On August 2, 1993, 4-year-old Derrick Robie was beaten to death in his hometown of Savona, New York (population 900). Eric Smith, 13, confessed to Robie’s murder. He strangled Robie and hit his head repeatedly with a rock. Smith was known not to have friends. The redhead with freckles and thick eyeglasses was bullied in school. One year later in 1994, Smith was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to the maximum term then available for juvenile murderers – a minimum of nine years to life in prison.
According to WXXI News, Smith, now 37, has been denied parole eight times since 2002, most recently in April 2016. He will appear before the parole board again in 2018. Smith has been interviewed for the A&E documentary Kids Who Kill which airs June 19 at 9pm.
