William Scott Smith

In October 2012, Smith confessed to killing Monroe, to which he later pleaded guilty and was given another life imprisonment term. It marked the first time that the newly-formed Cold Case Unit of the Salem Police Department, formed the previous year, had solved a case. As of November 2021, he remains behind bars, and is considered a possible suspect in other murders.

After being transferred to an out-of-state prison, Smith could not be conclusively connected to either Monroe's murder or Eyerle's disappearance, which remained cold cases for a few decades. The latter case garnered many tips after receiving several features on Unsolved Mysteries, but none of them led to convictions. In November and December 2006, Smith finally confessed to investigators that he was indeed responsible for Eyerly's murder. According to him, he and an accomplice, Roger Noseff, had planned to abduct another Domino's employee and hold her for ransom, but had mistakenly taken Eyerly instead of their intended target. Instead of proceeding with their plan, Smith strangled her and threw her body in the river. On December 18, 2007, Smith pleaded guilty to the murder and was given another life sentence; Noseff could not be arrested, as he had died in 2003 from cancer.

On February 19, 1984, employees at a local Circle K store went to start work, only to find that the night-time employee, 21-year-old Rebecca Anne Darling, was missing. Her car, a Volkswagen Beetle, was still in the parking lot, and her purse, car keys and coat were still in the store, but there were no apparent signs of a struggle or anything being stolen. This was considered highly unusual, as Darling was considered a diligent worker who would never abandon her shift or leave her possessions behind. As a result, authorities were notified and a search began to locate her.

On April 11, 1984 the car of 18-year-old Katherine Ione Redmond, a freshman university student at the Alpha Chi Omega fraternity in Willamette University, was found abandoned at an intersection about two hours after she had left. Fearing that something might have happened to her, locals and authorities organized searches in attempt to locate her. Four days later, Redmond's nude body, bearing signs of sexual assault and strangulation, was found in a forested area outside Salem.

On July 4, 1982, 18-year-old Domino's Pizza courier Sherry Melissa Eyerly was dispatched to an address on Riverhaven Drive to deliver an order. Hours later, her delivery car, with her collie still inside, was found abandoned on a dirt road outside of town. It was first discovered by pastor David Stark and later by George Hutmacher and his two sons, acquaintances of the Eyerly family who were out setting fireworks. Upon inspecting the address given by the caller, police learned that both the name and location were fictitious, and that the call-back number listed led to a motel. Despite extensive searches over the next few days, Eyerly was not found, and remains missing to this day.

On February 12, 1981, 21-year-old Terry Cox Monroe, a clerk at a Payless in downtown Salem, went to the Oregon Museum Tavern with some friends. After chatting and smoking cigarettes with them for some time, Monroe said that she would go outside to take a breath of fresh air, but did not come back. On the following day, friends and family became concerned for her safety, as Monroe did not turn up at work. The authorities were called in, and two hours into the search, her clothing and personal documents were found on the banks of the Willamette River. On March 15, a boater crossing the river spotted the body of a woman wedged amidst debris, and immediately notified the police. On the next day, the body was positively identified as Monroe's, with coroner Dr. Larry Lewman deducing that she had been strangled to death. A fund was soon established in her name, with the aim that the monetary incentive would lead to tips that could solve the case.

Shortly after Redmond's death, police focused their investigations on William Scott Smith, a 24-year-old unemployed truck driver with a criminal record for harassment against women dating back to 1977. At the request of district attorney Michael J. Brown, various newspapers were instructed to withhold his identity until he could be caught on a serious charge. In response to Brown's plea, the Silverton Appeal Tribune abandoned a plan to print Scott's name in an upcoming issue.

William Scott Smith (born April 29, 1959) is an American serial killer and kidnapper who has been convicted of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering at least four women in Salem, Oregon from 1981 to 1984. For his known crimes, Smith was sentenced to four life terms, and remains a suspect in several other murders.