A former elementary school teacher is found murdered in a Yuma, AZ business On the evening of September 29, 1979, the body of 52-year-old Dorothy Smock, a Caucasian female, was discovered by her husband inside Solar Engineering Systems in Yuma, Arizona. The scene suggested a violent struggle had taken place. Authorities found that Smock had been bound with tape, which was also used to cover her face, ultimately causing her to suffocate.
Investigators determined that the motive for the attack was likely not robbery.
Although her purse had been emptied and her wallet was found outside the building, valuable items such as her diamond rings and a gold watch were left untouched. This led law enforcement to consider other possibilities as they processed the crime scene, collecting evidence in the hopes of identifying a suspect.
Over the years, the Yuma Police Department has pursued numerous leads in the search for Dorothy Smock's killer. Hundreds of individuals have been interviewed, and a significant amount of fingerprint evidence was collected from the scene. Despite these efforts, the case has grown cold, and no arrests have ever been made. The identity of any suspect or suspects remains unknown.
One lead that was thoroughly investigated involved a juvenile who had escaped from a local detention center shortly before the murder. This individual was later convicted of a separate, brutal murder in California. However, after a comparison of his fingerprints to those found at the Smock crime scene, he was cleared as a suspect in her death. The case officially remains unsolved, leaving a lingering mystery in the Yuma community.
