Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2015 3:22:45 GMT
It's been around a year or so since I have become active in the forum of this case. I have been trying my hardest to do my part in raising awareness for this case but I am not having much success with promoting my screenplay. As a writer, my instant passion is to try using my passion to do my part. Not easy when you think about it. let alone attempt it. You get awful looks from those who do not understand and hastily strewn insults about your motivations. I'm used to it all and it doesn't make a dent in changing who I am and how it is that I work. I know in my heart that I mean well and if that is all I'll ever have then that is more than enough to me. I've chosen this path because as I said, it is all that I know that I can do without any thought. While this film being made is still a growing effort however, I have decided to try something else in order to stave this creative itch and burning desire to contribute. Like all of us, all we want to do is help in ways that we know we can.
Therefore, I am starting a series of threads dedicated to my personal theories on what happened around the confirmed murders committed by the Original Night Stalker. I am starting with the Smith's because they were physically linked by DNA to others, thus genuinely confirming that ONS was responsible 110% I may come back later for those like Offerman/Manning, the Maggiores, Snelling and other possible homicides. It actually depends on how this first thread is received.
Furthermore, I am doing this in such a way that it keeps my overall EARONS theory less bulky, if you will. Splitting it up will certainly allow for making corrections to be a lot easier. Who knows? Maybe something left out can be revisited.
Also, the following is extremely graphic as I have chosen to revisit the story behind this crime as explicitly as possible. I've laid out a backdrop and the actual theory I've worked very hard on holds nothing back. I've tried to provide facts behind these murders but some things I might have left out. These are things I plan on fixing over time.
Without further comment, here is my theory on the events that took the lives of the beautiful Charlene Smith and her incredible husband, Lyman.
The Backdrop:
Charlene and Lyman Robert Smith were a high-class married couple living in Ventura, California. Lyman was Charlene's third husband within ten years and Lyman himself had been married before, bearing three children. Charlene had no children and had been involved in an extra-marital affair during her marriage with Lyman. This is a solid fact and is not to be taken lightly, as it proves just how human the Smiths and their inner circle of friends and family were.
Charlene at the time of her demise was a 33 year old jewelry aficionado, coming from a torn life that could have been best described as emotionally and mentally neglected. While those around her following the abandonment by her mother and tragic death of her father might have been pivotal in loving her as much as they can, no one could have imagined just how much she genuinely wanted. Inside of her marriage there was a mess of feelings left over that were never properly dealt with that resonated in her. These feelings of dismay and concern ultimately lead to her being concerned with her appearance to those looking in. She was known to carry herself with style and dignity, showing in her expensive tastes and desire for order within her home. The Smith house was well known for it's cleanliness and kept features, bordering along the line of obsessive compulsive. While this did not stave her from becoming an emotional wreck internally, she was certainly seen by the public as someone who bore an amazing appearance.
At the time of their murders, Lyman was employed with his own successful Santa Paula law firm and was looking out for personal business endeavors. Ever ambitious, Lyman had been investing in a recent pursuit that was not helping him create a successful link with his wife mentally, emotionally and physically. Already a father and one time ex husband, Lyman had tried his best to shower his wife with monetary reliefs but could never seem to keep her happy. His drive for success and passion for his work in fact caused them to separate for sometime.
The affair that Charlene Smith had with polygraph expert and sheriff's deputy Richard Atwood was one brought on by her feeling the neglect she has so long known and never conquered. It can be argued that she had never gotten over being abandoned and orphaned, which Lyman did not help with his own burning desires to reach for more. It is well known that Lyman and Richard had in fact met when the latter came by the Smith house overlooking Ventura county, bringing a letter to his lover after learning that she was in fact married.
Following half a decade of deceit, lust and despair, Lyman and Charlene finally began attempting to rebuild their failing marriage. Love did in fact exist between the two and it was taking the time to face everything together did they finally begin to reconnect. The dwindling burn in the candle of their passion for each other final started to grow once again. Things were getting better and Charlene was finally feeling that her needs were being met, while Lyman discovered that his true conquest was that of the woman he loved the most next to his mother.
Little did they know, someone else outside of their vivacious circles was well aware of them and their lives. A sorted fellow, this man was no stranger to learning about the people whose lives he would affect in the worst way. He was a voyeur not only by his personal trade, but a rapist and a ultimately, the murderer of Lyman and Charlene.
Charlene was his ultimate target. A gorgeous woman with the beauty of a Goddess and the life of luxury that one looking in could never receive. She wasn't perfect, but that didn't matter to him. The only thing that really mattered to him was that she was available in his eyes, something that didn't take much for him to make someone a target. It can be assumed that like before in his previous crimes as a serial rapist, the man responsible for taking their lives was in fact watching them for some time. This man was the Original Night Stalker and bloodshed was his goal on the night of March 13, 1980.
The Murder Theory:
The Original Night Stalker likely watched the day to day living of Charlene and Lyman for sometime. Well adjusted to a system of stalking and reconnaissance before striking, he likely knew when and where the couple would be at about anytime of the day. He knew the type of people that lived in the high end neighborhood that the Smith's were located. However, he was likely unaware or at least not concerned about the dramas that befell his intended victims. The main concerns surrounded the where, who and when, which pretty much gave him the motivation to do what it was that his black heart so desperately needed.
I think he enjoyed taking time away from Northern California to troll the unsuspecting of the states southern end or even out of the state of California all together for sometime. He was mobile to say the least, which certainly gave him the opportunity to fixate over someone that really made his evil mouth water. Their were likely some very fortunate potential victims or non-suspected rape/murder victims existing in southern California around the three years that the notorious East Area Rapist was offending in and around Sacramento. He lived to stalk women that vexed him hard enough, while only sometimes breaking his demented protocol to grab what he lusted for uncontrollably. Like a person once addicted to crack-cocaine could tell you, the mental and emotional pull towards what it is that your body thinks that it needs can be overwhelming once you have a taste of something that you not only like but feel that you could not live without.
The Original Night Stalker/East Area Rapist was no different than a drug addict, though his personally driven addiction was the emotional and physical submission of those he deemed "worthy" of his lust. Internally, he was dominate being whose force was to be reckoned with is only a short hand description of how his mind worked. For almost five years at this point had he become so prolific around Sacramento did he push his needs so far that he ultimately needed more. Not only was the aforementioned submission his desire, but taking it one step further could make his high an everlasting one. Taking away from another something that could not be replaced became his high. Murder, was something he had done before and was ultimately comfortable enough with doing that could facilitate this high.
He watched Charlene for some length of time before choosing her to be his latest victim. He learned about the movements of her neighbors and more to the point, her husband Lyman. Most likely, he even visited Lyman's office with a bogus legal issue he had made up in order to see his face. As bold and cunning of a creature as the Original Night Stalker was, I will never credit him for being clever. The lengths he would go to in order to mentally and physically prepare for his crimes would sometimes nearly lead to his downfall. Unfortunately, this downfall never genuinely occurred and the Smith's were in for it because this mad man was still at large due to his abundance of sheer luck.
Like previous victims could tell you, odd yet non-concerning things began to happen in and around their house. Hang up calls were probably not uncommon in their area, so I do believe that ONS used this ancient tactic he had perfected in his past crimes. Neighbors of the homes that he would strike were not victimless to this form of reconnaissance, as the perpetrator wanted to know about his victims surroundings as well. I also believe that he had entered the Smith home prior to the murders and went about his twisted explorations into the personal livelihood of his victims, secretly taking advantage of the privacy inside of our homes that we as homeowners can very well take for granted.
Furthermore, I do believe he may have spoken to Charlene at some time and might have even made a pass at her that was not welcome, nor well received. This fueled his burning rage against her and his desire to make her suffer only grew, so finally he snapped. After some time of stalking and recon work, he decided to strike.
Making a pass at his female victims is something that I will elaborate on at a later time.
On the fateful night that tragedy would strike Charlene and Lyman Smith, it is likely that the Original Night Stalker watched them having sex. It can never be known if that passion was fulfilling not only to them, but their voyeur as well. Whatever the case may have been, the last thing that these two amazing individuals ever did in their last moments of self-assured privacy was make love. Their murderer invaded that special time only moments later after they had fallen asleep together in bed immediately afterward. Some believe that they had simply fallen asleep and theorize that Lyman like sleeping in the nude. It is a possibility that this might have been the case, though it is unlikely due to how this notorious creeper of California liked to strike.
He came in through a window or back door which he himself had left unlocked, using this as his signal for when he could strike. Whenever he would sneak into the house before, he would use the master bedroom window that he left unlocked himself during his prowling of their house while it was empty. He was not going to use this way that night, but another way he left unlocked that the Smith's never really double checked. When they failed to double check this entrance despite their concern over personal securities, this is what allowed the creep to enter their home.
Once inside, he made sure to lock this entrance behind himself. He would then quietly secure the house, leaving the front door open in case things got out of hand and he needed to bail out of the house in a hurry, as well as leaving the bedroom window open in case his passage to the front door was compromised. He was well aware of just how much could go wrong during these confrontational moments and gave himself ample opportunity to dart away while remaining comfortable about his physical limitations.
At some point in the night, the Smiths were awakened by the intruder. Screams were heard around two in the morning by a neighbor and then silence. Nothing else was heard.
I believe that like in his previous crimes, he awakened them using his flashlight and shouting obscene demands for money, food and cooperation, or he would quickly end their lives and disappear into the night. When they were coherent enough to give into his demented commands, he had Charlene tie up Lyman using a cord that he had brought with him before tying up Charlene himself. He went back to Lyman, removing the bindings behind his back and retied the man using a single drapery cord. Finding that his ankles were securely tied, he left those alone as a whole.
The following is where I will receive the most criticism. I welcome it because this is all still in theory.
I think he took Charlene out of the room and had placed dishes or something of similar material from the house on Lyman's back in order to know if he moved. With the threat of losing his wife at gunpoint, Lyman remained still while the rapist took Charlene into the hallway and raped her. Between raping her and rummaging about the house and taking liberties with the food inside of the house, he would check on Lyman and return to Charlene repeatedly, before raping her again and ultimately bringing her back. He retied Charlene once more using the diamond knot and promised that he would leave. However, he instead reached outside of the window where he left one fire log ready to go and brought it back into the room. He removed the items from Lyman's back and replaced them sometime before or after murdering them, ultimately covering his tracks by placing them just how he found them.
It should be noted that because of Charlene's obsessive compulsive behavior in keeping up with their house, a clue stands out not inside of the bedroom but in the kitchen. An open milk carton was found on the counter and those who knew Charlene best would tell you that this stands out like a sore thumb. Leaving anything out of it's place was not a sign of the order that Charlene upheld within her home.
Just when these traumatized victims felt that they were being left alone at long last, their attacker reached outside of the window he left unlocked and grabbed the single fire log that he had strategically placed just in reach. The victims felt he was escaping out of the window so they were simply waiting for the coast to be clear. Sadly, this was not the case and he wasn't quite ready to leave yet. The ultimate high in his distorted brain had not been reached and he needed more in order to fix that desire.
He struck Lyman first in front of Charlene, who quite literally and understandably screamed bloody murder. After one well-placed blow to the head, Lyman Robert Smith was dead. I believe that ONS manipulated his grasp on the log so that the sharpest point would hit first and that he waited for when Lyman's head was exposed at the right moment before "just doing it".
Charlene screamed and struggled, as the madness continued all around her and out of her control. I believe that the ONS raped her once again during this time, striking her once in order to make her submissive before the final rape. During this time, she struggled as much as she could have before he ended her life with one final blow to the head in or around the same spot he struck before. Once she was still, the ONS relished in the moment before escaping the house for good and leaving these two innocence a shadow of their former selves.
Before leaving, he removed the bindings from Lyman's ankles and took them with him. He left the diamond knots in tact, hoping that maybe the local law enforcement would take notice and give him some much desired attention through the media. After cleaning up things behind himself that he felt comfortable with doing, taking some mementos for later and leaving the room a well arranged wreck, he left the house using the window and ran away to a strategically parked vehicle. From here, the Original Night Stalker left a seemingly endless trail of bloodshed dripping wide and ready to be discovered. This was his finest of work and he was extremely proud of himself.
Just wait until they see this... he likely thought.
To me, the lay out of this crime really does paint a picture of the mind of the Original Night Stalker/East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer/Diamond Know Killer/Night Predator. It was perfection to him because everything was so elaborate and he used his poor victims in a way of conveying the 'art' behind his madness. Things like this are very common in people like him who share similar hobbies. Just look at how Dennis Rader is getting along.
The bodies of Lyman and Charlene were discovered some days later by Lyman's youngest son, who came by to mow his father's yard. At the time he was twelve years old. Their funeral carried on with a turn out that no one could fathom as their bodies were returned to the earth with dignity and grace. Everyone who knew the two were well aware that all along during their rocky trials in marriage that they both needed each other more than anything. Like Lyman's need to reach for the sky and Charlene's desire for affection, their love was powerful.
Tears sprinkled from eyes to the earth in sadness over the loss of such wonderful people like morning dew settling. Not one dry eye existed from that tragic event and sadly, it was not isolated and nor was it the last time that family and friends grieved for the loss of loved ones taken away in the night by the very same psychopath.
The investigation would lead to several people being sought out as persons of interest in this double homicide. This included Lyman's legal partner Joseph Alsip, his eldest child Jennifer Smith and Charlene's former lover Richard Atwood. All of these individuals and many more were ultimately cleared through various means, though Alsip was initially charged in the murders. Alsip's story alone ranges on the absurd and those involved in his story are just as crazy due to their attempts at implicating him. The same goes for Atwood who might have been something less than reputable, but he wasn't the murderer of the woman that he thought he was in love with. And to blame Lyman's daughter for the murders because of a hunch, when there was proof that Charlene had been assaulted by a male... sickening.
Law enforcement involved with the case were unable to comprehend what had just happened, to say the least. They were lost in the aftermath of a monster whose potential existed in a way that seems legendary as far as modern day serial murder goes, but they had no clue. Using location in order to get away with murder, the Original Night Stalker had yet again fulfilled his ungodly needs and ruined numerous lives before disappearing into obscurity. This crazy son of a * knew what he was doing and knew just how good he was at doing it.
