Account
Apr 29, 2013
May 30, 2023
Carolyn
Killaby
62
34
66 inches
110 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
On a cool autumn evening, November 11, 1995, 34-year-old Carolyn Ruth Killaby was last seen in Orchards, Washington. A medical technician and mother, Carolyn had reportedly been at Omar's Restaurant & Steak House on Northeast Fourth Plain Road. Accounts from that night suggest she was visibly upset and had been drinking heavily. She was last seen leaving the establishment with a man she had just met, Dennis Keith Smith. Shortly before midnight, a chilling 911 call was made by two separate witnesses who reported hearing a woman's screams for help emanating from a nearby field, but a search of the area revealed nothing. Carolyn was not officially reported as a missing person for several days. Her car, a 1991 Toyota Camry, was later found in the restaurant's parking lot. Inside the vehicle, there were no signs of a struggle, but a perplexing handwritten note was discovered, mentioning a desire to fly from Portland to Los Angeles. Carolyn’s purse was missing and has never been located. The investigation soon focused on Dennis Keith Smith, the man last seen with Carolyn. Smith's initial account to the police was that he was helping an intoxicated Carolyn to her car when they were accosted by a stranger who yelled at them before he left the scene. However, his story would change. Smith had a disturbing criminal history, including a prior conviction for the 1982 murder of his own sister, for which he had served ten years of a life sentence before being paroled. As authorities sought to question him further, Smith fled the state. A warrant for his arrest in connection with Carolyn's murder was issued in July 1996, after forensic evidence, in the form of blood traces matching Carolyn's DNA, was discovered in his truck. Smith was eventually apprehended in Florida in September of that year, following a violent confrontation with police that left him critically injured. After his capture and extradition to Washington, Smith offered a new version of events, claiming he and Carolyn had engaged in consensual sex in his truck before her husband accosted them. Despite his denials, he was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison. This conviction was later reduced to first-degree murder with a 70-year sentence on appeal. In a tragic turn, Smith took his own life in prison in late 2004. Before his death, he admitted to killing Carolyn and even attempted to lead investigators to her body on Larch Mountain, but the search was unsuccessful. Carolyn Killaby was declared legally dead in 1997, and in 2002, her family received a significant wrongful death settlement from the state of Washington due to the inadequate supervision of Smith following his parole. Carolyn's body has never been found, leaving her loved ones without the closure of a final resting place. The case serves as a somber reminder of the devastating impact of violent crime and the lingering pain experienced by the families of the missing.
Nov 11, 1995
Orchards
Washington
Clark County
No
22556
Clark County Sheriff's Office
Vancouver
Washington
Clark County
98666
Lindsay Schultz
Detective
707 West 13th Street, Washington
3603972211
County
Law Enforcement
S95-21509
Clark County Sheriff's Office
Brown
Blue
Blue
No
06/18/2026
