Escape from Brushy Mountain

When Scott Johnston and Sean Farmer were shot near the Appalachian Trail last may, former deputy Tom Lawson immediately had a suspect in mind-- Randall Lee Smith.

Tom Lawson: Don't tell me-- don't tell me that he's done it again.

Lawson and virtually every lawman in Virginia knew Randall Lee Smith as a killer -- the man responsible for the 1981 double murder on the Appalachian Trail.

As he was being rolled into surgery the night he was shot, Scott Johnston was shown a picture of Smith.

Scott Johnston:   And he says, "Is this the guy that shot you?"  And I said “yeah."                              

Chris Hansen: No doubt in your mind.

Scott Johnston: No doubt in my mind.

After Scott made the ID, police launched a manhunt for Randall Lee Smith.  A state trooper spotted him just hours after the shooting -- Smith was driving Scott Johnston's pickup truck.

Ron Hamlin: They pulled out behind him and they-- Mr. Smiths-- evidently saw him and he sped up.  And he went about a mile from where they saw him and he wrecked his truck. 

Lt. Ron Hamlin says Smith left the road, drove up an embankment and flipped the truck on its roof. Smith was still trapped in the truck when Hamlin arrived.

Ron Hamlin: And another investigator and I went I've and we pulled him out from under the truck. There was a handgun laying outside the truck, right in the-- within his reach. 

Randall Lee Smith was injured in the crash. He was arrested, and taken to same hospital where Scott Johnston and Sean Farmer were being treated. Lt. Hamlin read Smith his rights.

Lt. Hamlin questioned Smith.

Ron Hamlin: You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court a law, okay? You can decide at anytime to exercise your rights, not make any statements, not make any answers, okay?

Randall Lee Smith: Yeah.

Ron Hamlin: Do you wish to talk to us about this?

Randall Lee Smith: No.

But later, Hamlin said, Smith did talk.

Ron Hamlin: And I said, "Did you shoot him?"  He said, "No, I didn't shoot nobody."  I said, "Randall, you did shoot them guys."  I said, "I know you did."  "Well, if I did, it wasn't my gun, it was theirs," is what he said.

But the police were able to confirm that the gun was his. “Lyin' Randall” was lying again. And Tom Lawson points out that gun was a .22 caliber revolver - the same type of gun Smith used 27 years ago.

Chris Hansen: Do you think that's the same gun he used in 1981?

Tom Lawson: I would be a fool not to.  We never found the weapon. And I believe partially the reason these-- these two fellas here were able to survive is I think he actually used probably s-- some similar ammunition that he had back then. And it was even more corroded and damaged.

In addition to the gun, police found a treasure trove of evidence Randall Lee Smith had hidden deep in the woods: Scott Johnston's sunglasses, more than 20 knives, meat cleavers and other items. And they found some bizarre drawings and notes, including this “prayer:”

"Hail to the guardians of the watchtower of the north. By the powers of mother and earth hear me...show me thy glory...I invoke thee oh, ancient one."

Police say the notes and symbols are consistent with a religion called Wicca -- a pagan group that worships nature, and considers its leading members witches.

Scott Johnston: It was really creepy. I mean, he was out to destroy somebody, or-- or something.  I mean-- and luckily, I mean, he tried it with us. But we were, just, tougher than he was.  And survived it.

Chris Hansen: How did you learn that he had been in prison for killing two other people?

Scott Johnston: Basically, it was, you know, after a day or so of everything bein' in the newspapers.

Chris Hansen: You had to be thinking, "Wait a minute.  This guy kills two people.  Pleads guilty.  And only goes away for 15 years?"

Scott Johnston: Yeah.

Sean Farmer: That was just some added shock.  I mean--

Sean Farmer: I was already in shock for almost bein' killed.  And then, you know, like, you know, the next day, you read that in the newspaper.  I was just amazed. 

Scott Johnston: Back in the original case, where-- where was, back in-- in the original case, where was the judicial system? You know, they-- they just let him roam free.

Though Tom Lawson may have done everything he could to keep Randall Lee Smith from “roaming free,” he says he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if Smith had killed again.

Tom Lawson: Was I the reason why two other people now are assaulted by this person that I should have put away 27 years ago. By the grace of God, they're not dead.  I could have been living with four murders now instead of two...

Randall Lee Smith was charged with two counts of attempted murder for his assault on Scott and Sean.

And ironically, Smith's jailer would be the same man who put him behind bars 27 years ago -- Tom Lawson.

Chris Hansen: This has come full circle now.  You first cross paths with him as a member of the Sheriff's department in 1981 investigating a double murder. 

Tom Lawson: Déjà vu.  Here, I am.

Chris Hansen: Twenty-seven years later you're assistant superintendent of the jail--

Tom Lawson: That he's comin' to.

Chris Hansen: That he's comin' to for shootin' two other people on the Appalachian Trail.

And with Randall Lee Smith now in his jail, Lawson hoped he finally would get answers to questions he's wanted to ask for 27 years.

Tom Lawson: Why did you do it?  Why were you so brutal?  And what did you think you were gonna gain from this, notoriety?  You weren't gonna gain any girlfriends.  This wasn't gonna make you popular.  This was gonna make people despise you. What were you gaining by this?" 

Sean and Scott wanted to know those very thing about the attack on them.

Well, you know, that's the one question I have, is why?  I mean, you know, we were good to the guy.  We probably were the two nicest people he ran across--

And when Randall Lee Smith went on trial for his latest crimes on the Appalachian Trail...everyone hoped they finally would get some answers.

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