The Murder of Lora Sinner

For this case I watched an episode of Murder Among Friends. It’s season 2 episode 10, titled ‘Law Of The Wild.’

A 2o year old woman is brutally murdered on a camping trip.

Background

Lora Sinner was a 20 year old, originally from Washington. Lora met a man named Tim Smith while they were at a volunteering event. Tim was about to move back to California, to be closer with his family, and asked Lora to move with him. There relationship moved really quickly, and once they moved to California, they became engaged. However, their relationship didn’t last because Tim broke up with Lora. She was heartbroken, and decided to move out of their shared apartment.

Lora’s New Crush

After Lora moved out, she moved in with Tim’s brother Paul, and their half-sister, Lori. Lora, Lori and Paul all got along really well, and Lora took interest in Paul.

Paul was described as a good looking, charming and intelligent. There was one problem, Paul had a girlfriend named Amy, who was 14. Paul was 21, so yes, this was also problematic, which Lora also thought it was a problem.

According to Lori, Lora would always make comments about the age difference. Lora and Amy soon started fighting over Paul, which Paul liked. Paul seemed to like it when people fought over him. Paul became annoyed with the fighting, and decided the group should go on a camping trip to get the group back on track.

The Murder

Before I get into the details of this brutal murder, I’m going to talk about the discovery of Lora’s body and the details leading up to the investigation.

I don’t have an exact date of either the murder or the day that the body was found, but it was in April of 1998. A 911 call came into the police, a couple was hiking in the Trinity Alps Preserve, when they found a body and some discarded trash.

The police arrived shortly after, and found a 19-20 year old victim, she was naked and had injuries all over her body. She had also been buried, and it was determined that she had been there for 10 days. Her wrists had been cut, and they smelled of whiskey. It was later determined that whiskey had been poured into her cuts. The victim’s skull was smashed, her hair was matted with blood, and she had a plastic bag over head.

The police also found a woman’s purse near the body, and the ID said the victim was Lora Sinner. The police also ran Lora’s drivers license through the database, and realized her car was missing. Lora drove a red Honda Civic, and the police released an alert and description of her car.

The police started their investigation by going to Lora’s address listed on her license.

When the police went to Lora’s apartment, they met her ex-fiance, Tim Smith. Tim told the police that he hadn’t seen Lora in two weeks, since she moved out. Tim also told them that Lora had been staying with his brother and sister. Tim was eventually ruled out, and had no part in killing Lora.

The Camping Trip

This brings us back to Paul, Lori, Amy and Lori’s boyfriend Eric, the group that had gone camping that night.

One the day of the camping trip, the group carpooled in two cars, and one of them was Lora’s car. They were drinking and partying, and it seemed like they were having a good time.

It seemed that things changed when Lora told Paul how she felt about him. Paul said he never had any interest in her, and that he was with Amy. While the police were questioning the various group members, they said that Lora had left in tears, and they hadn’t seen her since. They assumed Lora was laying low, out of embarrassment. The police didn’t believe any of this.

A few days later, an employee at the gas station called the police and said they saw a man driving Lora’s car and filing it up with gas. When the police arrived, they found Eric Rubio, Lori’s boyfriend, with the car. Eric was brought in for questioning.

Eric’s Story

The police asked Eric why he was driving Lora’s car. Eric said he was driving it in case Lora came back into town and needed it. They told Eric that Lora was dead, and that he probably knew that.

They asked Eric what happened. Eric told the police that Lora had tried to run away in tears after Paul said he wasn’t interested in her. He said that the girls caught up to Lora, and took her into the tent. Eric said the girls started yelling at her, and Amy started hitting her when she tried to leave again.

Next, Amy slammed Lora’s head against a tree, and Lora started fighting back. Lori jumped in, and grabbed the first weapon she saw: a family sized can of chili. Eric said Lori hit Lora five or six times, and then Amy grabbed it and hit her some more. The police asked if Lora said anything while this was happening, and he said she asked “why are you hitting me?”

Eric said he and Paul only stepped in after Lora was already badly beaten. Eric said that Lora staggered into the woods, and they searched for her all night. The police still didn’t believe him, his story didn’t match Lora’s injuries.

The Real Story

The police obtained a search warrant for Paul and Lori’s apartment. While they were searching, they found a bloody dent puller. A dent puller is used to pull dents out of sheet metal. The dent puller was brought in for testing, and it came back as having Lora’s blood on it.

The police brought Paul in for questioning. Paul told the police that he didn’t kill Lora. He also told the police the same story as Eric had, that is until the police showed him a picture of the bloody dent puller. Paul’s story then changed.

Paul said after Amy and Lori hit Lora over and over with the chili can, he realized her skull was crushed. He told the group that Lora was going to die, and he wanted to take her out of her misery. He also said that Lora was on board with this, and he told Lora what he was going to do to her.

Paul said he gave Lora a razor blade, and told her to slit her wrists. She cut her wrists, and was screaming in pain. Paul then force fed her whiskey, and when she became more drunk, he poured the whiskey into her cuts. This makes me cringe so much, I can’t even imagine what this girl went through.

Paul said Lora was still alive, so he decided to put a plastic bag over her head and gave her one more blow to her head with the dent puller. Paul said he heard a crunch and Lora stopped moving.

The group then helped Paul dig a grave, took Laura’s clothes off and buried her. Paul said he didn’t want kill somebody he thought of as a friend. He then asked the detective if that changed anything, and the detective said she was still dead.

Paul, Amy, Lori and Eric were all charged with the murder of Lora Sinner.

Convictions

Amy, who’s last name I can’t find because she was a minor at the time, was sentenced to 15 year in a juvenile center. Amy admitted she was the first one who hit Lora, and said “that’s for flirting with P.J.”

Lori Smith and Eric Rubio were sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

Paul Smith was sentenced to death, and spent 13 years on death row before his sentence was converted to life in prison without parole.

Lora’s family was outraged after this, and Jason Sinner, Lora’s brother said:

“We as a family are outraged that justice has not prevailed in this case. The death penalty is a law that exists in California at this time. It is a right to every victim to have it considered fairly in relationship to the evidence in the case. This crime was brutal in nature and is deserving of this penalty.”

Other

I can barely find any pictures from this case of Lora or the defendants. There are also only a few articles about it too.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is probably one of the most brutal crimes I’ve ever watched a show and did research on. As a said before, I can’t even imagine what this woman went through. I don’t believe that Lora wanted to die, and Paul is full of shit. I wonder what his brother Tim thinks of him now.

I feel so sorry for Lora’s family, and in this case, I do agree that this case is brutal enough for the death penalty. However, these monsters minus Amy, will spend the rest of their lives in prison. They deserve to rot.

Sources

https://documentingreality.com/forum/f249/murder-lora-sinner-redding-california-160310/

https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S112442A.PDF

http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?SourceCode=19990414co#.YGC31khKhmB

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article29716189.html