Podcasts · TRUE CRIME with Bratterstein

Three Naval Academy Graduates, Two Murders, One Obsession

16 Sep 2026 · 47 min

As always, thank you for hanging out and remembering Kerryn O’Neill and Alton Grizzard with me today. In the early hours of December 1, 1993, Ensign George P. Smith, 24, shot and killed his former fiancée, Ensign Kerryn “Kerry” O’Neill, 21, and their friend, Lt. j.g. Alton Lee Grizzard, 24, inside O’Neill’s room at the Bachelor Officers’ Quarters on Naval Amphibious Base Coronado near San Diego. Smith then died by suicide. The killings followed the recent end of Smith and O’Neill’s engagement, which had begun when they were students at the U.S. Naval Academy.

O’Neill had asked Grizzard, a fellow Naval Academy graduate and Navy colleague, to come to her quarters because she was worried about Smith’s behavior. Grizzard was not romantically involved with O’Neill; he was there as a friend. Smith came to the building three times that night. On his final visit, at about 1:30–1:45 a.m., Grizzard answered the door.

Smith entered carrying a 9 mm Ruger pistol and shot Grizzard multiple times. O’Neill tried to hide behind a chair, but Smith walked to her and shot her at close range. He then turned the weapon on himself. Grizzard and O’Neill died at the scene; Smith died later while being transported to a hospital.

The case later became part of a legal dispute over whether the Navy had failed to respond adequately to signs that Smith was unstable and stalking O’Neill. O’Neill’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the United States, alleging that Navy psychologists and officials had ignored warning signs. The federal government’s account acknowledged that O’Neill had asked Grizzard to stay with her out of concern about Smith on the night of the murders.

The episode on the publisher’s site ↗ (opens in a new tab)