A 4-year-old boy went missing on his way to summer camp. Then a family friend’s teenage son started asking alarming questions

More than 30 years ago, 13-year-old Eric Smith shared a disturbing concern with his family when he asked them what might happen if it was a child who killed their 4-year-old neighbor, Derrick. Robie.

Earlier on the morning of August 2, 1993, investigators discovered Robie’s body and quickly determined that the young boy had been strangled and beaten to death, according to CBS News. 48 hourswho has long been reporting on the case and its aftermath for decades in the small town of Savona, New York.

“(Eric) asked me what would happen if it turned out to be a child. I said, “I think they seriously need psychiatric help.” And he… ‘Oh, OK,’ you know. And he left,” recalls Marlene Heskell, a family friend of the Smiths. 48 hours. “And that’s when I realized that, OK, maybe he really knew something or saw something.”

Less than a week later, Heskell’s mother and Eric took the 13-year-old to the police station, where he confessed to the murder after spotting him walking alone to his summer camp. About a year later, Eric was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to nine years in prison.

While the nightmare seemed over for the village of 940 residents, the trauma recurred every two years for Robie’s family when Smith applied for parole. In 2021, Smith, then 41, was paroled and moved to Queens, New York, according to CBS.

What pushed the teenager to murder?

In the years following his 1994 conviction, Smith occasionally spoke to the media about his crime and the possibility of him revisiting life outside of prison. In a 2004 interview, Smith spoke about the bullying he faced during his childhood and how he saw the opportunity to inflict violence on others as a way to right his situation.

Smith grew up in an abusive home, Democrat and Rochester Chronicle reported. Additionally, he told a parole board, he had been bullied by classmates because of “my ears, my glasses, my short stature, my red hair, pretty much all of that.”

“Instead of getting hurt, I was hurting someone else,” Smith said at a 2004 parole hearing, according to 48 hours.

Years of therapy and an alleged change

After 28 years behind bars, Smith finally claimed at a parole hearing that he was a changed man, according to CBS, citing years of therapy that he said helped him deal with his emotions.

“You can call me a monster, a cold-blooded killer, a demon child, Satan incarnate,” Smith told the local WENY in 2009. “That doesn’t mean that’s what I am.”

Smith wanted to become a counselor and help other kids who were being bullied, according to the local CBS affiliate.

“I want to, you know, get married and have a family,” he said. “You know, get, you know, a job. Pursue the American dream. »

Eric Smith’s controversial exit

Smith’s chance came in 2021 when a parole board agreed to allow his release from prison, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

Dale and Doreen Robie vehemently opposed Smith’s parole requests over the years, according to the newspaper, even pushing for state legislation that would require more years between parole hearings for convicted felons who have committed violent crimes.

“I wasn’t so much worried about us as I was worried about everyone else,” Doreen said. 48 hours when asked how she felt after Smith’s release.

“I don’t let it take up space in my head,” the mother added. “I don’t focus on where he is, what he’s doing. …because I don’t care.”

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