Edgar Smith (murderer)

Edgar Herbert Smith Jr. (February 8, 1934 – March 20, 2017)^[1] was an American convicted murderer, who was once on death row for the 1957 murder of fifteen-year-old honor student and cheerleader Victoria Ann Zielinski in Ramsey, New Jersey. Vigorously contesting his conviction through the courts and in the media, Smith became a celebrity, and his case was argued in public most notably by conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. Smith eventually succeeded in winning a retrial and took a plea deal for a reduced sentence, ultimately being released in 1971. Five years later, Smith kidnapped and tried to kill another woman, Lefteriya "Lisa" Ozbun, in San Diego, California. Ozbun survived being stabbed by Smith and testified against him in court. Smith was subsequently sentenced to life in prison, and eventually died in prison at age 83.

Crime[]

On the evening of March 4, 1957 shortly after 8:30 pm, 15-year-old Victoria Ann Zielinski of Ramsey, New Jersey, disappeared during a walk home from a friend's house.^[2] Victoria was a sophomore at Ramsey High School. The popular, brown-eyed brunette was an honor student and cheerleader who enjoyed school, was well-liked by her peers and favored attending local high school sports events as a spectator in her spare time. On the following morning, Tuesday, March 5, 1957 one of the girl's shoes, a black penny loafer, was discovered on the side of Fardale Avenue, a residential side street close to the victim's home and to the home of her best friend, sixteen-year-old Barbara Nixon, with whom Victoria was visiting immediately prior to her disappearance the evening before. The discovery was made by Victoria's parents, Anthony and Mary Zielinski, who, after learning of their daughter's disappearance, had been driving around an approximate two mile radius from where Victoria had last been seen, searching for the missing teenager. As Mr. Zielinski pulled his vehicle over onto the side of Fardale Avenue near the penny loafer, the couple also noticed a gray flowered head scarf in the vicinity. The head scarf was matted with dried blood. While Mr. Zielinski continued his search on foot, Mrs. Zielinski walked to the nearest residence and contacted the police. Mr. Zielinski spent a few more minutes searching the area and observed a pair of red woolen and leather gloves lying in the dirt of a sand pit located a few hundred yards away, just beyond the intersection of Fardale Avenue, which ran north-to-south, and Chapel Road, which ran in an east-to-west route. Unable to determine whether the gloves belonged to his missing daughter, Mr. Zielinski returned to his wife and together they waited outside their vehicle for the police to arrive. The police arrived a short time later and while Mrs. Zielinski stayed with the car, Mr. Zielinski, together with the Mahwah Police Department's Captain Ed Wickham, resumed the search for Victoria.

Approximately 75 yards from where the Zielinski's car was stopped, beyond the point where Fardale Avenue and Chapel Road intersect, there was a short dirt road leading into the sand pit area where Mr. Zielinski had observed the pair of gloves. The two men noticed fresh tire tracks in the dirt of the road as the search continued. Beyond the road's end, a large amount of excavated earth was bulldozed into a 6- or 7-foot mound that formed a bank. Victoria Ann Zielinski's body was discovered on the north side of that bank, which obstructed a view of her battered remains from passing traffic along the two intersecting streets nearby.

Victoria Zielinski's body lay face up in what Mr. Zielinski later described under oath as a "jackknifed position"; the legs were crossed over the torso so that her feet and upper body were both parallel with the top of the dirt mound. Victoria's face had been destroyed. Where the girl's face had been, there remained an unrecognizable bloody area (so unrecognizable that Mr. Zielinski later testified that when he discovered her body, he thought his daughter was lying face down). The county coroner later reported that most of Victoria's hair was missing, along with the back of her skull. Her right eye was destroyed, her nose and cheekbones had multiple fractures and most of her teeth were loose in what remained of her mouth. From the neck down, the body had one notable injury: a bruise on the right breast, later determined by the Bergen County coroner to be consistent with teeth marks from a human bite. Her dungarees remained intact, fastened with a wide black leather belt. There were some deep scratches on her lower back, just above the belt, clearly visible in the photographic evidence of record. The scratches appeared to have resulted from Victoria's body having been dragged some distance at the murder site. Her dark blue Ramsey High School jacket lay adjacent to her body. Her sweater appeared to have been pulled up around the area of her neck and her brassiere pulled down near her waist. One strap of the brassiere was broken. One of the victim's feet was encased in a thick white cotton sock; the other foot was bare with a white sock hanging from it.

Victoria's skull had been smashed by repeated blows from two large rocks which were found stained with blood and human tissue near the girl's body. In addition, her entire brain was scattered "for seven or eight feet along the bank," according to Mr. Zielinski's testimony. There was a "scuffled" area near the southern base of the mound where the weeds and brush appeared to have been recently disturbed. Above that area towards the mound's top, the victim's heart-shaped silver locket, her other loafer, blood-matted hair and the two large rocks covered with type "O" blood (Victoria's blood type) were found within an approximate 12-foot radius.^[3]

On the night of the murder, 23-year-old Edgar Smith borrowed a 1950 Turquoise Mercury convertible from a friend, Joseph Gilroy. His subsequent activities on that date aroused suspicion, including Smith excusing himself from meeting Gilroy in a bar early in the evening and his statement to Gilroy later on the same evening about having to change his trousers, claiming he had been sick on them.^[3] When the murder was reported the following day on the radio, two of Smith's friends (including Joseph Gilroy) joked with him that the murderer's car was reported to be the same make as the one Smith had driven the previous evening and that the police were checking "all the Mercury vehicles in Bergen county". One of the friends later testified that upon hearing the joking comment, Smith got "a startled look on his face".^[3] A day later, on March 6, 1957, a drop of blood was found by Joseph Gilroy, on the driver's side of the vehicle, prompting Gilroy to contact the local police with information regarding his loan of the vehicle to Edgar Smith on the night of March 4, 1957, as well as Smith's subsequent behavior, which Gilroy found suspicious. Edgar Smith was brought in for questioning by the police.

Smith initially stated that he knew both Victoria Zielinski and her 18-year-old sister Mary and that he had given Victoria rides home from Ramsey High School and other local spots without incident, several times in the months preceding the murder.

During questioning, Smith admitted to having picked up Victoria Zielinski in Joseph Gilroy's Mercury on the evening of March 4th, 1957, after spotting her walking along Wyckoff Avenue in the Fardale section of Mahwah, N.J. He repeatedly could not account for a half-hour gap in his movements on the night of the murder. He was also unable to account for his missing pants, which the police later located, heavily stained with type "O" blood (Smith's own blood was type "A", while Victoria Zielinski's was type "O"). The pants were identified by his wife as belonging to Smith.

Smith informed the police that he had picked Victoria up in Gilroy's car, then attempted to grab her when she exited the vehicle which he had parked at the sand pit, her attempt to leave having angered him. During this portion of Smith's statement, he reportedly blurted out that Victoria had hit him in the face before getting out of the car. Smith was arrested for the murder. He underwent three psychiatric examinations before his trial.

Trial[]

The trial of Edgar Smith for first degree murder drew strong media attention, with Bergen County Prosecutor Guy W. Calissi describing the murder as the "most vicious, most brutal and the most sadistic I have ever seen."^[3] Witnesses included Myrna Zielinski, Victoria's younger sister. Although the sisters had arranged to meet at 8:45 on the night of the murder, Myrna testified that she last saw her sibling at about 7:40. At approximately 7:30 that evening, at Victoria's request Myrna had walked her sister part of the way to the home of Barbara Nixon, Victoria's best friend. The houses were situated approximately four-fifths of a mile apart on Wyckoff Avenue in Ramsey Borough and the Township of Mahwah, respectively. At 7:40, approximately two-thirds of a mile south of the Zielinski home in the direction of Mahwah, Myrna testified that she last saw her sister when Victoria had continued walking the route to the Nixon home by herself and Myrna had returned home. Victoria had planned only a short visit at Barbara Nixon's residence so that the two girls could exchange notes and study for an upcoming bookkeeping exam at Ramsey High School, and because the girl said she felt uneasy about walking the dark road by herself, Myrna Zielinski agreed to walk in the direction of the Nixon home in order to meet Victoria and walk part of the way back home with her. The two had pre-arranged to leave their starting points at 8:30 pm. When Myrna left the Zielinski home a bit late, at about 8:40 pm, she walked the entire route to the Nixon house at an accelerated pace without encountering Victoria, who should logically have been walking in a northerly direction towards her on Wyckoff Avenue, which was virtually the only route between the two houses at the time. Myrna testified that she had arrived at the Nixon's and been told that Victoria had left for home about ten minutes earlier.

In fact the Nixon home sat at the northwest corner of Wyckoff and Fardale avenues, Mahwah, approximately four-fifths of a mile from the Zielinski dwelling, also located on Wyckoff Avenue. On the evening of March 4, 1957, Victoria's walk home from her friend's house was along the two-lane blacktop Wyckoff Avenue (see trial transcript testimony of Myrna Zielinski). From the Nixon residence, Wyckoff Avenue extended a few miles in a southerly direction to the town of Wyckoff and heading north, passed the Zielinski home before it continued into the business section of the town of Ramsey. This particular stretch of road in 1957 was residential, bordering on rural and heavily wooded on both sides in between sparsely placed homes. Victoria Zielinski had pre-arranged to meet her thirteen-year-old sister at a point about halfway between the Nixon and Zielinski homes, adjacent to West Crescent Avenue. In 1957, West Crescent Avenue intersected Wyckoff at the border between Mahwah township and Ramsey borough. Incidentally, it was at this intersection that Wyckoff Avenue became lit with street lights and a sidewalk was provided for pedestrians. Up to that juncture, Victoria would have had to walk along a very dark road (and virtually in the road).

Myrna Zielinski's testimony indicated that by coincidence, both sisters had left their starting points ten minutes late, at approximately 8:40 pm. It would later seem inexplicable to investigators that Victoria would have willingly entered Smith's vehicle knowing that her sister was on her way to meet her (this was especially compelling because it had been Victoria who had requested that Myrna make the journey, and such behavior was not consistent with Victoria's known character). It was also noted in the police report of the crime that Victoria's finger-nails were "badly bitten". This finding was documented in the trial transcript (referred to as "ripped" by the Bergen County Coroner who performed an autopsy on the body) although its evidential value would prove elusive. However, there was an implication that since Victoria did not habitually bite her fingernails the fact that they were bitten signified that a period of angst had (immediately) preceded her murder, a factor that at least partially contradicts the logic behind Edgar Smith's eventual release from death row on appeal. In any case, they were mute evidence that Victoria Zielinski had been aware that Edgar Smith's intent was at the very least malevolent before he murdered her.

As stated elsewhere in this article, Smith eventually succeeded in overturning his conviction for first degree murder, accepting his conviction to the lesser charge of murder in the second degree. However, when all of the trial testimony and physical evidence is examined, all indicators show that the crime scene evidence is far too spread out in a physical sense to warrant a second degree murder conviction of the defendant. Premeditation is shown based on testimony corroborated by the physical evidence, that Smith had chased the girl several hundred yards, hit her with a baseball bat (obtained from the vehicle in a premeditated act) - at which point the victim lost one of her penny loafers and a large hank of her hair as well as a head scarf she was wearing - and then dragged her either stunned or struggling, back in to the sand pit from which she had fled him seconds earlier, even pausing at one point to discard the bloody baseball bat in a wooded area near the intersection of Chapel Road and Fardale Avenue. After dragging the victim up on top of the mound of earth, Smith used one or more large boulders to murder the girl, crushing her skull before pitching her lifeless body down several feet into the field at the foot of the banked area. A logical conclusion of premeditation exists based on the significant time that elapsed (as suggested by the physical evidence at the scene) between the initial perpetration of an attack on Victoria and her actual murder.

On the witness stand, Myrna also identified several items of Victoria's clothing that she had been wearing when last seen. The trial transcript reveals that Myrna, who was thirteen when her sister was murdered, had a good memory for detail, recalling that Victoria had worn "boy's blue jeans", a coral cardigan sweater, a blue and gold campus jacket, penny loafers, a Wittenaur brand white gold wristwatch, and a silver heart locket on a long chain around her neck. Myrna remembered that Victoria had carried a natural leather purse, an accounting school book and a writing tablet. All of these items, with the possible exception of the wristwatch, were found in the vicinity of the crime and introduced into evidence at the Smith trial. Victoria's parents were called next, and recounted how they, together with Captain Ed Wickham of the Mahwah Police Department, had found their daughter's body just after 9 AM on the morning of March 5, 1957, in the area of a sandpit located about two miles from the Zielinski's residence.^[4]

Sixteen year old Barbara Nixon, at whose home Victoria had been visiting just before she disappeared, also testified, corroborating Myrna Zielinski's testimony concerning the victim's attire on the night of the crime, being the last person before Edgar Smith to see Victoria Zielinski alive.^[3] She also identified an item of clothing (a head scarf or kerchief found the next morning on Fardale Avenue approximately 500 yards from the crime scene) that she had lent to Victoria just before her departure from the Nixon home on the evening of March 4, 1957.^[4]

Detectives who interviewed Smith testified about the missing articles of his clothing and his conflicting explanations regarding their absence. They also testified about Smith's continual claims that Don Hommell, a friend of his, was the "real" killer.^[3]

The next witness to take the stand was Edgar Smith. He testified that on the night of March 4, 1957 he had passed Victoria Zielinski walking along Wyckoff Avenue as he drove towards his home; that she had waved him to pull over, and then entered his (borrowed) car for conversation. Smith claimed that he had, at Victoria's suggestion, pulled into a driveway leading to the sand pit located at the intersection of Chapel Road and Fardale Avenue in Mahwah; that Victoria had then stated that his wife was having an affair with "the oil man" or words to that nature and that he had angrily told Victoria to leave. Smith claimed that after Victoria left the vehicle he was driving, a 1950 light blue Mercury convertible that belonged to a friend, he had been sitting in the car (inside the sandpit area) for a few moments before "hearing a commotion" coming from the vicinity of Chapel Road. Realizing, he testified, that in the darkness he could make out at least two people approaching his car, he had grabbed a baseball bat from the back seat for "protection", fearing that Victoria's father had somehow arrived at the sandpit and that Victoria was walking together with him in Smith's direction.

Smith stated that he soon realized that it was not Mr. Zielinski with Victoria; instead, he indicated that the male figure with Victoria was Donald Hommell, a friend of his and that Victoria was bleeding from a cut on her head; he claimed that he asked Hommell what had happened and was told that Victoria had fallen on the roadway. Smith stated that Victoria had pleaded with him not to leave her with Hommell and that he had responded by, helping the bleeding girl into the Mercury vehicle where she sat with her head tilted back on the seat headrest. Hommell, according to Smith, had not allowed him to take the cut and bleeding girl to a local hospital but had instead pulled her from the car and she had fallen out, spattering Smith's pants with blood in the process. He then testified that he had decided that since Victoria was "Hommell's girl" (a statement that was never verified to be in any way factual), he felt he should leave the scene and let Hommell take care of the situation; Hommell had, according to Smith, in fact encouraged him to leave. Smith stated that he drove away leaving the bleeding girl (even as she pleaded with him for succor) in the sand pit with Hommell, that he did not come forward for fear that her death was his responsibility, and that he originally believed that she had bled to death from the injury he had observed.^[3] Hommell was questioned, and he told the court that he was in the area at the time, and had "casually"^[3] been involved with Victoria. However, the police testified that both Hommell's car and clothing had been checked, and nothing had been found.

Testimony by members of the Mahwah and Ramsey police departments indicate that Smith's interrogation resulted in often contradictory replies. At one point, Smith said that he observed from his spot in the sandpit Donald Hommell's vehicle parked along Chapel Road. It was established, however, that this would have been impossible because of obstructions that made a clear view of Chapel Road from his spot in the sandpit impossible. Furthermore, the vehicle Hommell had been driving that night belonged to his employer, and was not one that Smith would have recognized.

As with other portions of Smith's testimony, the physical evidence collected by the police did not corroborate Smith's account. For example, the victim's type "O" bloodstains were found inside the Mercury on the driver's side seat and floor. However, no bloodstains were found on the car's passenger side, where Smith alleged Victoria had been seated with a bleeding wound to the head before being pulled from the vehicle by Donald Hommell.^[3] Smith was found guilty by the jury after two and a half hours of deliberation.^[3]

Incarceration[]

Smith was sent to death row at New Jersey State Prison, where he spent 14 years. In 1962 his wife left him, and in 1964 he was forced to become his own lawyer because of his financial situation. He attacked Hommell's statement and maintained that his own comments were inadmissible because he had not signed anything.^[3] He also examined the medical report, which had found estimating Vickie's time of death difficult. Smith's appeals, however, were repeatedly dismissed, but his death sentence was postponed on several occasions. In 1962, Smith began a correspondence with William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder of National Review, during which Buckley began to doubt Smith's guilt, later stating that the case was "inherently implausible".^[3]

An article by Buckley in November 1965, published in Esquire, drew national media attention:

Smith said he told Hommell during their brief conversation ... on the night of the murder just where he had discarded his pants. The woman who occupies property across the road from which Smith claimed to have thrown the pants ... swore at the trial that she had seen Hommell rummaging there the day after the murder. The pants were later found [by the police] near a well-travelled road ... Did Hommell find them, and leave them in the other location, thinking to discredit Smith's story, and make sure they would turn up?^[3]

This brought renewed media interest in Hommell, scrutiny which was increased still further with the publishing of Smith's book Brief Against Death in 1968.^[3]

Release and life after prison[]

In 1971, Smith was successful with his 19th appeal against the fair nature of his trial, claiming that his confession was obtained under duress. As the confession was obtained eight years prior to the introduction of "Miranda" rights, Smith's appeal carried some weight. In 1971, Smith was able to have a repeat trial, and in June of that year Smith's confession was ruled to have been obtained unfairly, and Smith was offered parole if he accepted a charge of second degree murder under a deal approved by Judge Morris Pashman, an offer which he accepted. On December 6, 1971, he pleaded guilty to second degree murder, and he was released from prison at age 37.^[3]

Smith went on to lecture at a number of colleges and universities, as well as making several television and radio appearances. He published a third book, Getting Out, and argued for penal reform. However, as his celebrity status declined, Smith began drinking heavily^[3] and got himself into debt.

Second crime[]

In San Diego, California, in October 1976, Smith drove his car up to 33-year-old Lefteriya Lisa Ozbun, and kidnapped her at knifepoint. Ozbun continually resisted Smith while he attempted to drive her away. Smith stabbed Ozbun in her side,^[3] and she was ejected from the car as he lost control and drove off the road. Smith recovered and drove away; however, a nearby witness made a note of the vehicle's registration, and it was later traced to Smith's new wife, Paige Dana Heimer. Smith immediately contacted Buckley, who turned him in to the FBI.

Second incarceration[]

Smith's second crime drew media attention to Buckley, Smith's defenders, and the psychiatrists who cleared his return to public life.^[3] Buckley, famous as a law-and-order conservative, wrote a 1979 article about how he had been won over by Smith's claims of innocence, to his later regret.^[5]

Ozbun survived her wound and testified in the trial. Smith claimed to be an emotionally disturbed sex offender in pursuit of a shorter sentence.^[3] He cited his actions during the Vickie Zielinski murder in support of this claim, belatedly admitting to having killed the 15-year-old. This attempt failed, as Smith was found guilty of kidnapping with intent to rob, as well as attempted murder, and sentenced to life.

In 1979, Smith sued for divorce from his second wife, Paige. In 1988 and 1990 he sought further legal action against his sentencing. Smith appealed at every opportunity, but each was turned down. In February 2004, Smith postponed his own appeal hearing. In later years his health deteriorated, and he suffered several heart attacks.^[3]

In 1989, Smith was up for parole; this possibility sparked protests.^[6] Smith was denied parole as late as April 2009.^[7] He was incarcerated at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California until his death on March 20, 2017.^[1] Smith's death was not publicly revealed until more than six months later.^[8]

References[]