Beats elderly woman to death

WILMINGTON, DE (KYW/CNN) - A soldier who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and received a Purple Heart is accused of beating a 65-year-old woman to death.

According to Wilmington Police, Staff Sgt. Dwight Smith, Jr., 24, confessed to abducting and murdering Marsha Lee at random.

Smith was awarded the Purple Heart after sustaining head trauma from a bomb in Afghanistan. According to his father, he was visiting family in Wilmington, DE, for the holidays.

"The kid that I sent over there with them is not the man they sent me back," said Smith's father, Dwight Smith, Sr. "My thoughts and prayers go out to the other family, because this is a tragedy for two families."

Lee was run down while walking her dog Monday about a block from her house. Police say Smith then picked her up and put her in his car while a witness heard her screaming.

Court records say that after telling Lee he would take her to the hospital, Smith instead drove her to a train yard where he beat her to death and stripped off most of her clothing.

Lee's family was too upset to comment on the murder.

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