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Left: Ryan Smith (Houston police). Right: Cameron Smith (Schmidt Funeral Home).
A Texas jury convicted a man of murdering his father by striking him three times with a 15-pound metal dumbbell just one day after being bonded out of jail for stabbing a police dog.
On Jan. 22, 2022, Ryan Mitchell Smith, then 26, allegedly tried to carjack a vehicle in the 800 block of Memorial Heights Drive in Houston. After the unsuccessful attempt, Smith ran away but was later chased down by police dog Nate. Smith allegedly stabbed the dog, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Houston police said at the time.
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Smith was taken to the Harris County Jail on charges of evading arrest, interference with a police service animal and robbery-bodily injury but he posted the $50,000 bond the next day. On the night of Jan. 25, 2022, Houston police went to the home of Cameron Smith, the defendant’s 51-year-old father, after his family reported him missing.
When police arrived at the home they saw Ryan Smith down the street driving his father’s GMC Denali pickup truck with its lights turned off and license plates removed, a probable cause arrest affidavit said. Cops tried to pull him over, but he sped away, leading police on a 10-mile chase lasting 15 minutes. He crashed and then ran away. In the vehicle, cops found a loaded hunting rifle, a black Labrador retriever dog and a bloody 15-pound metal dumbbell.
Meanwhile, police went inside Cameron Smith’s home and found him dead in a trash can with a bag wrapped around his head, prosecutors wrote. Later that day police arrested Ryan Smith in Austin County and charged him with murder.
The younger Smith admitted to killing his father on Jan. 24, 2022, by “distracting” him under the guise of looking for deer meat in the garage and then hitting him in the head three times with the dumbbell that cops found in the Denali. He then tied a plastic bag around his head, the affidavit said.
Some three years later, a jury convicted the defendant of his father’s murder. Ryan Smith’s attorneys used the insanity defense, saying their client was experiencing a manic episode during the crime, the Houston Chronicle reported. But prosecutors rebutted that claim by pointing out that he took steps to cover up the murder. He’s slated to be sentenced at a later date.
Cameron Smith’s obituary described him as a loving father — including to the son now convicted of his murder.
“He loved being a father to his sons Ryan, Blake and Spencer and his daughter Avery. Providing great counsel, a listening ear, strength in hard times and patient unconditional love regardless of the circumstance,” the obituary said.