April 23, 1984 - April 3, 1997
Stranger Abduction Murder
Who was Laura?
Laura, our precious 12 year old daughter, was a ballet dancer, (she danced in ``The Nutcracker'' every year, and was training at the Houston Ballet Academy), a Cadette girl scout (working on her silver award), a certified scuba diver, and the Houston Rockets basketball teams' biggest fan. She did not live long enough to celebrate the Houston Comets, of whom she would have been so proud. She was gentle, considerate, loyal - the greatest friend anyone could ever have. She had an extremely high IQ with aspirations to attend Stanford University. She could have been and become anything she wanted. She had so much potential and such a vitality for life. Everyone who met her, loved her. She was an extraordinary child.
Laura had been counting down the days 'til her 13th birthday for 87 days. On the morning of April 3rd, 1997 she wrote ``Only 20 days 'til my birthday!'' on her message board. She was terribly excited about becoming a teenager. In a desire to get fitter and hold her arabesque higher in ballet class, she asked to go out for a short run, (this was the very first time she had ever done this - there was no routine here) in our quiet rural neighborhood, prior to breakfast that Thursday morning. She did not return.
Search for Laura
We immediately knew that something was terribly wrong, and immediately began searching for her. We called the Friendswood Police and made a missing person report within the first hour. Our friends and family began searching, we made a homemade flyer and went door to door in an adjacent neighborhood, we drove the area, and searched on horseback. By the end of the day, the news media had heard of Laura's disappearance, and hundreds of Friendswood residents came out to help search. Within 24 hours the search had expanded to thousands of volunteers - who put their own lives on hold for the following weeks - as the massive search grew. A battalion of marines relocated their field exercises so that they could search for Laura, while completing their operations. 6,000 volunteers searched over 17 days. Over 100 detectives from surrounding police agencies came to assist the Friendswood Police Department, and the FBI assigned 30 agents to the case.
Laura's remains were found on April 20th, in a Pasadena retention pond, 14 miles from our home, 17 days into the search and only 3 days before her 13th birthday. The medical examiner's office confirmed the identification on April 21st, following the autopsy.
Prime Suspect
After 4 months of investigation, a prime suspect emerged.
William Lewis Reece, a 38 year old white male - who worked construction as a bulldozer operator and shoed horses. Reece had signed on at a construction site a mile from our home, on April 1. His first day of work was April 2. It began raining on April 3rd and the construction workers were dismissed for the day. On leaving the construction site, he encountered Laura, abducted and murdered her.
Reece was arrested in August of 1997 for the aggravated kidnapping of a 19 year old - Sandra Sapaugh. He was convicted the following year and given a 60 year sentence (of which he has to serve 30 years before he becomes eligible for parole - his third offense). Reece had been released 5 years early from an Oklahoma prison sentence, (aggravated kidnapping and forcible oral sodomy charge and a rape charge) through the appeal process. All appeals in the Texas conviction have failed. He remains uncharged as yet, for the abduction and murder of Laura.
Complicating Factors - Contaminated Autopsy
Laura's autopsy was contaminated by the Medical Examiner's Office. Hair from murder victim Rachel Crouch, whose autopsy was performed immediately prior to Laura's, contaminated the autopsy. The Medical Examiner refused to cite contamination in her report. Within a year she had been fired and filed a wrongful termination suit against the county. She won her suit, although she received no damages, only lost wages covering from the time of termination to the time of the trial. No Texas Medical Examiners Office would hire her, and she eventually found work in a small town in Tennessee. She continues to claim that no contamination occurred in Laura's autopsy. This is a huge problem for the District Attorneys Office.
Default Judgment in Civil Suit
We, Bob and Gay Smither, filed a wrongful death suit against William Lewis Reece in April 1999 (at the 2 year deadline for civil suits). Reece did not respond to the suit, and we received a default judgment against him, and damages of $110,000,000. The money was not the point. (He has none!) We wanted him to know that we hold him accountable for Laura's death, even if the state has not charged him. In addition, after counsel from ``Justice For All'', a legislative activist organization in Houston, we wanted to make sure that Reece could not profit from his crime in any way.
Evidence
There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence against Reece (enough to get a conviction 20 years ago). In addition, we have excellent fiber evidence that was collected from his truck, that matches to fibers found on Laura's socks, which was the only clothing that was recovered. Unfortunately, Laura's remains had been in the water too long, to yield additional evidence. The contamination at the medical examiners office, compounded with the length of time she had been in the water, and the contaminants in the water, as well as several erroneous confessions that were given - make the District Attorneys office very leery of prosecuting our case. We continue to pray for a confession from Reece, and witness testimony from other inmates, should he ever say anything. Until something of this nature emerges, the DA's office will not take our case to the Grand Jury.
No charges have been filed to date - Reece continues to claim innocence.
Case Status - inactive, pending new information.
Bob and Gay Smither Co-Founded the Laura Recovery Center Foundation, in memory of Laura, and to honor all the volunteers who searched for her.