FAIRFAX, Va. ( DC News Now ) — A man linked to a brutal 1994 Springfield, Va. stabbing pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Friday. Police said Stephen Smerk, 52, of Niskayuna, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for stabbing and killing Robin Lawrence in November of 1994 .
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Lawrence was found stabbed inside her home on Nov. 20, 1994. Prosecutors said Lawrence’s two-year-old daughter was in the other room when she was stabbed. Her daughter was unharmed.
Prosecutors said Smerk confessed to the murder of Lawrence last fall after he was confronted by officers at his home in Niskayuna. The same day he was approached by police, he showed up at the local police station looking to turn himself in for Lawrence’s murder.
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Investigators met him and took his statement, where he allegedly confessed that he “went out looking for someone to kill.” Smerk was in the Army and stationed in Arlington at the time of the murder.