Parents criticize Parole Board after arrest in 23-year-old murder case

Sunday, June 4, 2000 | 3:45 a.m.

Doris and Vernon Bonham of Martinez said they were outraged to learn suspect Steven Robert Smith, 57, is a convicted child molester who was out on parole at the time of their daughter's death.

Smith is set to be arraigned Monday in the 1977 killing of 6-year-old Lisa Marie Bonham of Martinez, who vanished while on a family trip to the Reno home of an uncle.

New DNA testing not available 20 years ago led to the casino poker dealer's arrest Wednesday.

"We made some mistakes, but I hold the parole board as responsible for what he did as I hold him," Vernon Bonham told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "They don't need to parole predators so they can destroy another family like they did ours."

The Bonhams, who visited relatives here over the weekend, called for Smith to face the death penalty if convicted.

"My biggest concern is to get him off the street so he doesn't do it again," Vernon Bonham said. "He should never be allowed to destroy a family again like he has destroyed ours."

Smith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the 1969 molestation of two Sparks girls and the attempted assault of a 12-year-old Reno girl.

But he was paroled in November 1976 - about a year before Lisa was killed.

Parole board spokeswoman Susan McCurdy said the board granted Smith parole on the condition that he receive outpatient counseling.

The parole approval was signed on behalf of the board by Carl Hocker and by the acting chief of Parole and Pardons, James Gerow.

The paperwork did not list a reason for the parole and both men are dead, McCurdy said.

Vernon Bonham acknowledged he's still too emotional about his daughter's death to attend Smith's trial, but his wife plans to show up.

She said she wants answers and hasn't stopped thinking about what she'll say if given a chance to address her daughter's killer.

"Of all the people he molested, he never killed his victims," Bonham said. "I'm curious as to why he did Lisa. It's not like she could fight back. What possessed him to kill such a tiny, little girl?"

Lisa was abducted from Reno's Idlewild Park on Sept. 3, 1977. Hikers found her remains about two months later in the mountains west of Reno.

The Bonhams praised Reno police for sticking with the case and making the arrest. The couple were tipped off about a major break in the case May 25.

"We've had all kinds of people offering us congratulations," Doris Bonham said. "A lot of people are confused when we tell them we're happy. After all that's happened, this is a good thing."