Do you know who murdered Robert Smith? In a tragic turn of events in Washington, D.C., a five-week-old infant boy, Robert Smith Jr., lost his life in August 2015. The devastating incident unfolded inside a home in the Petworth neighborhood, where the young child was found unconscious and unresponsive. He was rushed to a local hospital but was pronounced dead. An autopsy later revealed the heartbreaking cause of his death: multiple blunt force injuries, leading the manner of death to be ruled a homicide.
The investigation into the infant's death led authorities to his own father, 28-year-old Robert Smith Sr. Initially, the father denied any involvement in his son's death. However, he later confessed to the police, admitting, 'I did it.' He described how he had squeezed the baby on multiple occasions when the child would not stop crying, comparing the force to squeezing a tube of toothpaste. He recounted compressing the child's body and bending him backward out of frustration on the morning of his death. Smith Sr.
also told a detective that while his son's mother saw him as a 'great guy,' he viewed himself as 'a monster.' The autopsy supported his confession, revealing not only new injuries but also older, healed fractures to the baby's ribs and evidence of hyperextensions of his spine.
Following his confession, Robert Smith Sr. was arrested and charged with first-degree felony murder. He later reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, pleading guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. In exchange for his plea, he faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Ultimately, a judge sentenced Robert Smith Sr. to eight years in prison for the death of his infant son.
