BEN LOMOND — Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office investigators believe they have solved a nearly four-decade-old cold case that left a popular San Lorenzo Valley restaurant owner dead.
Recent developments in forensic technology allowed detectives to confirm a link to a long-held suspected murderer in the case, authorities announced Wednesday.
The case stems from March 28, 1983, when the body of Joette Marie Smith was found floating in the San Lorenzo River near Woodland Drive. The popular 33-year-old owner and operator of the Buffalo Gals restaurant was determined in a subsequent autopsy to have died of strangulation. Smith was last seen late the previous night at Henflings bar and grill.
In news articles shortly after her death, the Omaha, Nebraska, native was described by friends as “kind-hearted, old-fashioned, generous, giving and a friend to everyone.”
It was not until 1988 that the Sheriff’s Office first settled on suspected killer Eric David Drummond, a man with an “extensive history of violent crimes” that included sexual assault convictions in California and Nevada, according to an agency press release. According to their investigation, detectives believed Drummond asked Smith for a date while at Buffalo Gals, an offer the business owner declined. According to investigators, Drummond left California abruptly after her murder.
“While there was circumstantial information tying Drummond to the crime, no criminal case could be brought against Drummond without further physical evidence,” Sheriff’s Office deputy Lt. Patrick Dimick wrote in a release.
The case gained new momentum in late August, when investigators were able to examine a DNA sample collected from the now 64-year-old Drummond — which matched genetic material collected at the scene of Smith’s death, the agency said.
As detectives were closing in and preparing to seek an arrest warrant, Drummond took his own life in the hills of Sierra County, according to Dimick.
“While Drummond will never face criminal charges or a jury of his peers, the Sheriff’s Office is confident that the evidence in this case would support a conviction of Drummond for the murder of Joette Smith,” Dimick wrote. “The Sheriff’s Office extends our condolences to the family and friends of Joette Smith. We wish to remind the community of Santa Cruz County that the Sheriff’s Office will continue to investigate each of our homicides.”
