Lottie Spencer, later known as Loretta Spencer Blatz, is the Georgia woman whose stalking by Waseem Daker in the mid-1990s set off a chain of events that ended in the 1995 murder of her roommate, Karmen Smith, and the stabbing of Smith’s five-year-old son. Spencer became the prosecution’s key witness when Daker was tried for the murder in 2012, and she drew fresh controversy the following year when she recanted parts of her sworn testimony.
How She Met Waseem Daker
Spencer and Daker met in late 1993 or 1994 on a paintball team at an Atlanta-area facility.1FindLaw. Daker v. State, Georgia Court of Appeals She was around 30. He was about 17. Spencer viewed the relationship as a friendship between teammates. Daker did not. He began telling people they were a couple and pressing romantic feelings on her.2ABC News. Stalker, Murderer: Justice for Waseem Daker’s Victims
When Spencer rebuffed him in the fall of 1994, he told her he was “suicidally depressed.”1FindLaw. Daker v. State, Georgia Court of Appeals2ABC News. Stalker, Murderer: Justice for Waseem Daker’s Victims When Spencer contacted Daker’s mother and brother, they reportedly described him as “sick” and “delusional.”
Spencer swore out a stalking warrant in late July 1995. Over the next several months, Daker was arrested repeatedly for violating no-contact orders, briefly hospitalized for court-ordered psychiatric treatment, and released again. Two calls he made to Spencer in October 1995, which she recorded, led to a November indictment and, later, a jury conviction on two counts of aggravated stalking.3FindLaw. Daker v. State, Georgia Supreme Court1FindLaw. Daker v. State, Georgia Court of Appeals He served roughly ten years and was released in 2005.4Patch. Guilty Verdict in Cobb Murder
The Murder of Karmen Smith
On September 1, 1995, Spencer moved into a house with her friend Karmen Smith, a Delta Air Lines flight attendant. Weeks later, while Daker’s stalking case was still working through the courts, Smith was strangled and killed in the home. Her five-year-old son, Nick, was stabbed 18 times, seventeen to the chest and one to the hand, and survived. He later said he came home from school, saw a figure in a black mask and gloves, and was grabbed and stabbed.5ABC News. Stabbing Survivor Grilled by Accused Assailant
Prosecutors theorized the killing was aimed at Spencer. Their view was that Daker targeted Smith because she had been interfering with his pursuit of Spencer.6ABC News. Georgia Man Found Guilty of Murdering Flight Attendant Daker was a suspect from the start, but the case went cold. It reopened in 2009, when forensic testing matched hairs found on Karmen Smith’s body to Daker’s DNA; nuclear DNA testing on hair with an attached root had become viable only around 2000 or 2001.7Marietta Daily Journal. GBI Experts Discuss DNA in Daker Trial When officers arrested him, they reported finding rope, handcuffs, and instructional books about committing murder in his possession.8ABC News. Waseem Daker Murder Books
Spencer’s Testimony at the 2012 Trial
The murder trial opened in Cobb County Superior Court before Judge Mary Staley in September 2012. Daker, whom prosecutors called a “brilliant psychopath,” represented himself and faced 11 counts, including malice murder, felony murder, burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and stalking.9Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Defendant Represents Himself in Flight Attendant Murder Case
Spencer was the prosecution’s central witness. She described years of harassment and Daker’s obsessive fixation on her. Because Daker was his own lawyer, he cross-examined her directly, pointing out that many incidents she described had never been documented in police reports. Spencer conceded the point, telling the jury that she had not anticipated the situation becoming a murder investigation. “If I would have known,” she said, “I would have taken notes.”10HuffPost. Waseem Daker Trial
On September 28, 2012, the jury found Daker guilty of felony murder, burglary, aggravated battery, and stalking.6ABC News. Georgia Man Found Guilty of Murdering Flight Attendant Days later, Judge Staley sentenced him to life plus 47 years, telling him, “I hope you never leave prison because that will be just.”11ABC News. GA Man Sentenced in Flight Attendant’s Murder
The 2013 Recantation
In the spring of 2013, Spencer, by then going by Loretta Spencer Blatz, filed a series of affidavits in Cobb County recanting significant portions of her trial testimony.12ABC News. Star Witness Admits Lying at Georgia Murder Trial
She swore that Daker had never threatened her with a handgun or a knife, contradicting what she had told the jury. She admitted fabricating claims that he had threatened her and her daughter and that he had told her he was homosexual. She said she had actually invited Daker to her Roswell home in 1995 and that the two had consensual sexual relations, undoing her trial portrayal of him as a purely unwanted pursuer.13Marietta Daily Journal. Star Witness in Waseem Daker Murder Trial Provides Details of Perjury
She also went after the physical evidence. A blanket at the murder scene had carried hair matching Daker’s DNA, and prosecutors used it to place him inside the home. Spencer Blatz now said the hair was there because Daker had used the blanket during an earlier visit to her apartment, and that she had later given the blanket to her roommate.14CBS News. Key Witness in GA Slaying Recants Testimony
Her explanations were mixed. She said she had been suffering from anxiety, depression, and manic episodes, and had been under the influence of painkillers, muscle relaxants, and other substances when she testified. She also said, more plainly, that she had “demonized” Daker for 17 years because she was “terrified” of him and wanted him to “pay” for what happened to Karmen and Nick Smith. “I wanted a conviction,” she said. “I did, and said anything to get him behind bars. I did lie.”13Marietta Daily Journal. Star Witness in Waseem Daker Murder Trial Provides Details of Perjury
What Happened After the Recantation
Prosecutors did not budge. Cobb Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans called Spencer Blatz “unstable,” pointing to her admitted suicidal thoughts, her decision to stop taking medication recommended by a counselor, and her ongoing communication with Daker in prison.14CBS News. Key Witness in GA Slaying Recants Testimony The state’s view was that her recantation reflected deteriorating mental health and Daker’s continued influence, not a truthful correction.
Daker used the affidavits to press for a new trial. A hearing before Judge Staley drew testimony from 15 witnesses and experts, including Spencer Blatz, who by then had funded a court reporter, paid for legal help, and provided notarized documents to support his motion.13Marietta Daily Journal. Star Witness in Waseem Daker Murder Trial Provides Details of Perjury
The trial court denied the motion for a new trial on October 30, 2013. On direct appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the convictions on October 17, 2016. The appellate court noted that Daker had directed the clerk to omit all pretrial and trial transcripts from the record on appeal, which left nothing for the court to review on whether the evidence was legally sufficient.15FindLaw. Daker v. The State, Georgia Supreme Court
Daker remains incarcerated in a Georgia state prison, serving life plus 47 years. Whether Spencer Blatz ever faced perjury charges for the false testimony she admitted to has not been publicly reported.