Arrest made in killing of ‘Specks’

Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

Metro Police homicide detectives have arrested a homeless handyman in connection with the murder of a former "Our Gang" actor.

Detectives went to the Palms on Thursday after receiving a tip that Charles Crombie, 52, was there.

Sgt. K. Hefner said detectives wanted to talk to Crombie about the death of Jay R. Smith, 87, who played the role of a freckle-faced character called "Specks" in the series of comedies popular in the 1920s.

Smith's stabbed and bludgeoned body was found Oct. 5 in the desert near Apex, about 15 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The body was identified a week ago as Smith. He was last seen alive Oct. 1.

Crombie was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on charges of murder with a weapon, robbery with a weapon of a victim over age 65, burglary and the use of a credit card without the owner's consent, Hefner said.

Smith's beige 1998 Buick was also recovered and was being processed at Metro's crime lab.

Police said Crombie had apparently stayed in a tool shed attached to Smith's mobile home in the gated Royal Ridge complex.