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Who Was Gregg Smart and What Happened to Him? 2026 Update & Profile

by · August 7, 2026

Gregory William “Gregg” Smart was 24 years old when he was murdered inside his condominium in Derry, New Hampshire, on May 1, 1990. His death became the center of one of the most publicized murder cases of the early 1990s after investigators uncovered a conspiracy involving his wife, Pamela Smart, her 15-year-old lover William “Billy” Flynn, and several other teenagers.

Much of the national attention that followed focused on Pamela Smart, the sexual relationship with Flynn and the televised trial that ended with her conviction. Gregg’s life was often reduced to his role as the victim in a sensational case. Behind the headlines, he was a young husband starting his adult life and career when he was killed inside his own home.

Who Was Gregg Smart?

Gregg Smart was born Gregory William Smart and grew up in New Hampshire. By 1990, he was building a career in the insurance industry and was working with his father.

He was 24 years old when he died.

Gregg was married to Pamela Ann Wojas, who would later become known nationwide as Pamela Smart. The two met while Pamela was visiting New Hampshire during a break from college in Florida.

Their relationship began in 1987 and developed into marriage two years later.

Gregg moved to Florida for a period while Pamela completed her studies at Florida State University. Afterward, the couple returned to New Hampshire and established a home in Derry.

Gregg Smart and Pamela Smart’s Marriage

Gregg and Pamela married in 1989, when both were in their early 20s.

Pamela later said she had expected them to build a future together, including having children. Gregg pursued work in insurance, while Pamela entered the education and media field.

Within months, however, their marriage developed problems.

Pamela later acknowledged that she was dissatisfied with parts of the relationship. Prosecutors would argue that those marital difficulties became part of the motive for Gregg’s murder.

The couple remained married, but Pamela began a sexual relationship with a teenage student while working as a media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School.

That relationship would change Gregg’s life without his knowledge.

Pamela Smart Begins a Relationship With Billy Flynn

Through a school program called Project Self-Esteem, Pamela met William “Billy” Flynn.

Flynn was 15 years old.

Pamela was a married adult and school employee.

Their relationship became sexual. Flynn later testified that he developed strong feelings for Pamela and believed they could eventually be together.

According to prosecutors, Pamela used those feelings to manipulate Flynn.

Flynn told investigators that Pamela described Gregg as an obstacle to their relationship and said divorce was not an acceptable solution. He testified that she told him Gregg had to die if they were going to remain together.

Pamela denied that account.

She admitted having a relationship with Flynn but maintained that she never asked him to kill Gregg and did not know that Flynn and his friends planned to murder her husband.

Prosecutors Say Gregg Became the Target of a Murder Plot

The prosecution later argued that Pamela wanted Gregg dead but did not want to kill him herself.

Their theory was that she persuaded Flynn to carry out the murder, knowing his attachment to her made him vulnerable to manipulation.

Flynn testified that Pamela discussed the idea repeatedly.

According to his account, Pamela told him that she could not simply divorce Gregg and that the only way they could remain together was if Gregg died.

Patrick Randall, one of Flynn’s friends, later gave similar testimony about the planning.

Randall claimed Pamela discussed how the teenagers could enter the condominium, told them that the doors would be unlocked, instructed them not to harm her dog and allowed them to ransack the home so the crime would appear to be a burglary.

Pamela disputed those claims.

What Happened to Gregg Smart on May 1, 1990?

On May 1, 1990, Gregg returned to the condominium he shared with Pamela in Derry.

Pamela was away at a work meeting.

Inside the condominium, Flynn and Randall were waiting for Gregg.

Two other teenagers, Vance “J.R.” Lattime Jr. and Raymond Fowler, were involved in the events surrounding the killing. Lattime had supplied transportation and a .38-caliber revolver belonging to his father.

Fowler remained outside.

When Gregg entered the condominium, Flynn and Randall confronted him.

According to testimony given in court, they overpowered Gregg and forced him onto his knees in the foyer.

Randall held a knife near him while Flynn held the handgun.

Gregg was trapped inside his own home.

Billy Flynn Shoots Gregg Smart

Flynn later testified about the moments before the killing.

He said he hesitated before firing the gun.

At trial, Flynn described the pause as feeling much longer than it actually was. He recalled asking God for forgiveness before pulling the trigger.

Flynn then shot Gregg in the head with a hollow-point bullet.

The gunshot killed Gregg.

He was 24 years old.

Flynn and Randall then left the condominium and rejoined the others.

The crime scene had been arranged to resemble a burglary.

That staging initially gave investigators a false explanation for what had happened.

Gregg Smart Is Found Dead

Pamela returned home after her work meeting and found Gregg dead.

The condominium appeared to have been disturbed, and investigators initially considered the possibility that Gregg had been killed during a burglary.

The murder did not make immediate sense.

Gregg did not appear to have been involved in criminal activity that would explain why someone would target him. Investigators had no obvious reason to connect a group of high school students to the death of a 24-year-old insurance worker.

That changed as information began surfacing about the teenagers.

The first major breakthrough came from the murder weapon.

The Murder Weapon Leads Police to the Teenagers

Vance Lattime Sr. became suspicious after learning that his .38-caliber revolver might have been used in Gregg’s murder.

He brought the gun to police.

Ballistics testing connected the weapon to the bullet that killed Gregg.

That discovery moved the investigation toward Lattime’s son and the other teenagers.

Investigators also received information from Ralph Welch, who had heard Lattime and Randall discussing the murder.

Welch told police that the teenagers had talked about the crime and described who had entered the Smart condominium.

The accounts implicated Flynn, Randall, Lattime and Fowler.

But investigators still needed to understand why they had targeted Gregg.

Cecelia Pierce Reveals the Connection to Pamela Smart

The answer came through Cecelia Pierce.

Pierce was a teenage intern who knew Pamela and Flynn.

She told authorities that Pamela and Flynn had been having a sexual relationship.

That information gave investigators a motive linking the teenagers to Gregg.

Pierce agreed to cooperate with police and secretly recorded conversations with Pamela.

Those recordings became important evidence.

Prosecutors argued that Pamela’s statements showed she knew about the murder and wanted Pierce to conceal information from investigators.

Pamela later claimed she was trying to learn what Flynn had done and what Pierce knew.

Regardless of that dispute, the investigation had now shifted from a burglary theory to a murder conspiracy.

Billy Flynn Confesses to Killing Gregg Smart

Flynn eventually admitted shooting Gregg.

He told investigators that Pamela had pressured him to carry out the murder.

Flynn claimed Pamela repeatedly talked about killing Gregg and convinced him that they could not be together while Gregg was alive.

He also testified that he believed Pamela loved him.

At trial, Flynn said that he did not want to kill Gregg but believed killing him was what he had to do to remain with Pamela.

His testimony became one of the central pieces of evidence against her.

Randall also cooperated with prosecutors and described the plan.

The teenagers’ cooperation allowed prosecutors to present the murder as something arranged before Gregg ever walked through his front door on May 1.

Pamela Smart Is Arrested

Pamela was arrested on August 1, 1990.

Detective Daniel Pelletier approached her in the parking lot at the school where she worked.

According to an account of the arrest, Pelletier told Pamela that investigators had solved Gregg’s murder before informing her that she was under arrest.

She was charged with crimes connected to the killing.

By then, prosecutors had statements from the teenagers and secret recordings involving Pamela.

The investigation that had started with what looked like a burglary had become a case alleging that Gregg’s own wife had arranged his death.

The Trial Focuses on Who Planned Gregg’s Murder

Pamela Smart went on trial in March 1991.

The case drew national attention because of the relationship between Pamela and Flynn, the age difference between them, and the allegation that she had used the teenager to eliminate her husband.

The trial was broadcast on television and became one of the earliest American murder trials to receive gavel-to-gavel television coverage.

Gregg’s murder became a national story.

Prosecutors argued that Pamela was the person who created the plan even though she was not present when Gregg was killed.

The defense argued that Flynn and the other teenagers blamed Pamela to reduce their own punishment.

Pamela testified that she had no advance knowledge of the murder.

The jury rejected her version of events.

Pamela Smart Is Convicted in Gregg’s Murder

On March 22, 1991, Pamela Smart was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering.

She received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

The prosecution had convinced jurors that she was legally responsible for Gregg’s death even though she did not fire the gun.

Her conviction was based on the theory that she helped plan the murder and used Flynn to carry it out.

Smart has continued to deny that she ordered Gregg’s murder.

She has spent decades challenging her conviction and sentence.

In 2024, however, she made a significant change in how she discussed responsibility for Gregg’s death. She said she accepted responsibility for her role in the circumstances that led to the killing and acknowledged that she had spent years deflecting blame.

She still denies directing Flynn to murder Gregg.

What Happened to Billy Flynn?

Flynn pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

He received a life sentence that included the possibility of parole.

While in prison, he earned his GED, worked as an electrician and participated in programs and charity activities.

He also expressed remorse for murdering Gregg.

Flynn sought a reduction in his minimum sentence after serving many years.

He was granted parole in March 2015.

On June 4, 2015, Flynn was released from prison after serving about 25 years.

He remains subject to lifetime parole.

What Happened to Patrick Randall?

Patrick Randall also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

He admitted participating in the attack inside Gregg’s condominium.

According to testimony, Randall held a knife while Flynn prepared to shoot Gregg.

Randall received a lengthy prison sentence but, like Flynn, had a path to parole.

His minimum sentence was later reduced.

He was granted parole and released on June 4, 2015, the same day as Flynn.

What Happened to Vance Lattime?

Vance Lattime played a different role in the murder.

He provided transportation and his father’s gun, which Flynn used to kill Gregg.

Lattime was convicted as an accomplice to second-degree murder and received a life sentence with parole eligibility.

His minimum sentence was later reduced.

He was released on lifetime parole in 2005.

In later years, Lattime sought additional relief that would have ended his parole supervision, but that request was denied.

What Happened to Raymond Fowler?

Raymond Fowler remained in the vehicle during the killing.

He was convicted of conspiracy to murder and attempted burglary.

Fowler received a 30-year prison sentence with parole eligibility after 15 years.

He was released on parole in 2003.

He was later returned to prison after violating parole conditions.

Fowler was paroled again in 2005.

All four teenagers involved in Gregg’s murder eventually left prison.

Gregg Smart’s Family Opposed Early Release

Gregg’s family remained involved in the aftermath of the case.

When Flynn later sought a reduction in his sentence, Gregg’s family opposed the request.

The family had already endured the public spectacle surrounding the trial, years of media coverage and the repeated retelling of Gregg’s murder in books, films and television programs.

For them, the case was not simply a famous crime story.

It involved the loss of a son and brother who had been killed at age 24.

Gregg’s brother, Dean J. Smart, later wrote about the experience in the memoir Skylights and Screen Doors.

Gregg Smart’s Murder Becomes a Cultural Phenomenon

The case inspired numerous books, documentaries and fictionalized portrayals.

Joyce Maynard’s novel To Die For drew from aspects of the case.

The novel was adapted into the 1995 film To Die For, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.

A television movie titled Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story was also released.

True crime programs continued returning to the story for decades.

This meant Gregg’s murder remained part of popular culture long after the trials ended.

The risk in those portrayals is that the crime can become defined by Pamela’s notoriety rather than Gregg’s loss.

How Old Was Gregg Smart When He Died?

Gregg Smart was 24 years old when he was murdered on May 1, 1990.

He was a young husband at the beginning of his working life.

His death occurred less than two years after he married Pamela.

There was no opportunity for Gregg to divorce, rebuild his life or know what future he might have had.

The teenagers involved in the murder grew older, served prison sentences and were released.

Pamela Smart has spent more than three decades incarcerated.

Gregg remained 24.

Where Is Pamela Smart Now?

As of August 2026, Pamela Smart remains incarcerated at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Westchester County, New York.

She is serving life without the possibility of parole.

Her most recent legal challenge was filed in 2026 and attacks several aspects of her 1991 conviction, including the accuracy of transcripts provided to jurors with secretly recorded conversations.

A New Hampshire judge heard arguments on the petition in July 2026.

Smart has accepted more responsibility for the circumstances surrounding Gregg’s death than she did earlier in her incarceration, but she still denies ordering Flynn to kill him.

Her conviction remains in effect.

What Happened to Gregg Smart?

Gregg Smart was murdered because a group of teenagers entered his home and waited for him to return.

When he arrived, Flynn and Randall confronted him.

Gregg was forced to his knees.

Randall held a knife.

Flynn fired the fatal gunshot.

The crime scene was then made to resemble a burglary.

Investigators later determined that the killing was part of a conspiracy connected to Pamela Smart’s relationship with Flynn.

Flynn admitted shooting Gregg. Randall admitted participating in the attack. Lattime and Fowler admitted roles in the conspiracy.

Pamela was convicted of helping arrange the killing.

More than 35 years later, she continues to dispute that finding.

Gregg Smart Remains the Victim at the Center of the Case

The Pamela Smart case has generated decades of debate about media coverage, sentencing, manipulation, juvenile offenders, parole and whether Smart received a fair trial.

Those questions continue in 2026.

Gregg’s death does not.

He was 24 years old when he walked into his condominium on May 1, 1990, unaware that two teenagers were waiting inside.

He was restrained and shot in the head.

His death ended a young life and began a criminal case that would dominate headlines, inspire films and documentaries, and continue through decades of appeals.

Gregg Smart did not become famous through anything he chose to do. He became known because he was murdered.

For that reason, any account of the Pamela Smart case begins and ends with the same fact: Gregg Smart was the person who lost his life, and every trial, prison sentence and legal challenge that followed began with his murder.

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Ryan Gill

Ryan is a passionate follower of true crime television programs, reporting on and providing in-depth investigations on mysteries in the criminal world.

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