In April of nineteen ninety eight, hikers in the Trinity Alps of northern California stumbled upon what looked like the remains of a burnt out campsite, that is, until they realized something human was buried beneath the ashes. The scene told investigators that this was not an accident nor a crime of impulse, but instead it seemed to be a
victim of drawn out torture. The investigation that followed slowly unraveled a story no one could believe, one of betrayal, control, and violence carried out by people who were so called friends. This is the story of Laura Sinner.
My name's Ben, I'm Nicole and you're listening to Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast.
The following podcast and material more about your audience, listener, dis question and the countdown to Christmas is getting smaller and smaller. It is almost here. We're what like nine days away.
Oh, it's a bit too close. If you asked me, it's a bit too close.
Well, I hope everyone's making sure that they're on the nice list, not the naughty list, unless you want to be on the naughty list. And that's a whole adult conversation we're not going to talk about on this show, but.
Oh, wow, you do you wow? I feel like the whole year, the whole year of twenty twenty five kind of went down quick.
I hope so too.
I don't know. Sometimes, I mean, most most years do go pretty quick, but this one it just seems like you blanked and it was gone.
I think that might be something that just comes a little more with age, too, Like the older you get it, it's like the years seem to go buy faster, you know what I mean maybe, which is actually funny because there's this frame of reference for that. When you're young, things seem to go so slow, like the year takes so long to go by. But that's because your reference for how long a year is well, one year if you're if you're ten, one year is ten percent of
your life, So that's a lot, right, Yeah. But if you're, say fifty, I see, well that percentage of your life it's a lot smaller. So time seems to go faster the more you have under your belt, which is an interesting way to look at it.
Shit, Yeah, I don't know if I've ever looked at it like that, to be.
Honest, and so with the thing is like with time, Like over time, we've generated a lot of people who are signing up over on Patreon, and we have a lot of new people. We need to thank for that as well, Like Lance Kin said Shelby, Lynn Weerick, Abby Skidmore, Landen Hall, Tracy Calder, Nicole Monger, Rebecca Busby, and Courtney Ethritt. Shout out to you and thank you so much for supporting us over on Patreon.
Man, I didn't even see that one coming. No, no, but honestly, thank you for signing up. We do appreciate it.
We really do. It's just now become my thing to try and blindside it and work it into conversation as best as I can.
Well, yeah, I was about to talk about that a bit more, and then all of a sudden it was like, oh shit, we're thanking patron.
Well yeah we are. But I don't really have a whole lot to talk about today other than you know, maybe the concept of time and reality as we know it and thanking patrons. So I think maybe if you're cool or you don't have anything to talk about, we just get in the case.
Yeah, I mean, if you want to hear us chit chat more. We did a pre show and Patreon, but yeah, I think here we'll just dive right in.
Sounds good. So in the early morning hours of Saturday, April eighteenth, nineteen ninety eight, two hikers were moving through the Trinity Alps Wilderness in Shasta County, California, USA. It's the kind of place where people go when they want space. There's no camp hosts looking after every individual campsite that are, you know, shoulder to shoulder. There's no bathrooms or marked sites.
It's just trees, cold air, and silence. If someone wanted to disappear out there for the weekend, they could, and if something went wrong during that time, well it could take a while before anyone realized. As the hikers went deeper into the woods, they came across a campsite that had been used fairly recently, perhaps somebody had been there just even days ago, and they certain exactly didn't clean
up after themselves either. There was trash, litters scattered around, and the remains of a rough fire pit, the kind of mess that really tells carelessness and partying likely occurred here until you really look at it and see that, well, there's something else because the closer they got, something in the charred area of that fire pit didn't look like
food scraps or burnt logs. It had a familiar shape, a shape that made the hikers stop cold because there were partially covered human remains that seemed to be poking out of the dirt. They immediately left the area and reported what they had seen to the Shasta County Sheriff's office nearby in Reading. After the crews got their necessary gear altogether, they all headed out to the location with cadaver dogs, and they started to get to work. By Sunday,
April nineteenth, the situation became undeniable. In the remnants of the fire pit, partially buried in a shallow grave, they found the body of a young woman. When she was recovered, she was completely unclothed, and even before an autopsy was performed, the condition of the remains made it clear that this was a violent death. The woman had suffered extensive injuries. Her body was covered in bruises, not just in one area,
but across her arms and torso. There were long cuts going down her arms that immediately stood out, especially on her wrists. Now around her head, investigators found a black plastic garbage bag that had been tied in place. It wasn't loose though the bag had been tied, and it was even partially melted around her head.
Oh man, this is a brutal death.
There were signs of burning. There was signs of being bound, and an apparent attempt to destroy evidence or make identification more difficult. But the fire doing the burning, well, it hadn't done enough to erase everything. The injuries were still visible and the trauma was still very much so obvious. Now not far from where the body had been discovered, detectives also located a purse, and inside they found a
driver's license with a name and a face. It was the victim, and it identified twenty year old Laura Sinner. An autopsy would later confirm what investigators already suspected. Laura had died from blunt force trauma to the head, at least partially. They never did figure out exactly the cause of death, but that was certainly a contributing factor. The injuries she had were consistent with being struck multiple times from behind. There was also evidence suggesting possible exphyxiation, lining
up with the plastic bag found over her head. There were the cuts in her wrists too, nine in total. They were shallow. They didn't look like the results of a determined suicide attempt or anything. There were much more superficials. They were going lengthways down her arm, and they weren't going to be anything that would actually suffer an artery or cause a death. Okay, Now, Her toxicology report added another unsettling detail. Laura's blood alcohol level was extremely high,
even near fatal. Actually, it was high enough that she would have been severely impaired, very vulnerable, and in no condition to defend herself at the very least.
Holy frig this is just horrible. Like so, it just still strikes me sometimes what humans are capable of doing to other humans.
I agree, And just you wait until you actually figure out what happened.
Okay.
Now. At the scene, detectives also noticed a large dented can of chili beans, and there was blood and hair stuck to the can. Investigators realize this may have been used as a weapon to bludgeon Laura to death. They may have figured that part out, but what they were
still trying to figure out. What they still didn't know was how Laura ended up in this campsite in the first place, who she'd been with, or why someone would go to such lengths to kill her and then try and erase her presence afterwards in such a well terrible manner. So it was time to try and figure it out with her now identified. Investigators shifted into the reconstruction mode from the scene of the crime. The first task was
establishing a rough timeline. Based on the condition of the body and the campsite, detectives believed Laura had been dead for days, possibly longer than a week. Even the exposure the wildlife and the partial burns on the remains complicated things a bit, so pinning down an exact time of death was going to be very difficult, in fact, maybe
even impossible. They worked outwards from the scene itself looking for any important details, and one thing they found was that there was no vehicle left anywhere nearby, not in the parking lot or nothing. So it meant someone had driven in the same vehicle as Laura to get into the wilderness and then they left in said vehicle afterwards.
Okay, so it might have been someone she knew.
Exactly, So this detail tells investigators it's not a random attacker. Right, not a passing stranger, because whoever had this shared transportation, well, yeah, they must have known her or at least been on some sort of good terms with her to join in a shared.
Ride, I mean, or a potential kidnapping I suppose as well.
Right, potentially, I guess when you look it that way. Yes. Now, the campsite itself raised some more questions to there's empty liquor bottles that were scattered around, which suggested heavy drinking, which is lining up certainly with her blood alcohol level. But this wasn't just a party that had gone out of hand. The shallow grave, the fire, the garbage bag tied around her head, those weren't actions of someone panicking in a moment. These were much more deliberate steps. These
would have taken time to do. What stood out most though, was what was not at the scene. There was no sign of Laura's clothing, no identification beyond her purse. There's no indication that she'd been there alone. Everything pointed to other people being present and leaving together as well, So detectives turned their attention away from the forest and towards Laura's life, who she'd been spending time with, where she had been staying and who might who might know why
she never made it back. But to answer those questions, investigators had to read wind months before her body was found, back to a time when her life had already been knocked off balance. In fact, Laura was born in nineteen seventy seven and grew up in Washington State, where she was raised alongside her brothers in a close knit family. Those who knew her described her as kind, gentle, and
deeply trusting, sometimes to a fault. She was known for wanting to help others and for believing in the best in people, even when they hadn't earned it. Growing up, Laura faced some challenges though. She struggled with the learning disability during her school years, which made parts of grade school difficult for her. Despite that, though she persevered and
graduated high school in nineteen ninety six. Those close to her, while they later, said she worked hard to overcome the obstacles she faced, and she wanted to prove she could be a person to build a meaningful, independent life now. Faith also played an important role in Laura's identity. She was a Christian and spent time volunteering at a religious mission in Aberdeen, Washington. Where she worked with people with disabilities.
It was during this period that she met Timothy Smith, a relationship that would soon become central in her life. Friends and family would later say that Laura often attached deeply to the people she cared about, sometimes relying on them for emotional stability. Now, after high school, Laura had enrolled in Gray's Harbor College in Aberdeen. She earned a scholarship to attend, but her time there, while it was
short lived. Not long after starting college, she drifted away from school and began spending more time with tim and his circle of friends. It was in October of nineteen ninety seven when Laura's mother would tragically die after a fast and brutal battle with leukemia. The loss hit her hard. Her family members later said Laura struggled to find her footing afterwards, drifting between homes and trying to figure out what came next. For a while, she stayed with friends,
then moved in with her father in Salem, Oregon. She was grieving and very vulnerable and searching for something that felt like stability, something to really ground her once again. Now, around that time, Laura was also in a very serious relationship with Tim Friends described this relationship as intense and very fast moving. In fact, within a year, they were engaged. In March of nineteen ninety eight, Tim convinced Laura to
move in with him in Reading, California. You wanted to be closer to his younger brother, Paul Smith Junior and his half sister Laurie Smith. Now for Laura, the move represented a fresh start, new surroundings, a future with someone she trusted, and distance from the grief she'd been carrying since her mother's death. But the stability she was hoping for it unfortunately didn't last. Shortly after arriving in California,
Laura and Tim's relationship fell apart. In the engagement ended and Laura moved out of the apartment that they shared together. She had very little money, no strong support system in Reading, and nowhere obvious to go. Despite her father offering to send money so she could return to Oregon, Laura chose
to stay, trying to make something of her situation. So it's little that she had and no family nearby, Laura moved in with Paul Smith Junior and his half sister Laurie Smith, which was Tim's brother, right.
Okay, yeah, yeah, which is kind of odd really well.
It wasn't meant to be permanent. It was kind of the circle of people that she knows there, right, So it's someone that she can connect with, someone who knows her. And it was supposed to be a safe situation, or at least supposed to be. It's the big word there, oh gosh. So it was meant to be just something quick, you know, something to get her to the next step of her life. But in this meantime, it quickly became clear that the arrangements were very tense from the start.
Paul was twenty years old and living a very chaotic life. Laurie was eighteen and shared the apartment and was dating a nineteen year old named Eric Rubio, and so the apartment became the regular hangout spot for their small social circle, and Laura suddenly found herself supported by people she kinda knew. The best way you can really describe it, relying on them for shelter, right. But the biggest source of tension through all this was centered on Paul's relationship his girlfriend.
He was in a relationship with a fourteen year old girl named Amy Stevens even though he's twenty, which is fucking.
Gross yeah and illegal, yes, But and.
I don't know how authorities never stepped in on that part of this story, But I digress.
Okay, Wow, that's something.
Yeah. Now, Laura didn't exactly like their age difference, and I can totally understand why. And she didn't exactly hide how she felt about it either. She openly criticized the relationship, telling Paul and others that the age gap was wrong and quite inappropriate. And according to later statements, this wasn't a one time comment. Laura brought it up fairly often.
Well fair, I mean someone kind of has to step in. I agree a six year age gap isn't necessarily bad, but when it's that, when they're that young ish is.
She's a child?
Yeah?
Now, fourteen year old Amy, for her part, didn't like Laura at all. She was openly jealous of the time Paul spent around her and resented the fact that Laura lived with her boyfriend. Even simple interactions between Paul and Laura repeatedly set Amy off. Now, over time, that resentment grew sharper, turning into hostility, and the apartment became a
bit of a pressure cooker. To say, arguments were frequent alliances formed and shifted, and Laura, already emotionally fragile from the breakup and her mother's death, was increasingly isolated inside the very place meant to keep her safe. She had limited money and no nearby family. Leaving wasn't just easy, even if she wanted to. To investigators, this period became
very crucial. It showed Laura was trapped in a small, unstable world where tensions were escalating and boundaries were being crossed, and it helped explain why. When a camping trip was suggested, a chance to reset in a group of friends, to get out of the apartment and away from all that constant friction, Laura agreed to go so. With Laura now identified in a rough timeline beginning to take shape, investigators shifted the attention to the people who'd been closest to
her in the days before she disappeared. That focus landed quickly on her inner circle in Reading. Police started with her ex boyfriend Timothy Smith. He told investigators that he'd broken off their engagement around March thirtieth, more than two weeks before Laura's body was discovered. According to Tim, Laura moved out shortly after the breakup, and he hadn't seen her again since. When officers informed him that Laura had
been murdered, he appeared genuinely distraught and upset. His story was consistent, and while he was an obvious person of interest early on, nothing immediately tied him to the crime scene. From there, investigators turned to the apartment where Laura had been staying. Laurie Smith confirmed that Laura had been living with her and Paul after the breakup. She described Laura as part of their friend group, but admitted things had
become strained. She told investigators how tensions inside the apartment had been building for the last few days and weeks, even mostly centered around Paul's relationship with Amy. Laurie also acknowledged that Laura had openly disapproved of the relationship and that arguments had become common on that subject. Amy's interview was next, and it certainly stood out she didn't try
to hide her dislike for Laura. She admitted there had been conflict and confirmed that a heated argument had occurred shortly before Laura vanished. Even she claimed she had given Paul an ultimatum either Laura had to leave or she would still. Amy denied knowing what ultimately happened to Laura, insisting that last time she saw her was during a group camping trip in the Trinity Alps. It seemed investigators now had a pattern, a background, but not proof of
anything yet. Well, maybe a little bit. They now knew that the group was in fact camping in the Alps with her when she went missing.
Well, I just have to say, is she the only one with values too? Because the fact that she does have a problem with this age gap makes her correct. Yes, And everyone just seems like, I don't know. Of course she would be speaking up about this. I feel like she has to. It's like almost her right as an adult.
Yeah, and to protect someone of that age from predatory behavior someone who's much older, I gotcha. Yes, she's right, she should be standing up and agains the others in the group. Yeah, they're well, they're not so good.
No.
Now, everyone's stories overlapped just enough to seem plausible that they hadn't seen her since the camping trip. Yet conveniently enough, none of them had any explanation of the injuries found
in Laura's body. No one mentioned a bag over her head, and no one could explain how she ended up buried at a remote campsite, so detectives couldn't make an arrest based on suspicions alone, and at this point the investigation, all they knew for certain was that Laura had been alive while surrounded by this group, and that whatever happened
to her, it didn't happen at random. Not long after those initial interviews, Amy Stevens returned to investigators with what she said was the full story of what happened in the woods that day. According to Amy, the group had gone camping together as a way to cool off tensions and reset after weeks of arguments, right.
Which is not necessarily a bad idea.
It's, you know something, It's kind of like a group retreat, right, start fresh. The trip included Paul, Laurie, Eric Rubio, and Laura and Amy herself. There was alcohol, there was even drugs, and a lot of unresolved resentment was simmering underneath the surface. Amy admitted that she was jealous of Laura and didn't like her presence in Paul's life, but insisted things were
never going to go as far as killing someone. Amy told detectives that at some point during the trip, Laura made a romantic advance toward Paul, which he of course rejected, and Amy said it deeply embarrassed Laura. So, according to Amy, Laura became upset and was intoxicated and emotional, and she said Laura ran off into the woods alone, disappearing into the darkness, and according to her story, no one followed her.
The group instead waited for a while, assuming Laura would calm down and return, but when she didn't, they just eventually packed up and left the campsite, believing she had either walked back on her own or found another way out of the area. Amy insisted that was the last time she ever saw Laura alive.
I have trouble buying that it just took her a few days to come up with that story. Maybe, Hey, well, I.
Mean tell me, as to her credit, people do wander off while drunk at times. You know, that's not unheard of, to say the least, and arguments happened too. And the you know, the area of the Trinity Alps, it's this very vast and unforgiving landscape, especially at night too, when you're out in the wilderness and an unfamiliar area. So Amy's version, it offers a very clean explanation for why Laura was alone in such a remote place, But there was a lot of problems with her version two.
I guess what I have trouble is believing that Laura made at a pass or like a move on on Amy's boyfriend. Yeah, I agree, Paul, That's what his name is, right, Yeah.
But Devil's Advocate. Even if she did, even if she did make a pass at Paul, I mean, investigators already knew Laura hadn't simply wandered off like Amy's trying to say. Her body had actually showed signs of restraint. The wounds on her wrists weren't consistent with fall or exposure to just wilderness. The bag tied over her head, well, it ruled out accidental death alone, and Amy's account didn't explain the blunt force trauma attempt to burn or bury the
body at the campsite. There was just too much. So basically, investigators didn't buy Amy's version of events for a single moment.
Okay, good, Sure she.
May cover a couple things, but everything else in her story contradicts it. The problem is, investigators still had no physical evidence tying Amy directly to the killings, so They couldn't exactly do much at this stage, so for now they documented her statements, no, did the inconsistencies, and kept digging. Amy may not have been telling the whole truth, but her story placed every future suspect from that friend group at the same campsite at the same time, during what
investigators now believe were Laura's final hours. We have a witness, first hand account of an incident occurring right before she went missing, and they are present. So investigators began working backwards, trying to reconstruct what actually happened during that camping trip.
Piece by piece, a different picture started to emerge. The group had chosen a campsite deep in the Trinity Alps, an isolated stretch of forest where there were no designated fire pits, no nearby campers, and no oversight of any kind. It was a kind of place people went specifically because no one else would be around. Paul, in fact, knew the area well, he'd hunted and trapped there before, and he knew how remote it was. According to multiple statements,
alcohol flowed freely that night. Drugs were also involved, and whatever fragile balance existed between the group members quickly eroded away. Old tensions resurfaced, especially the resentment Amy felt towards Laura and Laura's ongoing criticism of Amy's relationship with Paul. But investigators knew this is where the reports don't tell the truth. They knew it that at this point the arguments turned physical somehow. They believed what would have began as shouting
escalated into a fight involving at least three people. Laura would have been outnumbered, She would have been intoxicated and trapped in a place she could not easily escape. The can of chili beans found at the crime scene was grabbed in the heat of the moment and used repeatedly. The injuries on the back of Laura's head lined up with exactly the kind of blunt force trauma that can
could inflict. Investigators also began to suspect that what happened wasn't quick, that this it wasn't a single blow, It wasn't a sudden accident. The evidence on Laura's body, it suggested prolonged violence, including restraints and deliberate acts, probably meant to control and perhaps silence her. So by the time the group left the campsite, Laura wasn't a missing friend who had just wandered off. She was already a victim, and the people who drove away from the Trinity Alps
that night didn't call for help. They didn't alert authorities, they didn't even come back. Instead, they left her behind in the wilderness, buried under ash and debris, believing distance and time could possibly erase what they had done. Four days, investigators had been chasing statements, timelines, half answers out of this so called group of friends. What they didn't have yet was a hard break, something tangible that tied the people in Laura's orbit directly to what had happened in
the mountains. But that all changed with the discovery of Laura's car. When Laura's body was discovered, her red Honda Civic was nowhere near the campsite, not the parking lot, nothing. That absence alone raised alarms. If she had truly wandered off into the woods, her car would have been nearby. Instead, it was gone entirely, meaning someone else had drove it.
So police issued a notice to surrounding agencies to be on the lookout for that vehicle, and not long after, by chance, they happened to find it, not abandoned, though on a side road or hidden in the forest, but actively being driven. Eric Rubio was stopped while in possession of Laura's Honda Civic, and there was no innocent explanation for it either. Eric was not a relative, He was a casual acquaintance who had borrowed the car without permission.
Clearly he was part of the same group that had gone camping with Laura shortly before her death, and the discovery instantly collapsed the far fetched idea that Laura had simply run off and disappeared, and Eric was detained and brought in for questioning.
Well, that's super messed up. What is he saying that he's going to just get away with that? I guess that makes no sense that you have to be kind of dumb.
Yeah, you do. Honestly, you have to be kind of dumb for any of that that actually happened, in my opinion. Now, at first he denied any involvement in Laura's death. He acted frustrated, even noyed, suggesting that he was it wasn't fair, for example, that he's the only one facing any sort of consequences. Now, which he may be right, but the fact remains investigators didn't have anything on anyone else in the group. Yet, however, he was found driving a murdered
woman's car days after she vanished. So they pressed him on the camping trip on his relationship with Paul, on Laurie's relationship as well, and why Laura's vehicle was in his possession at all now. At first, Eric stuck close to the version of events Amy had already given. He admitted there'd been a fight at the campsite, but framed it as chaotic, brief, and ultimately not a big deal.
According to him, Laura had been injured during an argument, wandered off into the woods after and was never seen again. He painted himself as someone who'd been present, but that's it, nothing more now. Detectives, of course, didn't believe him, and began confronting Eric with details he couldn't explain away, things like the condition of Laura's remains, the plastic bag over her head, deep cuts on her wrist, the fact that
she'd been partially buried or burned. None of that happened to someone who simply ran off intoxicated, and so in an attempt to explain these things, Eric's story started to slowly change. He admitted the fight had been worse than he initially described. Voices were raised, alcohol was involved, Laura had been struck multiple times, but even then he tried to minimalize his role and shift responsibility onto others. He claimed he was scared, claimed he didn't know how bad
things had gotten until it was just too late. Then there was the car. Eric told investigators he had driven Laura's HONDASIVC back to Reading the morning after the camping trip. He said he parked it at his mother's house, assuming Laura would come forward eventually, and when days passed and she didn't, he claimed he believed she just had left town. That explanation didn't make much sense to investigators either, and then they knew Eric was still telling maybe a half truth at.
Rest, yeah, because it makes zero sense. But here, as soon as you said he was thinking this was unfair that he was the only one facing you know, charges or take having to be the person to take all the responsibility here, I'm like he's going to break.
Yeah, there's way more to it then.
Yeah.
The thing is that investigators weren't finished. They were done chasing words, and they were done chasing tall tales at this point What they needed now was something solid, something physical, something that would force the truth out into the open, since no one was willing to really volunteer it. So, with Eric and custody and multiple conflicting stories on record, detectives obtained search warrants for the apartment where Laura had been staying, as well as the vehicles connected to the group.
What they found quickly dismantled any remaining doubt about whether Laura's death had been an accident or misunderstanding. In the bed of Paul Smith Junior's truck, investigators located a heavy metal tool known as an automotive dent puller. It's made for autobody work. It was long, solid and designed to deliver force, and when it was tested, traces of blood were found on it, blood that matched Laura Sinner. That
single result changed everything in the case. Up until that exact moment, the case had been built purely on circumstantial evidence, but now there was a weapon with a direct tie to the victim found away from the scene. In fact, investigators also revisited that same dented can of chili beans too that was recovered at the scene. It too had blood and hair consistent with Laura. So this also proved that this wasn't just a single blow of what was
a momentary thing. This wasn't just self defense of someone grabbing a can of chili beans nearby and swinging it on someone. And it certainly wasn't, you know, mercy, because there had been more than one weapon, which means the beatings were sustained, not quick and spontaneous. More than one person would have had to have grabbed a weapon and focus solely on the victim brutal.
I'm sitting here wondering too, if this was just like planned from the start, if that was really what this camping trip was all about, or if things just did kind of escalate while they were there.
It's possible that it could have been. I'll leave that up for you to decide when we get to the end. So now combine all this with the restrain marks, wrist injuries, plastic bag over her head, investigators were now looking at absolute torture. So with the forensic results in hand, detectives knew who to put in the interrogation room next, and that was Paul. And when investigators sat him down for questioning, Paul didn't appear uncertain or confused. He was very defensive, controlled,
and very deliberate with his words too. At first, he denied any involvement in her death. The repeated parts of the early story while those those came out the same ones that the investigators had heard before already, that there was arguments, sure, people were drinking, sure, but she just run off in the woods. He suggested that if anything
violent had happened, it was instigated by others. But detectives laid the evidence out in front of him, and they told him that the dent polar found in his truck while it was found with blood. They also told him about the chili bean can, but the restraints all of it, and that's when his story changed. Paul then admitted Laura had in fact been beaten, but he framed himself not as a killer, only as someone who stepped in at
the end. According to Paul, the violence had spiraled out of control after a fight between Laura Amy and Laurie had occurred. He claimed Laura had been badly injured and was likely going to die from her sustained wounds. In his telling, what happened next wasn't murder, it was mercy, Paul told investigators he decided to end Laura's suffering himself. He said he believed she was already dying and what he did was meant to spare her pain.
Oh man, like, fuck off, buddy.
Yeah. It was a confession that acknowledged responsibility, but it also tried to strip intent and the cruelty in all the blame away. Now investigators, of course, just like you, they weren't buying it for a second. They were not convinced. They had already seen the injuries. Nothing about the evidence suggested a quick or compassionate act, and by the time they had finished collecting statements, evidence and confessions, a clearer
and far more disturbing picture began to form. They now knew that at the campsite, Laura was intoxicated, vulnerable, and isolated among people who had already grown resentful of her. The initial argument escalated into a physical assault, and she was struck repeatedly, including blows to the back of her head, using whatever objects were within reach, and the injuries left her disoriented but still alive. They had all that in confessions, but what they didn't have is what they suspected took
place next. Instead of stopping, the group tightened their control over Laura. She was restrained with her arms and legs bound. They believed that they were going to try and make it look like a suicide, so razor blades were taken to Laura's wrists, but they weren't actually deep enough to be fatal. Alcohol was then poured onto her wounds, As forensics discovered her arms were soaked and covered in alcohol, and then she was forced to drink more and more.
A plastic bag was placed over her head at some point, and the violence, well, it didn't end quickly. It wasn't an attempt to help her or ease her pain. It was prolonged. The beatings continued and exphyxiation followed. By the time Laura died, she'd been beaten, restrained, cut, intoxicated beyond normal limits, and deprived of air. Afterwards, the group shifted into damage control. Laura's clothing was removed and burned. Her body was dragged to a shallow pit near the campsite.
Ash and debris were piled on top of her in an attempt to conceal what they had done. Then they left her in the woods and drove away. Now with the full scope of what happened, finally coming into focus, Investigators moved fast. On April twenty first, nineteen ninety eight, just days after Laura's body was discovered, authorities arrested Paul Smith Junior, Laurie Smith, Eric Rubio, and Amy Stevens, and each faced serious charges. The legal path forward would not
be the same for all of them. Because Paul, Laurie, and Eric were adults at the time of the crime, they were charged in adult court. Prosecutors accused them of first degree murder, conspiracy, false imprisonment by violence, and special circumstances related to the prolonged nature of the attack. Amy, however, was only fourteen years old. She was initially charged in juvenile court, though prosecutors would later attempt to have her
tried as an adult due to the brutality of the crime. Now, one of the immediate challenges investigators faced was determining the precise date and time of Laura's death. Based on statements, physical evidence, and the condition of her remains, authorities estimated that the murder occurred somewhere after April first, likely over the course of several hours during the afternoon and the
night of April fourth. However, heavy intoxication among the suspects, and the passage of time made it very difficult to pin down the exact timeline. Laura's autopsy, conducted on April twentieth, confirmed that she had suffered extensive blunt force trauma to the head, along with injuries consistent with restraints and asphyxiation. Her blood alcohol content was measured at extremely high levels,
indicating she'd been heavily intoxicated at the time. While medical examiners could not isolate a single fatal injury, the finding supported investigator's conclusion that Laura had died as a result of sustained intentional violence rather than an accident, and as the defendants were arranged, all four initially entered pleas of
not guilty. As the months passed, the strength of the prosecution's case became impossible for the defendants to ignore physical evidence, recorded statements, and overlapping testimonies had created a framework that was difficult to escape. What remained uncertain was how many of them would be willing to turn on each other
to avoid the worst possible outcome. Now that aside, the first major decision came in Amy Stephen's case, despite the prosecutors pushing to have her tried as an adult, the court ultimately ruled that she would be prosecuted as a juvenile. The decision limited the maximum sentence she could receive, regardless of the severity of her involvement. In June of nineteen ninety nine, after an eight week bench trial, a judge found Amy guilty of first degree murder, torture, and lying
in wait. She was sentenced to the maximum term allowed under juvenile law, which meant she would remain in custody only until her mid twenties. For the remaining defendants, the pressure only increased. Laurie Smith and Eric Rubio both faced the possibility of life in prison if convicted at trial, and prosecutors made a c clear they were prepared to pursue the harshest sentence available, and behind the scenes negotiations began.
The group that had once worked together to hide Laura's body was now fracturing, each person weighing their own survival against loyalty to the others. By the summer of nineteen ninety nine, Laurie Smith was the first to break. She agreed to plead guilty to first degree murder in exchange for her testimony against Paul Smith. Junior and Eric Rubio. Her plea carried a sence of twenty five years to life in prison, but had spared her from facing the
death penalty. Eric followed soon after, entering a no contest plea to second degree murder. Like Laurie, he agreed to testify against Paul. His sentence carried a minimum of eighteen years to life. Though he briefly attempted to withdraw his plea, the court denied his request and he remained bound to his agreement. Both Laurie and Eric later reported receiving death threats, either directly or through other inmates, warning them not to testify.
Prosecutors then raise concerns about witness intimidation, primarily as Paul's trial approached now. Paul Smith Junior's trial did not begin until the summer of two thousand and two, more than four years after Laura had been killed. Delays related to the complexity of the case and the high volume of death penalty trials in Shasta County pushed the proceedings back repeatedly, leaving Laura's family waiting for years for the case to
finally reach the court room. When the trial finally began, prosecutors laid out a methodical case built on physical evidence, recorded statements, and testimony from the very people who had once helped Paul cover up that crime. From the start, they framed Paul as the central figure in Laura's death, the person who escalated the violence, controlled the group, and
ultimately ended her life. Jurors heard how the night unfolded in the Trinity Alps campsite, beginning with alcohol, in arguments and a deteriorating situation into prolonged violence as investigators suspected. Testimonies detailed how Laura was beaten with a can of chili beans, restrained, threatened, and cut. They described Paul's role in directing others, making statements about staging a suicide and warning the group that he would kill them if they
did not cooperate. Amy Stevens, Now eighteen at the time, testified that she saw Paul placing a plastic bag over Laura's head and heard the final blows being delivered. Laurie Smith told the jury that Paul had explicitly threatened everyone afterwards, forcing them to help dispose of Laura's remains and keep quiet. Eric Rubio's testimony echoed these same accounts to reinforcing the narrative that Paul was not a passive participant, but instead
the driving force behind the crime. The prosecution also introduced Paul's own words, as jurors were shown recordings and transcripts of his interrogations, including the moment he actually admitted to killing Laura, though in his version was a mercy killing, but still an admittance of delivering the blows. While Paul claimed he had acted out of mercy, prosecutors argued that the evidence showed anything but compassion. Paul's defense, of course,
tried to shift the blame. His attorney argued that Paul had been heavily intoxicated and unconscious during key moments of the assault, and that the fatal injuries had been inflicted by others, specifically Laurie. According to the defense, Paul only intervened after realizing how badly Laura had been injured. After days of testimony and several days of deliberation, the jury returned its verdict on August twenty eight, two thousand and two.
Paul Smith Junior was found guilty on all counts, including first degree murder with special circumstances. While Paul waited for sentencing, his behavior made it increasingly difficult for anyone to argue the violence that ended Laura's life had been an isolated incident. In two thousand and one, while housed at the Shasta County Jail awaiting trial, Paul was involved in a brutal
attack on a correctional officer. According to court records and testimony, Paul and another inmate managed to slip out of their cells during nighttime hours. Then they hid in the shower area and ambushed to guard as he made his rounds. The officer was beaten so severely that he suffered a fractured skull and jaw and was left in critical condition.
Oh what would have been the point of that?
Well, they they believe it was like an attempted escape situation. But why they had to wait and beat a guard, I don't know. Maybe if they get him, maybe they get his keys. Could have been their thoughts.
Okay, jeez, though, yeah, clearly he is you know, this is his second massive offense.
Yeah, so it and his attempt failed. But the implications were the big clear thing. Even under like constant supervision, Like Paul, he was demonstrating a willingness to like use extreme violence when it suited him, you know, so it's really showing his true colors totally. Now. The guard ultimately survived and later returned to work after ongoing reconstructive surgery. But the incident added quite another layer to Paul's already
extensive record of violent behavior. Prosecutors took note, and so did the jury as well. When paul sentencing phase began, the jailhouse assault became a very big central part of the argument for the death penalty push. The state portrayed him not only as a murderer, but as someone who posed an ongoing threat to anyone around him. His history of aggravation was presented as evidence, and he was beyond rehabilitation,
is what they said. In November of two thousand and two, after weeks of testimony and argument during the penalty phase, the jury reached its final verdict. Paul Smith Junior was then sentenced to death and sent to californ his death row then located at San Quentin State Prison. For the prosecution, the sentence reflected not only the brutality of Laura's murder,
but Paul's pattern of violence before and after the crime. Now, for Laura's family, it was the end of a long and exhausting Chapter one that had stretched across four years of delays, hearings, and painful testimony. The other defendants were sentenced in the years that followed. Laurie Smith received a sentence of twenty five years to life for her role
in the murder. Eric Rubio was sentenced to eighteen years to life after his not contest plea to second degree murder, and Amy Stevens, having been convicted in juvenile court, served the maximum time allowed under law and was released in two thousand and nine after aging out of the juvenile system. And that was that. However, in twenty fifteen, more than a decade after Paul was sent to death row, the
California Supreme Court revisited his case. The court upheld his murdered conviction, but overturned the death sentence on procedural grounds, ruling that Paul had not received a proper sentencing hearing. Rather than order a new penalty phase, the court commuted his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and so Paul Smith, Junior remains incarcerated to this day and every other day for the rest of his life. Now,
Eric Rubio was eventually granted parole in twenty fifteen. Laurie Smith was released in twenty twenty one after serving more than two decades in prison, and Timothy Smith, Laura's ex fiance and boyfriend, was never charged and was ultimately cleared of any involvement in the crime. For Laura's family, the outcome did not bring closure the way verdicts are often imagined to do. No sentence could undo what happened in
the Trinity Alps. No ruling could return the life that was taken, or ease the knowledge of how many chances there had been to stop the violence. The court system had done what it could, but what remained was the quiet, permanent absence left behind. Laura is remembered as kind, trusting, and eager to belong. She had struggled after her mother's death and was searching for stability when she moved to California,
hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she found herself surrounded by people who exploited that vulnerability rather than protecting it. People who mistook her compassion for weakness. People who had multiple opportunities to intervene and chose not to. That reality is what makes this case so difficult. There were chances to stop it. At each point of the argument, At each point of the beatings or the binding, someone could have stepped in, walked away, or even called for help. Instead,
fear loyalty, manipulation, indifference, and pure evil one out instead. Today, laura Sinner is more than a victim in a case file. She is a reminder of how quickly humans can turn animalistic, how pack mentality and heard behavior can take over. I truly do not believe all four of these individuals set out to harm Laura. But something happened that night. Someone struck first. Whether they intended to and planned to or not,
I do not know. But way off in the middle of the woods where no one could hear a scream or witness horrors, isolation turned deadly, and a group's dynamic eroded, personal responsibility giving way to barbaric behaviors we are supposed to have long since let go of. Laura's story doesn't end with a sentence handed down or a prison door closing. It lives on in the lasting ache left behind when humans go unchecked and no one chooses to stop the violence. And that's the story of Laura's Sinner.
That is a nasty story. Yeah, she did not even like, it's unbelievable what happened to her. She did not deserve that in any fricking way, not in.
The slightest because she was basically because she was speaking out.
About, you know, something that was wrong.
Yeah, which is absurd. Now, I'm not too sure what you think on if they set out to go camping and harm her. If that was the case, I do not believe. I wholeheartedly do not believe they all set out to do that. I think Paul may have.
Yeah, I am having a bit of trouble with that one. I don't know. I think I'm leaning more towards it was set out that she was going to die out there, for sure, but maybe not by all of them.
I do not think it was all of them. I'm not even sold that Paul set out to harm her out there. I think he planned to like go somewhere isolated, so yeah, maybe arguments or maybe even fisty cuffs could happen, you know, let them get it out of their system sort of attitude. He may have planned that, but I think once out there he took over and he was like, just fuck this, I'm ending this here now, and he roped them in with them, and that pac mentality took over and she was a victim of circumstance.
I feel like her ex her fiance there like must have just been like horrified by this. Yeah, I don't know. I also just I don't know. My heart really goes out to Laura, even more so because I feel like, like losing her mom, then she also like you know, had a relationship end to and after losing her mom though, she's probably like searching for some sort of void to try to fill this void that you know later you realize you can never fill. And and this, I don't know,
this was just like a spiral of just garbage. And then now her family, who also lost the mom, has now lost her in like the span of less than a year. Yeah, so holy shit, I don't even know how you go about dealing with that sort of grief.
Well, and then there's don't get me wrong, like Laura is the victim here and their family is suffering massively, but there's the byproduct as well. Timothy, I mean, yeah, he also had an engagement end too, right, Whether he was the one to part departing it or she was, it's not fully clear, but he had a relationship end, which is not easy, and then he had his brother kill his ex fiance, not even over their relationship issues, but because she spoke up over his fourteen year old girlfriend. Yeah,
so now you have this tragedy involving your brother. He's a murderer now and murdered someone that you once loved and cared for. That can't be easy easy either.
Well, yeah, I feel like the the engagement couldn't have been that terrible of an end if she went and moved in with like his family, you know, yeah, fair enough? Yeah, so holy shit, Well.
This this murder was not over that relationship.
Well no, no, but I mean, like, I don't think that relationship could have ended horribly bad if she's going and moving in with his family kind of thing.
True, but even still it would have been difficult and one hundred.
Percent yeah no, oh man, but three of them are already out of jail, correct.
And the fourth will never see light a day again.
And I don't exactly know how I feel about that, especially like I don't know Amy. I'm just like she was lucky that I guess she was that young, and I feel like she may not. I hope that she like really learned from this and as an adult now is better person.
But frick, I honestly feel like she would have been a driving force in the story. Is my personal impan It kind of came across that way. Yes, I think she is because I think Paul acted in that manner because of her.
Mm hmm. Well, she was giving him choices.
And stuff, ultimatums and everything. She was angry, she was very jealous. She was probably pissed off and wanting something to happen to Laura and pushed for this, and then Paul went overboard and led the group to do it.
Yeah jeez. So yeah, that's why. And she didn't serve very much time. So that's why. I'm just like, I hope she learned from this shit, because, like you said, she kind of was the driving force there.
I hope Laura is on every single one of those people's minds.
For the rest of their ta oh, she better be, she better be. God, how could you even move on from doing something so horrible?
Right?
I don't think I I mean, I would a never do anything that horrible, but be I don't think I could ever not have a minute in my life without thinking about that.
The only thing I think I could murder is like an entire sleeve of oreos, you know, in one sitting just sitting down, like, that's what I would kill.
Do you know that? I think last episode you said that you weren't going to be eating oreos because we're on an elf kick well or something.
I think I'm trying to be a bit healthier and I haven't been eating oreos, but if someone were to present them to me, I may falter and I may murder a whole thing of oreos. But that I digress. Anyways, thank you for being here. You guys are incredible. Don't forget to check out the description of this podcast for
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