An Ohio man already convicted of murder in that state has plead guilty to federal charges for the 2005 murder of a woman at Fort Knox.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky said Ernest Otto Smith, 49, entered the plea on February 5. In his plea Smith admitted that on January 7, 2005 he murdered Cathy M. Barnett on the grounds of the Army post.
The agreement says Smith admitted that he murdered James Dillingham on January 3, 2005 in Toledo, Ohio. Authorities believed Barnett was present during Dillingham’s murder. After killing Dillingham, Smith and Barnett left Toledo in Smith’s van and came to the Fort Knox area, a place where Smith had once lived and worked. During the trip to Kentucky prosecutors said Smith decided to kill Barnett because she was a witness to Dillingham’s murder.
On the day Barnett was killed, Smith’s van broke down and the two hitchhiked a ride which dropped them off near Fort Knox. Barnett was murdered after she and Smith walked down a service road off the main highway and into a wooded area. Smith told the court he first tried to break Barnett’s neck before hitting her with a tree branch in the head until she was dead. He left her body in the woods.
Smith eventually made it to Tennessee where he was arrested in Nashville on January 21, 2005 for the murder of Dillingham. He was sentenced to 32 year in prison for his conviction in Ohio.
During a meeting in late 2010 with his former parole officer Smith told him what happened to Barnett and where she could be found. A search by the FBI discovered Barnett’s remains right where Smith said they would be.
Smith will be sentenced for Barnett’s murder on March 22 in Louisville. He faces a mandatory life sentence.
Source: WAVE
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