Parents of Derrick Robie, 4, who was murdered by a 13-yr-old Eric Smith open up after his parole
Eric Smith, 13 years old in 1993 murdered a young child called Derrick Robie. Smith was called the ‘freckle-faced killer’ by the media at the time. Smith was released in November last year by a parole board. At his 11th parole hearing last October, Smith, 41, convinced the New York state Board of Parole that he no longer posed a danger to society.
Now the parents of Smith's four-year-old victim Robie have spoken out as their son's killer left jail after 28 years. Doreen and Dale Robie spoke about their difficult journey in the three decades since their son was murdered in the town of Savona, New York, in an interview with CBS News' 48 Hours, on March 26. Savona is a small community of roughly 800 inhabitants located near the Finger Lakes region of New York. The murder took place when Doreen had allowed her child to walk to a neighboring summer camp on August 2, 1993. Doreen reported her son missing after learning he hadn't arrived at the park. His corpse was discovered in the neighboring forests hours later. At first, the little town believed the killer was a stranger. However, Marlene Haskell, a Smith family friend, became increasingly concerned about Smith's behavior. He remembered Smith going to the park near where Robie's body was discovered and asking what would happen if the killer was another teenager.
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Smith's mother and she took him to the police station, where he seemed to enjoy discussing the crime. He denied seeing the little boy at first, but then admitted it, saying, “I’m sorry, Mom. I’m sorry. I killed that little boy.” Smith was convicted as an adult and was sentenced to nine years to life in jail in August 1994, when he was 14 years old, first in a juvenile detention center and then in an adult prison once he turned 21. In 2002, he was refused parole for the first time.
Doreen stated, “It upsets me, the fact that we have to beg to keep this killer behind bars. They could decide that well, now he’s done his time and we’re going to let him go … It scares the hell out of me.” During the investigations, Smith revealed how he viciously bludgeoned the boy with rocks, strangled him and sexually abused his body with a stick. Smith said that he'd been bullied by other kids for his bright red hair and he took his anger out on Robie. In 2004, he told a parole board that he did it because instead of hurting himself, he was hurting someone else. He also claimed that if he hadn't been caught, he would have done it again, which affirmed prosecutors' concerns that he was on the verge of becoming a serial murderer. Smith has undergone years of counseling and has stated that his rage was focused on those who picked on him rather than Robie.
At his parole board hearing, Smith told the panel he wanted to be an electrician or carpenter, that he was working on a college degree in crusade evangelism and that he even had a fiancée. He told the board, "The 13-year-old kid that took [Derrick’s] life… is not the man sitting in front of you talking … if you were to give me the chance, I would not only prove that I’m not a threat. I would definitely be an asset to society.” Smith apologized to the Robies and said that if he could switch places with their son "and take the grave for him to live, I'd do it in a second…" Smith was freed in February, 2022, at the age of 42, and relocated to the Queens borough of New York City.
Doreen explained, “I don’t let him take space in my head. I do not focus on where he is, what he’s doing. … ‘cause I don’t care. As long as he’s not near friends and family.” Her little boy was on his way to play T-ball, his favorite game, when his life was cut short by Smith. "I understand why after so many years they decided to give him a chance. And that's fine, you know for him and his family," Doreen told "48 Hours" contributor Jim Axelrod in "Eric Smith: Gambling on a Killer'. "He's been released, but in a way, so have we," she said. "No more parole. We can get on with our lives. Now the true healing can begin."
Now, in Savona there's a ballfield dedicated to Robie with a statue of him in his batter's stance. 'Dedicated to be a gentle reminder of what childhood is meant to be,' the plaque on the base of the statue says. "I love that he was called 'The mayor of Savona' because he was pretty well known," his mom says.