Inmate already serving 50 years to life sentenced to another 33 years for 1986 Tacoma cold-case murder

TACOMA -- Christopher Leon Smith, already serving 50 years to life in state prison for rape, was sentenced to 33 years in prison Friday for the slaying of Carol Davidson in her Tacoma apartment 28 years ago.

On Aug. 30, 1986, Tacoma police found Davidson's body. The 46-year-old had sustained blunt force trauma to the head, her hands were bound behind her back and she was gagged. The medical examiner determined she died from strangulation.

Outside, police found some belongings and a pack of Kool cigarettes, but could not link those to anyone at the time.

In 2012, detective Gene Miller of the Tacoma Police Department’s Cold Case Unit reopened the case, reviewed the evidence, and submitted biological samples to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

DNA technology was used and found the samples matched Smith’s DNA, which had been collected after his 2009 convictions for rape and kidnapping.