High’s murder suspect dies

The suspect in the 1967 shootings of two clerks at a Staunton ice cream shop died Monday night.

Police arrested Sharron Diane Crawford Smith, 61, in the slayings Dec. 12. Authorities said then that the suspect was ailing.

Smith, who suffered from kidney and heart disease, died at about 6 p.m., Staunton police said. Authorities declined to comment on the cause of death.

Smith’s condition was so dire, according to a physician’s letter, that Staunton Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Robertson postponed a hearing for her earlier this month.

A news conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday in City Council Chambers at 116 W. Beverley St. during which authorities are expected to discuss the two first-degree murder charges against Smith in the shooting deaths of Constance Smootz Hevener, 19, and her sister-in-law, Carolyn Hevener Perry, 20, shortly before closing time at High’s Ice Cream on April 11, 1967.

The case gained new life in June, when an acquaintance of Smith told a distant relative of the murdered women about a threat Smith made 41 years earlier.

A judge last month signed a motion dismissing a murder indictment against William Thomas Jr., who was accused then acquitted of one of the murders, but lived decades with the other indictment hanging over his head.

“In a way I’m glad it’s over with and it doesn’t have to go to trial,” said Carroll Smootz, the twin brother of Constance Smootz Hevener. “But there’s still a lot of questions that’s not answered, why it took 41, almost 42 years to come to this.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.