Minnie Smith was looking forward to Christmas when she met a grisly demise. On Dec. 15, 2005, the doting matriarch was found dead on the bedroom floor of her California home. The 66-year-old had been beaten repeatedly with a metal fireplace tool, which fractured her face and skull. Her hands were tied tightly behind her back with a coat-hanger wire, and duct tape was wrapped around her ankles. She had a defensive wound on her forearm, indicating she had been trying to block a blow. She also...