The Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) -- A 28-year veteran homicide detective, shot to death as he worked alone in his cubicle at Houston Police Department headquarters, was known for meticulous investigative work that provided leads in cold murder cases, colleagues say.
Sgt. Larry Boyd Smith was mourned Thursday as police investigations continued into his death. Smith was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon by attending physicians at Ben Taub Hospital and the 61-year-old man’s identity was released after relatives were notified, police spokesman Robert Hurst told The Associated Press early Thursday.
“He was one of the finest homicide detectives, and such a perfect gentleman,” retired HPD Capt. Bobby Adams, who spent 12 of his 43 years with the department leading the homicide division, told the Houston Chronicle in Thursday’s editions. “He ... carried himself so well that you were always proud to send him anywhere.”
Adams recalled the detective as someone who “always had a smile on his face.”
Hurst said an investigation is under way by homicide and internal affairs investigators. Police did not immediately release details of the shooting.
The shooting occurred just before 4 p.m. Wednesday at Smith’s sixth-floor cubicle as Acting Police Chief Joe Breshears was conducting an unrelated news conference. Breshears was called from the room to be informed of the shooting and returned to continue the news conference.
In a brief statement outside the hospital, Breshears describe the dead officer as “a man dedicated to this city. It’s a tremendous loss to the Police Department. He was a good man. He was a great man. He will be missed.”
One of the detective’s investigations yielded results this week, with the arrest of Anthony Allen Shore, charged Monday with four counts of capital murder in connection with the deaths of three girls and a young woman. The detective had been involved in the probe of the September 1986 killing of 15-year-old Laura Lee Tremblay, one of Shore’s alleged victims.
In another case that went unsolved for decades, the detective pursued leads in the 1982 sexual assault and strangulation of 20-year-old Mary Ann Castille. The case remained cold until 1999, when DNA testing turned up a suspect.
Michael Brashar was charged with murder in connection with Castille’s death after the detective’s investigation was featured on the television program “America’s Most Wanted.: The program, broadcast locally on Sept. 27, featured an interview with the detective.
The detective is in a segment scheduled to air Saturday regarding Brashar’s capture, said the show’s producer, Cindy Anderson.
The producer said when she last spoke with the detective on Tuesday, he was excited about the segment airing this weekend.
Smith also was one of the detectives who interviewed Andrea Yates after she confessed to drowning her five children in June 2001.
In an e-mail message, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal late Wednesday described the detective as “one of the finest men I’ve ever known.”
Rosenthal said the officer had recently undergone surgery and had not yet been cleared to return to work. But he insisted on helping with this week’s arrest of Shore.