Jimmy Smith honored as Cape Girardeau officer of the year

You could say Cape Girardeau Detective Jimmy Smith has become addicted to cracking the tough cases.

If the trail has gone cold, and all leads appear to have been exhausted, even better.

Smith recently received "Officer of the Year" honors within the department for his involvement in closing five cold-case homicides.

Police chief Carl Kinnison said the decision to name Smith Officer of the Year was based on those five murder investigations, leading to the conviction of serial killer Timothy Krajcir.

Krajcir pleaded guilty in April to the 1979 murders of Brenda Parsh, Mary Parsh and Sheila Cole, and the 1982 murders of Margie Call and Mildred Wallace.

The conviction closed a chapter in Cape Girardeau's history when the crimes, a majority of which were committed against older women who lived alone, had the town gripped with fear.

The feeling of satisfaction that comes with arresting someone for a violent crime, particularly someone who has preyed on the elderly or vulnerable, is Smith's favorite part of law enforcement, he said.

"It's just a good feeling, knowing you put someone in jail that truly deserves to be there," Smith said.

Law enforcement career

Smith was 21 years old when he took a job with the Cape Girardeau Police Department. The son of a farmer, Smith grew up in Advance, Mo. His family had moved there from Arkansas when he was in the fourth grade.

After high school, Smith joined the U.S. Air Force for four years before returning to Southeast Missouri and working as a patrol officer with the police department.

At the time, Smith was making about $425 a month, and was occasionally the only officer patrolling the streets. Then, Smith solved his first homicide case, a stabbing on Good Hope Street.

In that case, Smith escorted the suspect into the hospital room where the victim, who died later of infection, immediately identified his attacker.

"Back in those days, we did things a little bit different," Smith said.

Smith took a hiatus from law enforcement shortly after that, working for two years for Ford Motor Credit Co., but missed the work.

"I guess it's always been in my blood," he said.

Smith returned to law enforcement in the late 1980s when he accepted the position as chief deputy for the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department.

"I wasn't very well accepted down there," Smith said.

King case

He was viewed as an outsider in the rural department, and had been there a few months when he asked if the investigation into the 1987 death of Gail King could be reopened.

King had been found lying face down in a drainage ditch about a mile and half from her home in Stoddard County, an empty pill bottle lying on the ground nearby.

At first, her death had been ruled accidental, but persistent questions from family members and concerned residents led to exhumation of the body three months after burial.

Smith began asking questions and learned that urine and blood tests performed on King revealed drugs in her system. When her body was later sent to St. Louis for an autopsy, however, no drugs were found in her stomach, and when Smith questioned the medical examiner, he learned that she considered the death to be a homicide.

Going back to Cape

In 1990, Smith was informed that he no longer had a job with the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department, and was forced to find work to support his two young children in his custody.

He ended up returning to Cape Girardeau Police Department, and in 1993, joined the detective division.

"I've described him as Dick Tracy on steroids," Kinnison said of Smith's investigative work.

Smith, who with his full head of snow-white hair and serious expression looks the part of a television detective, began working on the Krajcir homicides full time in 2007.

"He had a passion for working on the cold cases since he came back to the department," Kinnison said.

Smith was at the end of the six-month window he was given to work the cold cases when Krajcir's DNA was matched to Wallace.

"He has a natural curiosity that makes him enjoy getting to the bottom of it," said Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

No stone unturned

Smith, now a father of four, regularly watches "48 Hours," and he and his 10-year-old son never miss "America's Most Wanted." He's also an avid reader of true crime mysteries.

Now 62, Smith divides his time between working the department's older cold cases and current violent crimes, such as the rape of an 81-year-old woman two weeks ago.

"He's a bulldog — he doesn't leave any stone unturned," Kinnison said.

The Gail King file still sits beside Smith's desk. He likes to keep it close to him, he said.

King was kidnapped in Cape Girardeau a few months before her death, and Smith remains convinced that if he can solve the kidnapping, perhaps he can shed light on the 21-year-old mystery.

"There's somebody out there that's got information that can help solve this case," Smith said.

bdiscosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

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