In the late hours of a March evening in 1987, the life of a vibrant 21-year-old White/Caucasian woman named Robin Smith was tragically cut short. Known to her friends as 'Rockin' Robin,' she was a lively individual from Edgewood, Washington. On the night of March 28th, Robin was at a tavern in Puyallup where she and her fiancé, Larron Crowston, encountered a man who introduced himself as "Herb Johnson." This man was later identified as Darren Dee O'Neall. After leaving the tavern, Robin was last seen with O'Neall, purportedly on their way to a party. She was never seen alive again.
Concern grew for Robin's welfare when she did not return home. Two days after her disappearance, the yellow Chrysler that O'Neall had been driving was discovered abandoned at a rest stop north of Seattle. A search of the vehicle's trunk uncovered grim evidence of a violent struggle: Robin's blood-soaked jacket, human teeth, and bone fragments. This discovery shifted the focus of the investigation from a missing person case to a homicide, though her family held out hope.
Approximately six weeks after she vanished, Robin Smith's skeletal remains were found in a rural area of Pierce County, east of Tacoma, confirming the tragic outcome. The cause of death was determined to be blunt-force trauma, and a rusty hammer, believed to be the murder weapon, was recovered from a nearby stream.
The primary suspect, Darren Dee O'Neall, was a man with a significant and violent criminal history, including convictions for kidnapping and rape. At the time of Robin's murder, the 28-year-old was wanted on multiple warrants and was eventually placed on the FBI's '10 Most Wanted' list. O'Neall was a drifter who often used aliases, making him difficult to track. Authorities in several other states also sought him for questioning in connection with other unsolved murders and disappearances.
O'Neall was eventually located in a Louisiana jail, where he was being held under a false name. Following his arrest and extradition to Washington, he was charged with the first-degree murder of Robin Smith. In a turn of events before the trial, Robin's fiancé and a key witness, Larron Crowston, died of an accidental overdose. Despite this, the case against O'Neall proceeded. In January 1989, Darren Dee O'Neall pleaded guilty to Robin Smith's murder and was sentenced to a lengthy prison term. He was also convicted and sentenced for other violent crimes committed in Oregon.
