In the summer of 1987, a shadow fell over El Paso, Texas, as a series of young women and girls began to vanish, their disappearances casting a pall of fear across the community. Among them was 14-year-old Dawn Marie Smith, a female student at Parkland High School. After a family argument in June, she had run away from home but had maintained contact with her family until all communication abruptly ceased after August 28, 1987.
The hope for her safe return was tragically extinguished when, on October 20, 1987, hikers in a desert area northeast of El Paso stumbled upon a shallow grave containing her remains, alongside those of another missing girl, 15-year-old Desiree Wheatley. This grim discovery was part of a larger, horrifying picture, as the bodies of several other missing young women were unearthed in the same desolate stretch of desert.
The investigation into the string of murders, which terrorized the city, soon zeroed in on a suspect: David Leonard Wood, a man with a significant history of sexual violence. Wood had been paroled from prison in January 1987, just before the disappearances began. A crucial break in the case came from a woman who survived an attack, who identified Wood as her assailant and led investigators to the very area where the bodies were being discovered. This, along with other pieces of evidence, led to Wood's arrest on October 22, 1987. In the ensuing investigation, law enforcement built a case against Wood, connecting him to the disappearances through witness statements and fiber evidence. While in custody, two of his cellmates came forward, claiming that Wood had confessed to the murders, describing how he would lure his victims with drugs before taking them to the desert.
On July 13, 1990, an El Paso County grand jury indicted David Leonard Wood for the murders of Dawn Marie Smith and five other young women: Ivy Williams, Desiree Wheatley, Karen Baker, Angelica Frausto, and Rosa Maria Casio. Due to extensive pretrial publicity in El Paso, the trial was moved to Dallas. In November 1992, a jury found Wood guilty of capital murder. The court sentenced him to death on January 14, 1993. Over the subsequent decades, Wood has remained on death row, maintaining his innocence and pursuing numerous appeals. His execution has been stayed on multiple occasions, once in 2009 to address claims of intellectual disability, and again in 2025, pending further review of his case, including claims of actual innocence and ineffective assistance of counsel. The case of the "Desert Killer," as Wood came to be known, left a lasting scar on the community of El Paso, a chilling narrative of young lives cut short and a long and complex legal battle for justice that continues to this day.
