Robert Smith

Mass Murderer

Robert Benjamin Smith and the 1966 Rose-Mar College of Beauty Massacre

Overview

Robert Benjamin Smith was an 18-year-old high-school senior who murdered five people and wounded two others at the Rose-Mar College of Beauty in Mesa, Arizona, on November 12, 1966. The victims were four women and a three-year-old girl who had gathered at the school shortly before it opened for business. Smith did not know his victims and had no personal grievance against the beauty college. Investigators determined that he selected the school as a convenient place to commit a mass murder that he hoped would make his name nationally known. The massacre occurred during a disturbing year in American history. Only months earlier, Richard Speck had murdered eight student nurses in Chicago, and Charles Whitman had opened fire from the University of Texas Tower in Austin. Smith closely followed reports about both crimes. He later admitted that the publicity surrounding Speck and Whitman helped inspire him and that he wanted to surpass their death tolls. His motive was not robbery, revenge or political ideology. He wanted notoriety and believed that murdering strangers would guarantee that people remembered him.

Background and Preparation

Robert Benjamin Smith was born on February 10, 1948, in Houston, Missouri. By 1966, he was living with his family in Mesa and attending Mesa High School. He was generally described as quiet, withdrawn and intelligent, although later examinations revealed deeply troubling fantasies about violence, power and recognition. He had developed an intense interest in assassins, dictators and notorious killers. Smith reportedly began planning a mass killing approximately three months before the attack. He considered several possible targets, including a high school, another beauty school and a bank in Missouri where he knew people. He eventually settled on the Rose-Mar College of Beauty at 42 North Stapley Drive in Mesa. The location offered a group of potential victims inside a relatively small building, and Smith believed he could control the occupants long enough to carry out his plan. Smith armed himself with a .22-caliber single-action revolver and carried additional ammunition. He also brought two hunting knives and plastic sandwich bags. The bags were apparently intended to suffocate or restrain his victims, although they proved too small to be used as he had planned. On the morning of November 12, Smith walked from his home to the beauty college and waited for an opportunity to enter.

The Rose-Mar College of Beauty

The Rose-Mar College of Beauty trained students to become licensed cosmetologists. Students completed classroom instruction before gaining practical experience by serving customers under supervision. The school was normally busy, but the attack occurred shortly before regular business hours, when only a small number of students and customers were present. The school's director had arrived and allowed the waiting students and customers inside. She later noticed Smith outside carrying a handgun. Realizing that something was wrong, she moved away from the building and contacted police from a neighboring business. Her decision to summon help prevented Smith from having more time inside the school and may have saved additional lives. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Joyce Sellers 27 yr old Female

1966 Rose-Mar College of Beauty shooting