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| Keywords: lemuel smith amsterdam ny new york ghost town ghosttown dead city real estate mohawk valley 12010 albany capitol region schenectady troy blackandwhite people monochrome black and white January 21, 1958, Dorothy Waterstreet was robbed and beaten to death near Smith's neighborhood in Amsterdam, New York. Evidence pointed towards the 16-year-old Smith During the following summer, Smith relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he kidnapped a 25-year-old woman and beat her nearly to death. On May 20, 1969, he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman who managed to escape. Later that same day, he kidnapped and raped a 46-year-old friend of his mother's. On November 24, 1976, the day before Thanksgiving, Robert Hedderman, 48, and Hedderman's secretary, Margaret Byron, 59, were found brutally murdered in the back of Hedderman's religious store in Albany. Joan Richburg, 24, was raped, murdered and mutilated in her car at Colonie Center mall in Colonie. The pattern of brutality and more hair evidence made Smith the prime suspect in that murder as well, but he remained free pending investigation. January 10, 1977, a large black man tried to lure a 22-year-old woman out of a gift shop in Albany. When she resisted, he took her 60-year-old grandmother hostage and threatened to kill her. When help arrived, he threw the woman down, knocking her unconscious and deliberately stepped on her hand, breaking it. Years later the grandmother saw a picture of Smith in the newspaper and identified him as having been her attacker. July 22, 1977, Maralie Wilson, 30, was found strangled and mutilated near train tracks in downtown Schenectady, New York. The horrendous post-mortem mutilation was worse than some veteran investigators had ever seen in the region. Smith was known to frequent the area and witnesses recalled Wilson being accosted by a large black man. Schenectady police made Smith the prime suspect in her murder. On August 19, 1977, Marianne Maggio, 18, who worked in the same area as Maralie Wilson, was kidnapped and raped by Lemuel Smith. When he forced her to drive towards Albany afterwards, police stopped the car and arrested Smith without incident. In 1981, Lemuel Smith was in the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility. On May 15, 1981, Greenhaven Corrections Officer Donna Payant was on duty when she received a phone call and told her co-worker she needed to take care of a problem. Her fellow officer returned to work at the end of the shift to pick Donna up, when she never came out, hundreds of corrections officers combed the entire prison grounds throughout the night and into the following morning. Trash dumpsters were emptied into a garbage truck, which two senior Correction Officers escorted to a dumpsite twenty miles away. When the garbage was spread out, officers finally found Payant's mutilated body. January 21, 1958, Dorothy Waterstreet was robbed and beaten to death near Smith's neighborhood in Amsterdam, New York. Evidence pointed towards the 16-year-old Smith During the following summer, Smith relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where he kidnapped a 25-year-old woman and beat her nearly to death. On May 20, 1969, he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman who managed to escape. Later that same day, he kidnapped and raped a 46-year-old friend of his mother's. On November 24, 1976, the day before Thanksgiving, Robert Hedderman, 48, and Hedderman's secretary, Margaret Byron, 59, were found brutally murdered in the back of Hedderman's religious store in Albany. Joan Richburg, 24, was raped, murdered and mutilated in her car at Colonie Center mall in Colonie. The pattern of brutality and more hair evidence made Smith the prime suspect in that murder as well, but he remained free pending investigation. January 10, 1977, a large black man tried to lure a 22-year-old woman out of a gift shop in Albany. When she resisted, he took her 60-year-old grandmother hostage and threatened to kill her. When help arrived, he threw the woman down, knocking her unconscious and deliberately stepped on her hand, breaking it. Years later the grandmother saw a picture of Smith in the newspaper and identified him as having been her attacker. July 22, 1977, Maralie Wilson, 30, was found strangled and mutilated near train tracks in downtown Schenectady, New York. The horrendous post-mortem mutilation was worse than some veteran investigators had ever seen in the region. Smith was known to frequent the area and witnesses recalled Wilson being accosted by a large black man. Schenectady police made Smith the prime suspect in her murder. On August 19, 1977, Marianne Maggio, 18, who worked in the same area as Maralie Wilson, was kidnapped and raped by Lemuel Smith. When he forced her to drive towards Albany afterwards, police stopped the car and arrested Smith without incident. In 1981, Lemuel Smith was in the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility. On May 15, 1981, Greenhaven Corrections Officer Donna Payant was on duty when she received a phone call and told her co-worker she needed to take care of a problem. Her fellow officer returned to work at the end of the shift to pick Donna up, when she never came out, hundreds of corrections officers combed the entire prison grounds throughout the night and into the following morning. Trash dumpsters were emptied into a garbage truck, which two senior Correction Officers escorted to a dumpsite twenty miles away. When the garbage was spread out, officers finally found Payant's mutilated body. | ||||
