r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Magoatt_TheWhite • 4d ago
Update New Windsor Police Announce They Have Solved The December 2001 Murder Of Nancy Smith
On May 28th, 2026 agents with the FBI and investigators with the New Windsor Police Department announced they had solved the December 4th, 2001 murder of 32 year old Nancy Smith. Smith was discovered by relatives in her New Windsor, New York home on December 5th stabbed multiple times. Her family had gone to check on her after she had not reported to work at Horton Hospital or answered calls from family members.
The case was recently solved through the use of advancements in DNA technology which allowed them to match a single strand of hair found at the crime scene to a recently deceased suspect, 58 year old Robert Young. Young became a prime suspect to investigators after advancements in DNA technology allowed them to rerun testing on evidence including the strand of hair in 2023. A year later in 2024 a hit came back to him with officers going to question Young who at the time of the murder lived in Dutchess County, New York and knew Smith through the local music community.
The FBI and investigators interviewed Young who had moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina about the case in February 2024. During the interview they managed to collect DNA samples to help with further identification. By 2024 the investigation was a multi state team consisting of officers from New York, Connecticut, Florida and South Carolina. Young denied any involvement in the case during an April 2026 follow up interview and shortly after, the investigative team learned from local officers he had taken his own life. The case of Smith’s murder has been solved with Young identified as the perpetrator due to the DNA match, however due to his death authorities are unable to bring charges or find a motive as to why Young murdered Smith.
Sources:
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u/Beefycowinacottage 3d ago
I hate when they die without facing justice for their crimes but I'm also glad they aren't still out there doing more.
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u/RollingGuy 3d ago
I mean what is justice? Killing yourself because you’re about to be arrested is surely some form of justice.
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u/VaselineHabits 3d ago
Justice delayed is justice denied
Her parents just died the year prior, for decades they never knew someone would eventually be found. They died after suffering decades isnt justice... him killing himself after getting to live for decades isnt justice.
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u/RollingGuy 3d ago
I guess that’s your definition of justice then but that completely contradicts the person I was responding to who decried the fact that justice could not be served at the point of identification.
I don’t think justice is a binary. Is it perfect justice? No. But it is some form of justice.
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u/Mindless_Turnover976 3d ago
Did he have a previous history of violence?
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u/blackcrowling 1d ago
I agree he probably did it and the suicide makes him seem more guilty. BUT a single hair from someone she knew doesn’t seem that conclusive. She apparently knew him. So a single hair could be explained away! Some history that indicates him as a killer would make it a better case
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u/Most-Bee2388 3d ago edited 3d ago
Honestly, as someone in the criminal justice area, I was really questioning a single strand of hair. And then he was questioned and....suicide. . . I wouldn't say its beyond reasonable doubt guilt,but it certainly passes the crime tv standard.
Edit: read that the family apparently made a statement...seems like theres more to this.
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u/Doro_Gurl 2d ago
There's a fifty year old episode of German crime drama series 'Derrick' in which the (accidental) killer wants to jump from a bridge. Derrick says:" You owe the girl something: your confession! But not your death!" I always thought this was a powerful message.
I'm glad for the surviving family to have received an answer.
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u/kaproud1 4d ago edited 3d ago
One strand of hair. From someone she knew. Is that ALL of their evidence?
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u/PAHoarderHelp 3d ago
However there is this case:
…the infamous 2012 California case of Lukis Anderson.
Anderson was accused of murdering a Silicon Valley executive, Raveesh Kumra, after his DNA was found under the victim's fingernails.
However, Anderson had an ironclad alibi: he was admitted to a hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) for severe alcohol intoxication at the time the murder occurred.
The DNA transfer was traced back to a reused piece of medical equipment:
The EMT Transport: Paramedics treated Anderson and attached a pulse oximeter (a device to measure oxygen) to his finger.
The Crime Scene: The same ambulance team was dispatched to Kumra's murder scene later that night, where they applied the exact same pulse oximeter to the victim.
Secondary Transfer: Anderson's skin cells left on the oximeter were accidentally transferred to the murder victim.
Once investigators discovered the equipment crossover, Anderson's alibi in the ICU was verified and all murder charges were dropped.
You can explore the full forensic investigation of this event in PBS Frontline's "Framed for Murder By His Own DNA"
His hair at the crime scene is of course not absolute proof, but again, what type of hair, and how and where was it found?
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u/ResponsibleCulture43 3d ago
I watched a different episode of a show that covered this and it was so sad from what I remember, and he was lucky his lawyer (iirc) caught that he was at the hospital that night. I think about this case often when it comes to trace dna and not any other mentioned evidence.
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u/kaproud1 3d ago
Yeah the post doesn’t say it was a pube, it says it was a strand of hair. It doesn’t say it was sitting in blood or that there was bloody fingerprint. It doesn’t say any of that. Based on just the released facts, as given in OP’s post, they found a single strand of hair that ended up matching her friend. You’re right, there HAS to be more because that is hardly enough to arrest him on, much less convict him if he had lived.
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u/PAHoarderHelp 3d ago
match a single strand of hair found at the crime scene
A bloody fingerprint found at the crime scene
Etc
A pubic hair?
Hair found in her hand from Attempted defense?
In a wound?
His suicide—right after he got questioned. If he was innocent wouldn’t he stand up for himself?
Of course I do think there’s more information that hasn’t been released, more details, possibly to protect the victim and her family.
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u/Technical-Winter-847 3d ago
The crime scene was her home, though, right? So if he had visited her recently, it could just be there. I would really like to believe there is more to it than that. It doesn't say the exact timing so his suicide could be unrelated. Plenty of innocent people confess or buckle under the weight of false accusations, as well. It also feels like a lot of cold cases are being solved with a deceased culprit. I don't know, I'll have to look this one up and see what else is there.
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u/PAHoarderHelp 3d ago
I would really like to believe there is more to it than that.
It would seem there is—maybe a history of crime and violence?
A conflict between them that was not noted initially?
Would be good to know more. Again, if that hair was found in her hands, from trying to defend herself, that’s not a random hair.
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u/blackcrowling 1d ago
I agree with your comment. I hope he was guilty and family have peace. But just closing cases and finding people who commit suicide automatically guilty makes me slightly uneasy. A single hair wouldn’t even be enough for an arrest warrant on its own and yet this whole case closes instantly.
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u/particledamage 4d ago
He took the cowards way out rather than provide any clarity to her family. Still, I hope the case being solved provides some relief and peace to them