A cold case murder out of Chambers county is solved after DNA evidence led investigators to a man who confessed to the crime.
Kevin Edison Smith Tuesday confessed to the 1996 capital murder of 13 year old Krystal Jean Baker. Smith was arrested September 22 in Groves but did not confess to the crime until this week.
Baker's body was found in March 1996 underneath the I-10 bridge over the Trinity River in Chambers County. Investigators say she had been strangled.
STATEMENT FROM CHAMBERS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
On the afternoon of March 5, 1996, the body of 13 year old Krystal Jean Baker was discovered laying beneath the Trinity River Bridge on IH 10 in Chambers County, Texas. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Krystal had last been seen alive by her grandmother a few hours earlier in Texas City, Texas. Upon the discovery of Krystal's body, the Chambers County Sheriff's Office became the lead investigating agency in the case. Chambers County was assisted at the time by several other agencies, including the Texas City Police Department and the Texas Rangers. Evidence was collected at the crime scene, but no suspects were identified at the time.
The past decade has seen many technological advances in forensic DNA testing; advances that were not available at the time of Krystal's murder. Chambers County Sheriff's Office Evidence Officer, Sherry Willcox, re-submitted DNA evidence from Krystal's cold case murder to the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab in Austin, Texas in February, 2009, and again in December, 2009. On January 14, 2010, Livonia, Louisiana Police arrested Kevin Edison Smith (B/M, DOB 09-22-1965) on a drug charge. A sample of Smith's DNA was placed on file in a national data base as part of his arrest.
On September 15, 2010, Deputy Willcox was informed that Kevin Smith's DNA from the Louisiana arrest had been matched to the DNA evidence recovered at the scene of Krystal Baker's murder. Based on that evidence, an arrest warrant was issued for Kevin Edison Smith, charging him with murder. Kevin Smith was located in Groves, Texas, and arrested while at work on September 22, 2010. He was booked into the Chambers County Jail, with bond set at $1,000,000.00. A search warrant was then obtained, and a second DNA sample was obtained from Smith. That Sample was tested against the evidence from the murder scene for confirmation. On October 1, 2010, DPS Crime Lab sent confirmation that the DNA from the evidence at Krystal Jean Baker's murder scene was a positive match to the DNA sample taken from Smith after his arrest on the murder charge. Chambers County District Attorney Cheryl Lieck anticipates that the case will be presented to the grand jury as a capital murder by the end of the month. Investigator Brad Moon is the lead detective in the case.
