NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Oscar Franklin Smith, 75, is set to be executed by lethal injection on May 22 for the 1989 brutal murder of his estranged wife and her two teenage sons.

Former Metro Nashville Police Department detective, retired Hendersonville police chief, and 47-year law enforcement veteran, Mickey Miller, was the lead detective on the case in 1989, detailing the investigation to News 2.

"It was horrific. It was one of the bloodiest crime scenes," Miller said. "I personally believe that if anybody was a candidate for the death penalty, he's got to be it. To me, I felt like he was just pure evil."

Judy Smith, 35, and her two sons, Chad, 16, and Jason, 13, were brutally murdered inside their Nashville home at 324 Lutie St. on Oct. 1, 1989.

Miller told News 2 one of the sons made a call to 911 during the killings, but the operator couldn't decipher exactly what was being said.

Metro police were dispatched to the scene, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary outside, so they left. The next day, a relative found Judy, Chad, and Jason's bloody bodies.

"Chad, the 16-year-old, was in the kitchen," Miller said. "In the front bedroom, Judy was in the bed and Jason was lying on the floor of the bedroom, so it was pretty bloody."

Smith used three weapons in the killings: a gun, a knife, and an awl, which is an ice pick-like tool used in leathermaking.

Miller and other homicide detectives spent long hours investigating. An audio engineer at a radio station helped police isolate audio from the 911 call, where one of Judy's sons can be heard calling Smith by his name, Frank.

"You could hear Chad in the background saying, 'No, Frank. No,'" Miller said.

Another major break in the case was a bloody handprint with two fingers missing, matching Smith's hand, which is missing two fingers due to an accident.

Miller told News 2 they gathered enough evidence to arrest Smith within days and brought him in for questioning.

"He was one guy that when you're talking to him, his blood pressure wasn't getting elevated, he was just as calm, and you looked into his eyes and there was just nothing there. One of the few that I've seen like that," Miller said.

Smith was sentenced to death in 1990, and was last set to be executed in 2022. However, a last-minute stay was granted by Gov. Bill Lee after he discovered the state wasn't following its own death penalty protocol.

Smith has always maintained his innocence, but Miller said the evidence speaks for itself.

"He knows he's guilty, and I know he's guilty, and I think anybody that worked on that case, there was no doubt," Miller said.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/tn-detective-recalls-1989-triple-murder-case-ahead-of-oscar-smiths-execution/