Russell Lee Smith
Russell Lee Smith (February 6, 1947 – May 24, 1975) was an American spree killer who killed two people and wounded nine others in Dayton, Ohio, United States on May 24, 1975. He also took two women hostage and raped them before committing suicide. Life Smith was born in Bessemer, Alabama, on February 6, 1947. His father was killed in an ore mine accident in 1951, and his mother died less than a year later, leaving him orphaned at the age of 4. His only sister died of a heart attack at the age of 19. When he was 17 years old Smith began to live with his aunt Evelyn Harris in Dayton and in 1968 he married, but his wife Laura later left him and as a result he became despondent and stopped caring for anything. He was arrested repeatedly for drunkenness, armed robbery, auto theft, and attempted breaking and entering, and in 1970 was sentenced to one to ten years at the Mansfield Reformatory after pleading guilty to first degree manslaughter for the killing of a man during a shootout at a Dayton bar. During his time in prison two psychiatrists who had examined him found that he