Hazel Wilson, 74, a white female, was attacked inside her Vancouver, Washington home after two intruders forced their way in on June 11, 1980. According to accounts later presented in court, William Perry Jackson and his accomplice Gary Allen Smith pried open her door, beat her until she could no longer get up, and ransacked the residence before fleeing. A neighbor found Wilson two days later; she was taken to a local hospital, where she died of her injuries on June 14, 1980.
Investigators linked the assault on Wilson to Jackson and Smith during a wider, fast-moving investigation into a string of violent crimes across Oregon and Washington that summer. Both men were arrested in late August 1980 amid related cases, and the Wilson homicide became a focal point of their prosecutions. Testimony and filings describe the break-in, the beating, and the looting of Wilson’s home, consistent with the pattern attributed to the pair during that period.
Court records and contemporaneous coverage show that Jackson ultimately pleaded guilty to Wilson’s murder, receiving a life sentence, while Smith was tried and convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Jackson also served as a witness against Smith, and appellate records from Smith’s other cases reflect the broader sequence of arrests, charges, and sentencing that followed the 1980 crime spree.
