The Colorado “Hammer Killer” From 1984 Murder Spree Identified
After almost forty years the families can have some justice.
On January 10, 1984, Patricia Louise Smith was sitting down for lunch. The fifty-one-year-old interior decorator was in Lakewood, Colorado, helping her recently divorced daughter get settled with her two young children. Originally from Nebraska, the family was settling into their new life in Colorado.
Patricia was alone at the home, her grandkids were at school, and her daughter was at work.
Later that day, Patricia’s daughter, Chery, was waiting for Patricia at the park-and-ride. Patricia typically picked her up after work, and it immediately concerned Chery when she wasn’t there.
Chery called her cousin, who came to pick her up, and then the two of them collected Chery’s kids before heading home. Once they arrived, they noticed there weren’t any lights on in the home, and it was mostly dark now. From the driveway, all Chery could see was light from a TV flickering in her mother’s bedroom.
She entered the home, turned on the light, and found her mother lying on the floor. Chery said she immediately knew her mother was deceased. Chery grabbed her kids, who had been the first to enter the home, and ran to a neighbor’s house to call the…
