‘I just had to kill somebody’ | Springfield cold case killer describes desire to murder in newly released video confession

SPRINGFIELD, Va. — A newly obtained piece of evidence by WUSA9 showed the confession by a man who pleaded guilty to randomly killing a Springfield woman in 1994. 

Stephan Smerk, 52, accepted a plea agreement and admitted guilt to first-degree murder in a Fairfax County circuit courtroom nearly two weeks ago.

Smerk, a software engineer, was 22 years old and in the Army in Arlington when he murdered 37-year-old Robin Lawrence inside her home. Prosecutors said her two-year-old girl was in another room when she was stabbed 49 times.

The case went cold but new DNA technology and sketch work helped Fairfax County detectives track Smerk down at his home in Niskayuna, New York in September 2023. During the interview with police, Smerk admitted to using his own knife to stab and kill Lawrence, who he remembered was begging for her life.

“Something came over me,” Smerk told detectives. “I'm not going to say there were voices in my head or hear somebody actually talking to me, but it was like this overbearing thought in my brain that I needed to kill somebody. I just had to kill somebody.”

“Something inside of me just compelled me to do it,” he said.

Smerk said he had frequent thoughts of killing someone, which is why he decided to join the military. He described being “highly influenced” by demons and later said he eventually saw a psychiatrist for about six years. When asked, Smerk claimed he still knew what he was doing was wrong.

“I've not killed anybody else, but I could be a serial killer,” he said. “I honestly believe if it wasn't for my wife and kids, I probably would be a serial killer.”

During the interview, Smerk described drinking that night and taking pills when he decided to drive to the neighborhood in Springfield where his friend lived. That friend happened to live right next door to Lawrence.

He went through the sliding back door and noticed Lawrence’s two-year-old girl was in another room. Smerk admitted using the knife he brought to stab her multiple times

“I just know she begged for her life,” he said. “I had cut her up pretty good.”

Lawrence’s loved ones watched portions of the video confession but not in its entirety. Her niece Lauren Ovans felt he didn’t have any remorse.

“It’s almost bittersweet but I have no feelings toward him because there’s not empathy, there’s no human,” Ovans told WUSA9.

In a bizarre twist, Ovans said she and her family lived in the same upstate New York town as Smerk. Ovans said it would take 10 to 15 minutes to run from her house to the Smerks.

“My heart hit the floor to know ever since I was eight that the person who murdered my aunt was living almost down the street from me,” Ovans added. “I could’ve bumped into him at the grocery store. To find out he was literally in my town the whole time, it broke my heart even more. It made it a harder pill to swallow.”

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 7, 2025. Smerk could face 20 years to life based on the Virginia code, but the plea agreement means no more than 70 years. 

He is eligible for parole.