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You are here: Home / Unsolved / DNA ties Patricia Smith to the Bennetts

DNA ties Patricia Smith to the Bennetts

September 14, 2010 By Alice

Patricia Smith

Six days before the Bennett Family was butchered and bludgeoned in their own home, Patricia Smith was killed by the same person, authorities will reveal at a news conference later today.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation recently tied the two 1984 cases together through a DNA match, said Steve Davis, spokesman for the Lakewood Police Department. The match has not yet been tied to a specific person, Davis said. But this John Doe will be charged with 18 counts, including three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of sexual assault, first-degree assault and two counts of sexual assault on a child and burglary.

On January 10, 1984, the suspect tied to both cases used a hammer to strike 50-year-old Patricia Louise Smith several times in the head in her Lakewood home. Six days later, the same man snuck into the home of Bruce and Debra Bennett. He bludgeoned and stabbed Bruce to death and raped and killed both Debra and their 7-year-old daughter Melissa. The killer also shattered the face of 3-year-old Vanessa, who survived.

Police went to great lengths to solve the case, removing part of the concrete garage floor to preserve a shoe print. A laser was used to get fingerprints from inside the home. Police had also found similarities between the attack at the Bennett household and nearby random attacks that happened days earlier along the Highline Canal and Alameda Avenue corridor.

Bennett Family
Bennett Family

Detectives are asking construction workers who were working on new residences near the Alameda Avenue corridor in January 1984 to call them.

Learn more about the murder of Patricia Louise Smith on Lakewood’s cold case website.

Learn more about the Bennett family murders on Aurora’s cold case website.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Aurora Police Detective R.J. Wilson, the lead investigator on the case, at 1-303-739-6106 or the Lakewood Police Cold Case hotline at 1-303-987-7474. Read more here.

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Filed Under: Unsolved Tagged With: Autopsy, Bennett Family, Colorado, DNA, Forensics, Patricia Louise Smith, Unsolved Homicide

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  1. Phenotyping and Cold Cases - Defrosting Cold Cases says:
    January 23, 2017 at 5:03 am

    […] To learn more about phenotyping I encourage you to read this article from Forensic Magazine. It discusses the case of the Bennett Family and should have mentioned the murder of Patricia Smith. As discussed here on my blog, six days before the Bennett Family was murdered (also in their own home), Patricia Smith was killed by the same person. […]

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Dina Fort

Author Notes

I am a true crime writer raising awareness for old unsolved cases from the pre-DNA era that are in need of renewed media attention. I do not actively investigate these cases. I leave that to the professionals.

My posts are about homicides, missing and unidentified people, wrongful convictions, and forensics as related to old cases.

I review books but only select works of true crime, crime fiction, and historical fiction and/or mysteries.

My database has more than 289 cases listed by the victim’s last name. You will find a brief description there as well.

All case suggestions that come in by email for writing considerations are added to my to-do list in the order in which they were received. Please be patient as my to-do list is very long.

If you have any questions about my website please check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, the about page, and the tabs in both menu bars. If you still cannot find the answer there, please contact me.

Thank you, Alice de Sturler

Copyright

If you use my work, please add a link back. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. Thank you!

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On March 31, 2016, an evidentiary hearing was held to request touch DNA testing. On July 18, 2016, Judge Whitehead denied that request.

On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed with the Florida Supreme Court. On April 21, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court denied the request for touch DNA analysis.

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In March 2015, the Connecticut State Supreme Court ordered a new trial. On Oct 2, 2015, International Wrongful Conviction Day, Richard Lapointe was set free. The judge ruled that he cannot be retried.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright: Please add a link back if you use my work. Let your readers know where you found your information. I do the same for you. If you need help with this, just contact me. Thank you, Alice de Sturler

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