Carol Smith

“Somebody Took My Mommy”

“Somebody took my mommy.” That’s what crying five-year-old Michael Smith told a clerk at the J.A. Conley store on June 13th, 1978. The clerk immediately called authorities and police arrived at the scene.

Police learned that Michael and his mother, 23-year-old Carol Smith, were spending the day together shopping while Mr. Smith and the couple’s two-year-old daughter were at home. Michael told police he was in the backseat of his mother’s car when a man with curly hair and a white shirt abducted his mother at knifepoint as she tried to get in the driver’s seat. Michael said the man took his mother away in a red car.

A little over an hour later, police found the body of Carol Smith. She had been stabbed approximately 27 times. She had several stab wounds to her lungs and vaginal area. The stab wounds severed a major artery and collapsed both lungs. The abductor also eviscerated Mrs. Smith. Her intestines and organs were left outside her body cavity.

A Break Leads To A Killer

As police were searching for the suspect, they caught a huge break. A clerk at the store had been alerted earlier in the day that shoplifters were working the area and to be on the lookout for suspicious people. After returning from lunch, the clerk noticed a suspicious man in a red Chevelle outside the store. The man was drinking a beer and watching women who were entering and leaving the store. The clerk wrote down the suspicious man’s license plate number. After obtaining the license plate number from the clerk, police immediately traced the vehicle back to 31-year-old drifter and construction worker Thomas Yanasak.

Yanasak was arrested and taken to police headquarters. When police searched his home they found books dealing with crime scenes and kidnappings. Police learned Yanasak had also tried to abduct another woman from a laundromat in the exact same manner the day before Mrs. Smith was abducted. She said a red car was parked next to her and, when she entered her vehicle, a man pulled a knife and tried to abduct her. She blew her car horn and three men rushed to her aid. The man jumped in his car and sped away. The men wrote down the license plate, which matched the plate number on Yanasak’s vehicle. When the woman saw Yanasak on the local news, she immediately recognized him as the man who tried to abduct her.

A Violent Felon Gets Life

When Yanasak was arrested, he was no stranger to the law. In 1970, Yanasak was charged with rape in Michigan. He accepted a plea deal and was convicted of attempted rape and sentenced from one to five years in prison. He also had a criminal history dating back to 1967, which included multiple felonious assault charges.

There was a multitude of evidence against Yanasak, which included five-year-old Michael Smith, who was an eyewitness to his mother’s abduction. Facing a possible death sentence, Yanasak pled no contest to the aggravated murder of Carol Smith. He said nothing at sentencing, He made no apology and showed no remorse. He was sentenced to Life in prison for his horrific crime.

No Parole

Thomas Yanasak is a convicted rapist and a vicious, sadistic killer who stalks and preys on innocent women. We believe, based on the nature of his crime and the evidence presented, that Yanasak very likely may have raped and/or killed others before Mrs. Smith. It is our opinion that Thomas Yanasak is a potential serial killer and, if he is released from prison before he dies, there will be many more victims as a direct result of his actions. Releasing Thomas Yanasak would pose an incredible risk to the community and would not further the interests of justice. It would also be a complete injustice to Carol Smith and her family. Based on the fact that Thomas Yanasak abducted an innocent woman in front of her five-year-old son and then brutally murdered and mutilated her, and the fact Yanasak demonstrates a clear pattern of stalking and attacking women including a prior rape conviction, we believe Thomas Yanasak should be required to serve his FULL life sentence.