William Smith

Who was William Smith?

William Henry Smith was executed by the state of Ohio for the rape and murder of 47-year-old Mary Virginia Bradford of Cincinnati, Ohio, that occurred on September 26, 1987.

Smith and Bradford were seen speaking and dancing together at a local bar where they were both frequent regulars. They both left the bar at different times on the night of September 26. On the following day, Bradford's boyfriend became concerned because he had not seen her that day. He entered her unlocked apartment and found Bradford's body, nude from the waist down, on the bed. Missing from the apartment were Bradford's two television sets and her stereo components.

During the autopsy the coroner located ten stab wounds in her neck and chest. Of these wounds, one penetrated her right lung, two penetrated the liver, and two penetrated the heart. The coroner concluded that although five of the wounds could ultimately have been fatal, the immediate cause of death was the two heart wounds, one in the right atrium and the other in the right ventricle. The autopsy also indicated that despite Bradford having engaged in intercourse before her death, the sex was not consensual.