Joette Smith Cold Case: DNA Match, Eric Drummond, No Arrest

The Joette Smith cold case was closed in September 2022, when the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office announced that DNA recovered from Smith’s clothing matched Eric David Drummond, a longtime suspect in her 1983 murder. Drummond died by suicide in Sierra County before investigators could serve an arrest warrant.¹

Who Joette Smith Was

Smith was 33 years old and ran Buffalo Gals, a small restaurant in Ben Lomond, a community in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She had moved to the area from Omaha, Nebraska around 1973 and opened the restaurant in a converted house, cooking the meals herself.² She lived in a studio apartment across the street from the restaurant and was planning its eighth-anniversary party at the time of her death.³

The Night of March 27, 1983

Smith spent the evening at home with her roommate before leaving the apartment late that night. She walked to Henflings Tavern in downtown Ben Lomond, bought cigarettes, and declined a ride home from a female acquaintance, saying she preferred to walk because it was a pleasant evening. She was last seen leaving the tavern at roughly 11:50 p.m.²

Around 11:10 a.m. on March 29, 1983, a local man found her body snagged on a tree along the San Lorenzo River near Woodland Drive. She was wearing a pearl necklace, one nylon stocking, and one black boot; the rest of her clothing was found about a quarter of a mile away.² An autopsy determined that she had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. Strangulation was the cause of death.⁴

Why Eric Drummond Was Suspected in 1988

Detectives interviewed dozens of people in the years after the killing without finding a viable suspect. In 1988, investigators identified Drummond. He had been a patron at Buffalo Gals, had asked Smith out on a date, and had been turned down.⁵ He had also left California abruptly after the murder and had a history of violent crime, including sexual assault convictions in California and Nevada.¹

It was not enough to charge him. Lt. Patrick Dimick of the Sheriff’s Office later said, “While there was circumstantial information tying Drummond to the crime, no criminal case could be brought against Drummond without further physical evidence.”⁴ The case went cold again.

The 2022 DNA Match

In 2022, investigators reexamined the clothing collected from Smith’s body and from the crime scene nearly four decades earlier. Newer forensic DNA technology allowed them to develop a male DNA profile from the items.¹ In late August 2022, detectives collected a DNA sample from Drummond, then 64. It matched the profile from the clothing.⁵ Investigators began the final steps toward an arrest warrant.

Why There Was No Arrest

Drummond died by suicide in the hills of Sierra County in eastern California before the warrant could be served. His body was found in early September 2022, with the exact date of death not disclosed.⁶⁷

On September 14, 2022, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office publicly announced that the case was solved. “While Drummond will never face criminal charges or a jury of his peers,” Dimick wrote, “the Sheriff’s Office is confident that the evidence in this case would support a conviction of Drummond for the murder of Joette Smith.”¹ Smith was buried in her hometown of Omaha.³

How the Case Fits a Larger Pattern

The Smith investigation is one of many old homicides closed through modern DNA work. Since the 2018 arrest of the Golden State Killer through genetic genealogy, more than 1,600 cold cases have been resolved across the United States and Canada using similar forensic methods.⁸ The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office has used advanced DNA analysis and forensic genetic genealogy on other long-dormant cases, including the 1976 murder of Karen Percifield, in which evidence was sent to the Texas-based lab Othram for genome sequencing.⁹ The agency has said it will continue to investigate its remaining unsolved homicides.¹

1
Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner. Cold Case Homicide Press Release – Joette Marie Smith
2
San Francisco Chronicle. Joette Smith Was Found Slain in a Santa Cruz County River
3
Oxygen. Eric Drummond Allegedly Identified in Joette Smith Cold Case Murder
4
Mercury News. Sheriff’s Office Solves 39-Year-Old Ben Lomond Cold Case Homicide
5
Los Angeles Times. Joette Smith Santa Cruz County Cold Case Solved Using DNA After 39 Years
6
KOLO-TV. Suspect in 1983 California Murder Kills Himself in Sierra County
7
Law & Crime. Presumed Murderer Dies by Suicide Days After Being Tied to Cold Case Death and Sexual Assault of California Restaurant Owner
8
NBC News. Genetic Genealogy as a Forensic Tool and Crowdfunding
9
Forensic Magazine. Genetic Genealogy Points to Initial Person of Interest in 1976 Murder