Nearly three decades after she died, police say they know who killed Robin Lawrence.
Stephen Smerk, a 51-year-old man now living in Niskayuna, New York, has been charged with second-degree murder after recently confessing to killing Lawrence at her West Springfield home in 1994, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis announced this afternoon (Monday).
Detectives connected Smerk to the case with the help of Parabon NanoLabs, a Reston-based DNA tech company that created a composite sketch and family tree for him based on forensic evidence saved from the crime scene.
“What you’re about to hear is a remarkable, remarkable story with an unanticipated ending that just happened a couple days ago,” Davis said at the press conference.
Lawrence, 37, was found dead with multiple stab wounds in the 8600 block of Reseca Lane around 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 20, 1994, according to Fairfax County Police Department Deputy Chief of Investigations Eli Cory.
Her body was discovered by a family friend who had gone to the house to check on her after her husband was unable to contact her while he was away on a work trip, Cory said, describing the scene as “heinous and tragic.”
Lawrence’s 2-year-old daughter was in the house at the time but found unharmed, police say.
Officers collected DNA evidence from the scene but found no matches to a potential suspect. While cold case detectives continued to investigate, it wasn’t until 2019 that technology had improved to the point where they decided to resubmit the DNA, according to Cory.
This time, they got a match.
“Pictures of Smerk from 1988 and 1998 were found and compared to a digital composite image created by Parabon NanoLabs,” the FCPD said. “Parabon NanoLabs…specializes in DNA phenotyping and genetic genealogy analysis: processes that predict physical appearance and biological relationships from unidentified DNA evidence.”
The detectives traveled north to Niskayuna, where Smerk lives and works as a software engineer. Upon encountering Smerk while he was taking out his trash, they talked to him, and he agreed “willingly and without question” to let them get a DNA swab, Cory said.
The detectives were preparing to return to Fairfax County with the sample when Smerk called, saying that he wanted to talk.
After turning himself in at the local police station, “he fully described his involvement,” Davis said. “He talked about killing Robin and some details that I won’t go into, but it was a full confession.”
At the time of Lawrence’s killing, Smerk was an active-duty servicemember working for the Army at Fort Myer — now known as Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall — in Arlington, police say.
Married with two children in high school, he has no other criminal history, according to Davis. Though he didn’t elaborate on a potential motive, the police chief said there’s no apparent relation between Smerk and Lawrence.
“He chose her seemingly randomly,” he said.
Smerk is currently in custody in Niskayuna, awaiting extradition to Fairfax County, Davis said.
Lawrence’s best friend and several family members, including her daughter, husband, sister and a cousin, attended the press conference where Davis announced Smerk’s arrest.
“We’re really honored by the fact that the family has chosen to join us today,” Davis said. “Their presence is beyond meaningful, and ultimately, we do this for them.”
Photo via FCPD/Twitter
Four people — all teenagers — now face charges in connection to a fatal stabbing and shooting at the Tysons View Apartments in Idylwood on Memorial Day (May 29).
The Fairfax County Police Department announced today (Monday) that detectives have arrested a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old man from Falls Church as well as an 18-year-old from Vienna as suspects in the double homicide, which left 20-year-old Ashburn resident Jonas Skinner and 18-year-old Braden Deahl from Arlington County dead.
The Vienna teen had already been charged with robbery resulting in death in May. A juvenile at the time of the crime, he has now also been charged with felony murder and conspiracy to commit robbery “for his involvement” in Skinner’s fatal shooting, police say.
The 17-year-old Falls Church resident has been charged with second-degree murder, felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder and four firearms-related charges.
The 18-year-old from Falls Church, who was a juvenile at the time, faces the same firearms charges as well as robbery causing death, principle in the second-degree murder, felony murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Back on May 30, the FCPD announced that Vladimir Garcia Montes, 18, of Falls Church had been arrested and charged with robbery causing death. As the only person who was an adult when the homicides occurred, he is the only one of the four suspects who has been publicly named.
Police have said the incident started as an attempted drug robbery, stating that “a significant amount of marijuana” was found near the scene by K9 officers.
Skinner was found with gunshot wounds to his upper body in the laundry room of the Tysons View Apartments, where officers were called at 3:37 p.m. on May 29. Police then found Deahl with stab wounds in the apartment complex’s parking lot.
Deahl was transported to a hospital, where he died.
Two other juveniles were taken to a hospital with non-fatal stab wounds. The FCPD didn’t immediately respond when asked if either of those individuals have now been identified as suspects.
All four teens are in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.
Image via Google Maps
A 29-year-old man from Annandale will spend the rest of his life in federal prison after he was sentenced on Friday (Aug. 4) for participating in and helping cover up the murder of a fellow gang member.
Sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Jose Henry Hernandez-Garcia was convicted of racketeering, murder and conspiracy to destroy and conceal evidence on Dec. 16, 2022 after a two-week trial.
According to the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hernandez-Garcia and at least three other members of the international gang MS-13 stabbed and killed an unnamed victim at the house of Jose Domingo Ordonez-Zometa — allegedly their branch’s leader — in Landover Hills, Maryland, on March 8, 2019.
Ordonez-Zometa had called a meeting to discuss suspicions that the victim was working with the police, prosecutors said in a news release.
During the questioning, Hernandez-Garcia, his co-defendants and at least one other MS-13 member assaulted Victim 1, based on their incorrect suspicions that Victim 1 was cooperating with law enforcement. They also assaulted another MS-13 member who attempted to defend Victim 1. The assault culminated with Ordonez-Zometa, as LGCS clique leader, ordering that Victim 1 be killed. Hernandez-Garcia, [Jose Rafael] Ortega-Ayala, and other MS-13 members then stabbed and murdered Victim 1 in Ordonez-Zometa’s basement.
According to trial testimony, after the murder, Ordonez-Zometa ordered Hernandez-Garcia, Ortega-Ayala, and other LGCS clique members and co-conspirators, to conceal and destroy evidence of the murder. Ortega-Ayala and other MS-13 members transported the body of the victim to a secluded location in Stafford County, Virginia, and set the victim’s body on fire, then destroyed and concealed evidence of the murder from the vehicle used to transport the victim. Meanwhile, Ordonez-Zometa, Hernandez-Garcia, and another MS-13 member stayed at the crime scene and attempted to remove, destroy, and conceal evidence of the murder, including the blood of Victim 1.
Ordonez-Zometa and Ortega-Ayala were also convicted in December. The former was given life in prison on March 6, while the latter could get the same sentence at a hearing on Sept. 25.
This isn’t the first time a Fairfax County resident has been convicted of a murder tied to MS-13 activities. Last November, five people were sentenced to life in prison for killing two teens at Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in Annandale in 2016.
Photo via Wesley Tingey/Unsplash
A Mount Vernon man will be tried for murder after allegedly shooting and killing Brandon Wims outside the Old Mill Gardens apartments in October.
A grand jury indicted 43-year-old Kyjuan Trott-McLean today (Monday) for murder and three weapons charges, according to Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano.
“The death of Brandon Wims is a tragedy,” Descano said in a statement. “I want to thank our Fairfax County Police for their dedication to this case and the policework that led to the arrest of the defendant.”
Trott-McLean was arrested on Dec. 1, 2022, almost two months after Fairfax County police identified him as their suspect in Wims’s fatal shooting.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Wims was shot multiple times around 7 a.m. on Oct. 2, 2022 while sitting in a car with two other people in the 5800 block of St Gregorys Lane.
The driver took Wims to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he died, while the vehicle’s two other occupants were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said at the time.
The FCPD said a preliminary investigation suggested that Trott-McLean had approached the car on foot and fired into the vehicle after an “altercation.” He left the scene in a silver Nissan Maxima.
Police advertised a $11,000 reward for Trott-McLean before he was arrested in the 3800 block of Colonial Avenue near Woodley Hills Elementary School following a brief vehicle pursuit.
In addition to the murder charge, Trott-McLean has been charged with using a firearm in commission of a felony, possessing a firearm as a felon, and concealing a firearm as a felon.
A court date for the case will be set on Thursday (July 20), according to Descano’s office.
UPDATE: Detectives from our Fugitive Track and Apprehension Unit arrested Kyjuan Omar Braxton Trott-McLean this afternoon in the 3800 blk of Colonial Ave after a brief vehicle pursuit. More details to follow on our blog, https://t.co/FjmsPkQ20R #FCPD pic.twitter.com/TVaW8aTX1z
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) December 1, 2022
Photo via Google Maps
Life in prison awaits the man responsible for the 2016 killings of 22-year-old Springfield residents Kedest Simeneh and Henok Yohannes.
Alexandria resident Yohannes Nessibu, 29, was sentenced to life in prison today (Friday) after being convicted of first-degree murder and manslaughter for shooting the couple during a drug deal, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced.
Nessibu was convicted on Aug. 31 of murdering Simeneh, a charge that resulted in the life sentence. He was also given a 10-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter in Yohannes’s death, for which he was convicted in March.
An additional 8-year sentence was handed down for two charges of using a firearm in commission of a felony. All of the sentences were the “maximum penalty for each of the charges,” according to Descano’s office.
“The families of Kedest and Henok have faced a great tragedy with the loss of their children and siblings at a young age,” Descano said in a statement. “Their trauma has only been exacerbated by the unusual length of this case, which progressed for seven years due to the need for international extradition, separate trials, and the pandemic.”
According to prosecutors, a group that included Nessibu and Simeneh went to Yohannes’s home in Springfield on the night of Dec. 22, 2016 to buy marijuana.
Prosecutors showed during trial that after a dispute over payment, Nessibu shot Yohannes twice in the back of the head, killing him. He then fled the scene with the same group and shot Kedest Simeneh later that night, leaving her body outside a Burke residence. Evading investigators, Nessibu flew to Ethiopia the next morning, where he remained until he was extradited in 2019.
A Fairfax County grand jury indicted Nessibu in March 2017, but police weren’t able to get custody of him until May 3, 2019.
Simeneh and Yohannes were dating at the time of their deaths and both attended Northern Virginia Community College. A health care worker, Simeneh was described by her family as “quick to give hugs, funny and generous,” while Yohannes had been “a soccer star” at West Springfield High School and aspired to open his own business, the Washington Post reported in 2017.
Descano called Nessibu’s sentencing today “a just outcome for the community.”
“Now that this case has come to a close, I hope that the families are able to begin the path towards healing,” he said.
A Manassas resident who fatally shot a man and hit a woman with a leaf blower at the Chantilly Park Shopping Center in 2019 has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and malicious wounding, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced Friday (April 28).
Steven Green, 55, faced a trial in March for the murder of 30-year-old Chantilly resident Miguel Angel Leiva Hernandez, but that ended with a hung jury.
With the jury about evenly split, no one on the victims’ side wanted to go through the experience of another trial, according to Laura Birnbaum, a spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office.
“Having been through it and seeing how the evidence came out and how the jury reacted to it, there just wasn’t any appetite to do that again, so we ended up with this outcome,” Birnbaum said. “…This is guaranteed accountability. It addresses the incident, and all of the victims are happy with it.”
According to the commonwealth’s attorney, Green was cleaning the shopping center’s parking lot on May 24, 2019 when he got into “an altercation” with Myra Osorio Cordero outside a restaurant.
Green used his leaf blowers to send debris towards Osorio Cordero and, after they exchanged words, hit her in the face with one of the leaf blowers. When Leiva Hernandez saw Osorio Cordero bleeding profusely, he followed Green into the parking lot, where a physical struggle ensued and Green shot him once in the chest, killing him.
Osorio Cordero survived the encounter.
CA Descano announced today that Steven Green pleaded guilty to manslaughter and malicious wounding for the 2019 shooting of Miguel Leiva Hernandez. His March trial ended in a hung jury.
Green will be sentenced on September 1st. pic.twitter.com/mTJWsYlHyl
— Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Descano (@FairfaxCountyCA) April 28, 2023
According to a police report at the time, Green remained at the scene in the 14500 block of Lee Jackson Memorial Highway until police arrived. He was charged and tried for murder, malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.
Green claimed self-defense at the March trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court, according to NBC4.
To secure a guilty plea, prosecutors amended the murder charge to manslaughter and dropped the firearm charge. A sentencing hearing will be held on Sept. 1.
“It’s always a tragedy when a young person dies, and nothing can bring Miguel back to his family and loved ones,” Descano said in a statement on Friday. “As prosecutors, our job is to put on a fair trial, and we respect the original jury’s serious deliberation of the evidence in this case. Today’s agreement guarantees a just outcome for the community.”
Descano’s office also announced Friday that 22-year-old Lorton resident Ronnie Marshall had been sentenced to life in prison for shooting and killing Army colonel and doctor Edward McDaniel Jr. and his wife, Brenda McDaniel, a retired Army colonel and a nurse, at their home in Springfield in 2021.
An 18-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to a fatal shooting in the Fairfax Village Apartments on Saturday (March 25).
Fairfax County police officers were called to the apartment complex in the 10400 block of Viera Lane in Oakton at 7:47 a.m. by a family member of the victim who reported the shooting to 911.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, the family member was in the apartment’s bedroom when they were awoken by a gunshot. They found Javier Gomez, 20, of Fairfax lying on the living room floor and saw the suspect — identified as Darren Cruz Colindres, 18, of Vienna — running out of the apartment.
“This is not a domestic-related shooting, but the suspect is known to the family,” FCPD Lt. James Curry said in a media briefing that morning.
Cruz Colindres had apparently been staying at the apartment overnight, police said.
When officers got to the scene, they found Gomez on the floor with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the upper body and administered medical aid until Fairfax County Fire and Rescue personnel arrived to transport him to a hospital, where he later died.
Officers and detectives tracked Cruz Colindres to a home in the 2700 block of Pleasantdale Road in Merrifield, according to the FCPD, which reported just before noon that a suspect had been taken into custody.
In addition to second-degree murder, Cruz Colindres has been charged with the use of a firearm while committing a felony.
No firearm has been recovered yet, as of 5 p.m. Saturday, when the FCPD issued its news release.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy in the coming days to determine the cause and manner of death,” the police department said. “Detectives continue to conduct interviews, collect video surveillance and process evidence recovered from the scene.”
The FCPD says anyone who may have information can contact its Major Crimes Bureau detectives at 703-246-7800, option 2. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone (1-866-411-TIPS) and online.
This was Fairfax County’s second homicide last week after a couple was found dead on a Reston trail on Wednesday (March 22) in what police believe was a murder-suicide incident.
Police have identified the couple that was found dead in Reston Tuesday (March 21) afternoon in what they say was a murder-suicide.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, Herndon resident Richard Garerick, 75, shot his wife, Patricia Garverick and then later killed himself.
The couple was found dead around 3 p.m. on a trail near Stratton Woods Park (2431 Fox Mill Road). The couple was found by a community member with gunshots wounds to their upper bodies.
Their car was found in the parking lot of Stratton Woods Park, along with cartridge cases and a firearm. They were pronounced dead on the scene by fire and rescue crews.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will be completing autopsies to confirm manner and cause of death,” FCPD wrote in a statement.
An 86-year-old man appears to have shot his wife and then himself at their home in the Wakefield area on Tuesday (Feb. 28), police say.
Fairfax County police officers were called to a house in the 8900 block of Walker Street near Annandale around 10:15 p.m. after a friend found the bodies of Janos John Gertler and 73-year-old Eva Anna Vas.
Both Gertler and Vas had gunshot wounds and were declared dead at the scene.
“Preliminarily, detectives believe Janos shot his wife, Eva, before shooting himself,” the Fairfax County Police Department said in a report released yesterday (Wednesday). “Several spent cartridge cases and a firearm were located within the home. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will be completing autopsies to confirm manner and cause of death.”
An investigation into the apparent murder-suicide is still underway.
Preliminarily, detectives believe this to be a murder-suicide involving an elderly couple. Additional updates will be posted to our blog, https://t.co/YUigMm3yDx when available. https://t.co/yFyswvnZhH
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) March 1, 2023
This is the second fatal shooting within the past week that the FCPD believes stemmed from a domestic incident. Last Friday (Feb. 24), a Herndon man shot another man who had allegedly stabbed his wife at their home in the 13200 block of Stable Brook Way.
The man who was shot and the woman both died. Police later identified them as Joseph Ryan, 39, of Springfield and Christine Banfield, 37, of Herndon.
Police Chief Kevin Davis told media that investigators believed everyone involved in the incident knew each other, but in a news release, the FCPD said the man told 911 that “he shot an unknown man who entered his home and stabbed a woman.”
An Arlington man was indicted by a Fairfax County grand jury yesterday for allegedly shooting and killing Gret Glyer, founder and CEO of the nonprofit crowdfunding platform DonorSee.
Joshua Danehower, 33, faces felony charges for murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, the Office of the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney announced today.
Fairfax City police found Glyer shot to death in his Bolton Village Court home on June 24, 2022. They were called to the house by Glyer’s wife, who was home at the time with their two children, according to NBC4.
Glyer was 32 when he was killed. It was the city’s first homicide since 2008, police said at the time.
Danehower was arrested at Dulles International Airport five days later. Police identified him as an acquaintance of the family — possibly through their church — though court documents indicated that he was an ex-boyfriend of Glyer’s wife and had been seeking to “reconnect” with her, FOX5 reported.
According to the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, detectives said at a preliminary hearing that they identified Danehower as the suspect “through analysis of the bullet casings found on the scene.”
“My office takes violent crimes like these very seriously, and we are grateful to Dets. Trey Lightly and Matthew Greene for their excellent work on this case in pursuit of justice for the victim’s family and the community,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement.
Glyer founded DonorSee in 2016, inspired by his time living in Malawi, where he helped start the Girls Shine Christian Academy, according to the nonprofit’s website. The platform supports donations to charity projects and nonprofits, raising $6 million for nearly 14,000 different projects.
The trial date for the case will be determined tomorrow (Thursday), according to Descano’s office.
Danehower is being represented by the Fairfax County Office of the Public Defender, which told FFXnow that it has no comment.
Photo via DonorSee/YouTube
