Lisa marie smith murder in north

RENO - A child molester who was arrested in a 23-year-old murder case based on new DNA evidence and then admitted he killed the young California girl was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole.

Stephen Robert Smith, 57, a poker dealer at a local casino, confessed last month to the Sept. 3, 1977 killing of 6-year-old Lisa Marie Bonham.

Smith had been paroled just a year before the killing after being sentenced to life in prison for molesting and assaulting other young girls in the Sparks-Reno area in 1969.

On Thursday, he took the stand in Washoe District Court and briefly apologized to the girl's family before Judge Jerry Polaha issued the maximum sentence.

''I think, from now on, things are going to be much better,'' said Doris Bonham, the girl's mother.

Smith was arrested in May after forensic scientists, using advanced DNA testing techniques and automated access to convicted sex offender records, matched his DNA to semen found on Lisa clothing.

He admitted to Mother Accused of Killing Sons - fact.on.ca XUKA