant's body. Recognizing the pattern, Smith was charged with her murder on June 6, 1981. If convicted, he faced a mandatory death sentence.

High-Profile Defense and Conviction

The high-profile nature of Payant's murder drew the attention of notable attorneys William Kunstler and C. Vernon Mason. They attempted to deflect blame by alleging various conspiracies, including suggesting Payant's promiscuity and drug dealings by prison guards. However, they could not escape the compelling bite mark evidence, which their own expert witness confirmed linked Smith to the crime.

Due to the notoriety surrounding the case, Smith was transferred to another facility. The capital murder trial commenced on January 20, 1983, more than a year and a half after his arrest. Despite the defense's conspiracy theories and attacks on witness credibility, the bite mark evidence remained insurmountable. On April 21, 1983, Smith was found guilty.

Under New York law at the time, he was automatically sentenced to death due to his life sentence status. However, after an appeal questioning the constitutionality of that law, his death sentence was commuted to another term of life imprisonment on July 2, 1984.

For the murder of Payant and his dangerousness as a prisoner, Smith was confined to near-isolation for twenty years—an unprecedented length of time in U.S. prisons. As of December 2022, Smith is incarcerated at the maximum-security Wende Correctional Facility, where he remains a figure of deep fascination and horror.

See Also

• List of serial killers in the United States

Sources

• "Man, 36, Indicted In Slaying," AP report in The Post-Star (Glens Falls, New York), September 30, 1977, p. 3
• Denis Foley (2003-10-01). Lemuel Smith and the Compulsion to Kill: The Forensic Story of a Multiple Personality Serial Killer. New Lietrim House Publishing, LLC. ISBN 0-9722383-0-1
• Wikipedia: Lemuel Smith