Molester apologizes, sentenced to life in 23-year-old murder case

RENO - A child molester who was arrested in a 23-year-old murder case based on new DNA evidence and then admitted he killed the young California girl was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole.

Stephen Robert Smith, 57, a poker dealer at a local casino, confessed last month to the Sept. 3, 1977 killing of 6-year-old Lisa Marie Bonham.

Smith had been paroled just a year before the killing after being sentenced to life in prison for molesting and assaulting other young girls in the Sparks-Reno area in 1969.

On Thursday, he took the stand in Washoe District Court and briefly apologized to the girl's family before Judge Jerry Polaha issued the maximum sentence.

''I think, from now on, things are going to be much better,'' said Doris Bonham, the girl's mother.

Smith was arrested in May after forensic scientists, using advanced DNA testing techniques and automated access to convicted sex offender records, matched his DNA to semen found on Lisa clothing.

He admitted to the murder in a plea-bargain agreement that kept him from getting a possible death penalty.

In emotional testimony during the sentencing hearing Thursday, Mrs. Bonham held up a picture of her family taken just weeks before Lisa Marie disappeared while walking to an amusement park at Idlewild Park in Reno.

Mrs. Bonham then tore her daughter out of the picture, explaining the abduction happened that quickly and was that permanent.

The Martinez, Calif., girl was with her family visiting relatives in Reno when she was abducted.

District Attorney Dick Gammick said the little girl was walking to her uncle's house nearby to get some money when Smith first approached her.

Smith kidnapped Lisa on her way back to the park to rejoin her brother. He took her to the Dog Valley area where he tied her up and sexually assaulted her, then killed her.

Smith earlier had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for molesting two Sparks girls and the attempted assault of a 12-year-old Reno girl in 1969.