Meagan Smith had her whole life ahead of her.
The 21-year old was set to graduate early from Western Washington University when she was murdered by Zachary Craven, a felon Smith’s parents believe should have been behind bars when he went on a "murderous rampage" in July 2015.
A King County Superior Court jury recently found Craven guilty of killing Smith and his own grandmother, Angie Hayden, 59.
Craven will be sentenced for both murders next month.
Three years after their daughter’s death, Smith’s parents primarily blame Craven for the hole in their lives that will never be filled.
“This was completely preventable, on so many different levels,” Anthony Smith told KIRO 7.
“The travesty of the ball being dropped time and time again,” was how Julie Smith described the circumstances that led to their daughter’s death. “One thing somebody should never have to go through is to lose a child, but one that could have been preventable” is even worse, she said.
The Smiths believe the deaths of their daughter and Craven's grandmother could have been prevented if the state had kept tabs on Craven. The couple have hired Steve Fogg -- a now-private lawyer with Corr Cronin LLP in Seattle --- who spent years prosecuting murder cases as a senior deputy prosecuting attorney with King County.
In early July, the Smiths filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Corrections and American Behavioral Health Systems Inc. alleging both failed to monitor Craven after he had been convicted for a 2014 attack on his grandmother.
“We don’t think that it was a good idea for this person to have been released into the community,” Fogg told KIRO 7. “Their plan A was, ‘Let’s just tell him to show up and treatment and trust him.’ Not a great plan.”
According to the Smiths’ complaint, instead of being sent to jail for the 2014 attack against Hayden, "Craven was sentenced to a 24-month residential Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA)” "including 3-6 months of inpatient treatment at ABHS." "Craven was ordered to report for transportation to ABHS" on July 1st of 2015 and "was also ordered to report to the DOC." However, when he failed to do either, "the DOC did not report Craven's absence" "or issue a warrant" for his arrest, according to the complaint.
The Smiths' lawsuit claims "the DOC and ABHS did not even notice Craven's absence.”
Meagan’s parents believe in the value of drug treatment however, “for somebody violent like Craven, it can’t be a walk in, walk out, whenever you want” option, according to Anthony Smith.
On July 7, 2015 -- just days after being ordered to report to the DOC and ABHS --- Craven shot Hayden and Smith to death.
“Only then did the DOC realize that Craven had already committed two murders during the time Craven was to be under its supervision," according to the Smiths’ lawsuit.
“There were multiple times before he murdered Meagan (and Hayden) where he came into contact with the police for being violent,” Fogg said of Craven’s activities in the days before the women’s violent deaths. “If there had been a warrant in the system as there should have been, to take him to treatment in handcuffs or take him to jail, this wouldn’t have happened.”
When KIRO 7 asked the DOC to comment on the Smiths’ complaint, communications director Jeremy Barclay released the following statement:
"The Washington Department of Corrections takes very seriously any allegations, such as those contained within the King County Superior Court filing, and reviews processes accordingly.
The Washington Department of Corrections does not comment on pending legal action."
Tony Prentice, of American Behavioral Health Systems Inc. in Chehalis, refused to comment.
Meanwhile, the Smiths miss the only child the long-married couple shared.
“Her joy, her smile, her laughter. I just loved the person she was,” Julie Smith said. “She was happy.”
Both Smiths say they have now lost trust in the criminal justice system’s ability to protect citizens from many-time convicted felons like Craven.
“Somebody should have known that just letting him loose and saying, ‘Please show up for drug treatment’ wasn’t going to work because it hadn’t in the past, multiple times,” Meagan’s father said. “Why in God’s name do you think it would happen now? And this time, it turned tragic. This time, our daughter was murdered.”
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Cox Media Group
