Jerry Lee Dunbar

Case record: Jerry Lee Dunbar

Background

Jerry Lee Dunbar disposed of the remains of two victims in Virginia in 1989. Deirdre Smith was 27 years old, and Marilyn Graham was 29 years old. Deirdre Smith was discovered in May under the floor of a motel room on Route 1. Marilyn Graham turned up in June under a bed in the Alexandria Econo Lodge.

Dunbar pleaded guilty to murdering a woman in a Fairfax County motel in May. He later waived the right to a jury trial for the Alexandria case.

The offence

Deirdre Smith’s body was partially hidden under Dunbar’s bed for two days. He then placed her in the crawl space under the carpeted floor. Dunbar did not move out of that room until three or four weeks later. Deirdre Smith’s decomposed body was found after other guests complained about the stink.

Marilyn Graham’s body was found under a motel bed in Alexandria.

Dunbar’s motive was stated as sex. His modus operandi was described as strangling women after sex and keeping decomposing bodies in his motel rooms.

Investigation

Deirdre Smith’s family came to Fairfax County to size up the man who killed their daughter. The family members recalled that Dunbar stuffed Smith’s body under the floor of a motel room on Route 1.

Arrest

Dunbar was arrested the day after the Alexandria victim’s body was found.

Trial

In Alexandria Circuit Court, Dunbar was found guilty of strangling a woman at an Alexandria motel just days after the first crime. Dunbar waived the right to a jury trial.

Circuit Judge Donald H. Kent pronounced Dunbar guilty of first-degree murder in a 90-minute trial. The trial resulted in a first-degree murder conviction.

Sentencing

Deirdre Smith’s family needed to meet the man who killed their daughter and stuffed her body under the floor of a motel room on Route 1. When Dunbar was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder, they left satisfied, saying the man was "nothing." They were also sorry, they said, that he thought Smith, 27, a former debutante turned cocaine addict, whose decomposed body was found in May, was not more than that.

Dunbar was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder in the Alexandria case.

Dunbar also was sentenced in the June murder of a 29-year-old woman in Alexandria, whose body was found under a motel bed.

Outcome

Dunbar was convicted on two counts in 1990.

Other details

Dunbar told police that he took the woman to the motel, where they drank beer and used cocaine. At sentencing, pain and regret were recalled by the article describing the sentencing. Dunbar was described as a 28-year-old meat cutter with no fixed address.