View Full Version : Randall Smith
The lead story on the front page of today's Washington Post is about Randall Smith, the piece of s*** who murdered two hikers on the AT in 1981.
www.washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com)
earlyriser26
07-08-2008, 11:05
Does anyone know Smith's cause of death? I asked one of the Pearisburg motel owners and they still had not heard anything. I assume they did an autopsy.
wilconow
07-08-2008, 11:24
link to the article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/07/AR2008070702332.html?hpid=artslot
Wise Old Owl
07-08-2008, 11:35
Sad but true read... found this excerpt interesting.
There are accidents on the trail and an occasional vandalized car, but violent crime is rare. "It is extremely safe," says Brian B. King, spokesman for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, a management group based in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. "You have more of a chance getting hurt driving to the trail in your car than you do on the trail."
Smith did 15 years of a 30 year sentence that was plea bargained from 1st to second degree murder for the 1981 double murder on the AT. 27 years later in May 2008 he returned to almost the same spot on the AT and shot 2 men. Both men lived. WHO LET THIS NUT OUT??? Talk about "catch and release".
I too am curious to find out how he died in jail, alone. Perhaps someone did him in? Thanks
BlackCloud
07-08-2008, 18:13
A previous article, posted on this site, described Lee's cause of death.
Fleeing from the police, Lee crashed the stolen truck of one of his victims. Cleared by hospital staff, Lee was released into police custody and was placed in a county jail. Overnight, Lee died of an undiagnosed head injury - think it was a blood vessel - can't recall exactly.
They just found him dead the next day.
The lead story on the front page of today's Washington Post is about Randall Smith, the piece of s*** who murdered two hikers on the AT in 1981.
www.washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com) I guess he never was quite right after his momma dressed him like a girl..........
... Cleared by hospital staff, Lee was released into police custody and was placed in a county jail. Overnight, Lee died of an undiagnosed head injury - think it was a blood vessel - can't recall exactly.
They just found him dead the next day.
What a shame.;)
wilconow
07-09-2008, 09:36
part 2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801657.html
"Both the Ramsay and Mountford families agreed to the plea bargain, which would result in a 30-year sentence. "If the Ramsays went along with it, we were going to go along with it," says Mountford Sr., who is an Episcopalian minister now living in Florida. "We didn't want him to get the death penalty. But we also didn't want him to ever get out."
If they didn't ever want him to get out why would they agree to the 30-year plea bargain?
drastic_quench
07-09-2008, 12:14
All manner of animals feast in the deep woods along this lovely stretch of mountains. There are bear and deer. Poisonous snakes and fish shimmering in the creeks. Dreams are hatched beside campfires and the stars seem almost close enough to grasp.
But sometimes, man feasts here as well.
And the killer was hungry.
My God. That's some over-written yellow journalism.
My God. That's some over-written yellow journalism.
I agree 100%, such that I was very tempted to send an email to the author concerning all of the hyperbole. But I think that I'm correct in saying that the reporter wasn't named. I'm surprised that it got past the editors at the Post.
Edited to say that I stand corrected -- the reporter is Wil Haygood. Still surprised that the editors let it go.
Odd Thomas
07-09-2008, 12:28
I guess he never was quite right after his momma dressed him like a girl..........
Yea what's up with that? Strange.
drastic_quench
07-09-2008, 13:59
I agree 100%, such that I was very tempted to send an email to the author concerning all of the hyperbole. But I think that I'm correct in saying that the reporter wasn't named. I'm surprised that it got past the editors at the Post.
Edited to say that I stand corrected -- the reporter is Wil Haygood. Still surprised that the editors let it go.
By Wil Haygood
(http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/wil+haygood/)
Washington Post Staff Writer
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/wil+haygood/
Jesus on a stick, Haygood is a "Style" writer for the Post. His writing in the piece on Smith seems almost calm and coldly rational compared to some of his earlier stuff:
"He was a smoothie and a cad, walking and swaying up and down U Street as if he owned the town. Young women swooned over Herman Perry in those pre-World War II days. He liked silk suits and white shirts, soul food and dancing at night. The war, as it had done to so many others, caught him in mid-stride."
funkcicle
07-09-2008, 17:17
I'd say there's more hyperbole in calling the piece "yellow journalism" than there was in the article itself. Having read most all of the articles pertaining to this incident, this one stands out as perhaps the only one that's even "well written". A little bit artsy sure, but I'll take that over a poorly reworded AP press releases any day.
My God. That's some over-written yellow journalism.
In my opinion it was the best story yet on the incident, reflecting a great deal of research by a very skilled reporter.
Weary
Good read. Sad story. The Washington Post is one of the better papers in the US.
Hikerhead
07-09-2008, 19:28
Did they recover a bullet from the first killing and compare it to this later shooting. I don't think they found his gun from the first killing. I'm just wondering if the same gun was used in both instances.
Alligator
07-09-2008, 21:11
Reopened. No more politics.
Lone Wolf
07-09-2008, 21:17
A previous article, posted on this site, described Lee's cause of death.
Fleeing from the police, Lee crashed the stolen truck of one of his victims. Cleared by hospital staff, Lee was released into police custody and was placed in a county jail. Overnight, Lee died of an undiagnosed head injury - think it was a blood vessel - can't recall exactly.
They just found him dead the next day.
end of story, end of thread. seriously.
notorius tic
07-09-2008, 21:39
TY Alligator
OregonHiker
07-09-2008, 22:32
My God. That's some over-written yellow journalism.
I think that you need to undertsand that this was not a news article but a feature piece. The "rules" are much different.
drastic_quench
07-10-2008, 00:00
But a murderer was in these woods, too. And he brought darkness to the light.
---------
All manner of animals feast in the deep woods along this lovely stretch of mountains. There are bear and deer. Poisonous snakes and fish shimmering in the creeks. Dreams are hatched beside campfires and the stars seem almost close enough to grasp.
But sometimes, man feasts here as well.
And the killer was hungry.
----------
Blood gushed against the moonless night.
Those selected quotes are so sensationalist that Stephen Colbert (doing his best Stone Philips imitation) would be pressed to deliver them with a straight face. I'm aware what type of article this is, but I still maintain it's sensationalist - one of the definitions of yellow journalism.
For comparison, here's the opening of Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas.
The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there." Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them.That's art. Half of my quotes from the Wil Haygood article aren't even complete sentences. The man writes in TV news magazine sound bites, hence the Stone Philips comparison. Sure, he's not going to top Capote, but Haygood's writing style is hack work. I'm not taking issue with his research.
Those selected quotes are so sensationalist that Stephen Colbert (doing his best Stone Philips imitation) would be pressed to deliver them with a straight face. I'm aware what type of article this is, but I still maintain it's sensationalist - one of the definitions of yellow journalism.
For comparison, here's the opening of Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas.
That's art. Half of my quotes from the Wil Haygood article aren't even complete sentences. The man writes in TV news magazine sound bites, hence the Stone Philips comparison. Sure, he's not going to top Capote, but Haygood's writing style is hack work. I'm not taking issue with his research.
It's not easy to get hired by The Washington Post. It's a very competitive newspaper. It doesn't hire hacks as feature writers. The story went through two or three editors at least. It's written the way it is because that is how the Post wanted it written.
Weary
It's not easy to get hired by The Washington Post. It's a very competitive newspaper. It doesn't hire hacks as feature writers.
No, the hacks are mostly on the editorial page. ;)
It's not easy to get hired by The Washington Post. It's a very competitive newspaper. It doesn't hire hacks as feature writers. The story went through two or three editors at least. It's written the way it is because that is how the Post wanted it written.
Weary
Well, that's too bad then, cause it was really poorly written. I wouldn't classify it as yellow journalism though. To me, yellow journalism is stretching the truth, or getting the facts wrong, purposely for sensationalism. The author had all the facts correct, he just flowered it up, really,really badly. I've read better stuff from my seventh graders.
Those selected quotes are so sensationalist that Stephen Colbert (doing his best Stone Philips imitation) would be pressed to deliver them with a straight face. I'm aware what type of article this is, but I still maintain it's sensationalist - one of the definitions of yellow journalism.
For comparison, here's the opening of Truman Capote's book In Cold Blood about the murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas.
That's art. Half of my quotes from the Wil Haygood article aren't even complete sentences. The man writes in TV news magazine sound bites, hence the Stone Philips comparison. Sure, he's not going to top Capote, but Haygood's writing style is hack work. I'm not taking issue with his research.
Cortez The Killer's entire post (for proper context):http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showpost.php?p=662433&postcount=24
Here is an interview with Wil Haygood:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/07/08/DI2008070801660.html
Is it possible that he acknowledges Cortez when speaking about the prospects of a book?
Cortez The Killer's entire post (for proper context):http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showpost.php?p=662433&postcount=24
Here is an interview with Wil Haygood:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/07/08/DI2008070801660.html....?
I find it fascinating that people in the interview with Haygood seemed to think it was brilliant piece of writing -- as do I.
By the way. I enjoyed the interview with Wil Haygood and highly recommend that everyone read it.
Weary
BlackCloud
07-11-2008, 16:25
end of story, end of thread. seriously.
Why can't the thread continue???
I find it fascinating that people in the interview with Haygood seemed to think it was brilliant piece of writing -- as do I.
By the way. I enjoyed the interview with Wil Haygood and highly recommend that everyone read it.
WearyI thought the interview was a good addition to the article. The answer about the prospect of a book in the interview in relation to Cortez's post where he compares Haygood negatively to Capote is what prompted my post. Seemed like Haygood might have seen Cortez's post. Pure speculation on my part.:sun
Lone Wolf
07-11-2008, 22:23
Why can't the thread continue???
why should it?
why should it?Good question...and I'm done here.:)
AngelMagic
07-15-2008, 20:22
I recall my son being warned about the killer in Pearisburg when he did his Thru Hike in 2005. At the time, he thought the locals were trying to scare the crap out of him but hindsight shows they were warning him to be on the alert.. He sent me the article last week and being a mother I was relieved to know that the killer finally is dead.
BlackCloud
07-16-2008, 10:49
Good question...and I'm done here.:)
So are we now supposed to annouce individually that we are "through" with the thread and moving on to better things, or may I in the future simply read other posts?:cool: