Randall Lee Smith

The social contract had concluded.

Whatever happened in that 15 feet of darkness between the fire and the tree line happened in a space that no one else witnessed and Randall Lee Smith never explained it.

Sean went down, then he got back up.

That detail is not a footnote.

Both survived.

Both still carry it, not just as memory, but as metal and scar tissue lodged permanently in the body.

Randall Lee Smith died in police custody four days after the accident, a blood clot caused by the crash.

He never spoke about the attack.

And that's when I really said, "Well, man, this guy, you know, he was a serial killer."

In 1981, Randall Smith had killed two hikers on the trail.

He had served 15 years in prison for the crime.

The murder scene was just a mile from where he attacked Scott and Sean.

Based on what they found, I mean, I would assume that he had done that to some other people, and that's a huge area, and very mountainous.

I mean, it's, it w- they may never find them, you know, if they're up there.

Four days after being arrested, Randall Smith died in jail from natural causes.

A- and I sort of thought, "Well, maybe this is, like, karma, you know? Th- this was karma.

All right, I got some info on the Appalachian killer.

Randall Lee Smith, born June 28, 1953, died May 10, 2008, was an American convicted murderer from Virginia.

He pled guilty shortly before trial, commenced of two counts, Yeah, two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of hikers Robert Mountford Jr. and Laura Susan Ramsey, both 27-year-old social workers from Maine, who were murdered by Smith while hiking in the Appalachian Trail in May of 1981.

He was sentenced to two concurrent 15-year terms in a plea bargain and released in 1996 on mandatory parole after serving 15 years.

They started in Georgia, and they passed through Perrysburg, Virginia.

They encountered 28-year-old Randall Lee Smith at the grocery store, and they shared a, a conversation.

Later that evening, the, Randall Smith joined them at Wapiti Shelter along the Appalachian Trail, and they shared food and a conversation, likely remembering this man from before.

But during the night, Randall Smith had attacked these hikers.

What's even scarier is that in 2008, at the age of 55, he was reported missing.

While supposedly hiding in the wilderness area, he had approached two fishermen, Shawn Farmer and Scott Johnston, who were camping near Dismal Creek.

Now, like Mountford and Ramsey years earlier, the men showed Smith some hospitality, shared a dinner with him, and he introduced himself as Ricky Williams.

And we know this because, spoiler alert, the two fishermen had survived their ordeal.

When given the form, the man scratched out a name onto the paper.

"Randall Lee Smith," he wrote.

The police had found their man.

Randall Smith was just 27 years old when he was extradited back to Virginia on charges of first degree murder.