PEARISBURG -- A man convicted of killing two hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 1981 and believed connected to the shooting of two people on the trail last week died in custody Saturday night, Giles County police said.

Randall Lee Smith, 54, who was being held in connection with the shooting of two fishermen Tuesday, was pronounced dead at a Pulaski County hospital shortly after 6 p.m., said Sheriff's Office Lt. Ron Hamlin.

Hamlin said officers at the New River Valley Regional Jail found Smith lying on his side and unresponsive around 5 p.m. He was taken to the hospital where he later was pronounced dead.

There was no evidence of suicide, authorities said. They would not speculate as to whether the death was caused by the head and shoulder injuries Smith suffered when he crashed a pickup truck belonging to one of Tuesday's victims during a police chase that night.

The two shooting victims survived.

Smith had been in a medical ward Saturday and was alone in his cell, Hamlin said.

"He had given up on life. I saw that," Hamlin said. "He said he was ready for death."

Upon hearing of Smith's death yesterday, Ginny Ramsay, mother of Laura Susan Ramsay, one of the hikers killed in 1981, told The Richmond Times-Dispatch that she had only one thing to say: "That takes care of that."

Ramsay, who lives in Aurora, Ohio, fought Smith's release from prison, but he was given mandatory parole in 1996 because the crime occurred before then-Gov. George Allen abolished the state's parole system in 1994.

Smith could have been sent back to prison for life if convicted of attempted capital murder in the latest shootings.

Investigators said Smith had spent three hours Tuesday with Sean Farmer, 33, of Tazewell, and Scott Johnston, 37, of Bluefield.

The three talked and ate dinner before Farmer and Johnston were shot at their camp on Lions Den Road, authorities said.

Police said Farmer was shot in the face and chest; he was released from Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital on Wednesday.

Johnston was shot in the neck and back; he remained in good condition this weekend, according to hospital spokesman Eric Earnhart. Johnston underwent three hours of surgery that included a tracheotomy, said his father, W. Beaman Johnston of Bluefield. The father added that doctors don't know if the bullet, which passed through his son's neck, has affected the vocal cords.

The two men escaped by jumping in a vehicle and driving to a home in Bland County, where they called a rescue squad.

Smith faced two counts of attempted capital murder, two counts of using a firearm in commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a felon and grand larceny.

The Tuesday shootings occurred near the same secluded area along the Appalachian Trail where Smith killed Laura Ramsay and Robert Mountford Jr. in 1981.

The bodies of Ramsay and Mountford, 27-year-olds from Maine, were found in shallow graves near a shelter on the trail. Ramsay had been beaten and stabbed more than a dozen times; Mountford was shot three times in the head.

Smith pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was given two 15-year sentences. He was released from prison after serving 14 years.

His crimes made him the subject of a book, "Murder on the Appalachian Trail."

Smith's body will be taken to Roanoke today for an autopsy, Hamlin said.
Staff writer Rex Bowman contributed to this report.