An American woman was raped and murdered by a shepherd in ex-Soviet state Georgia after she was forced to watch the man shoot dead her husband and four year old son, say prosecutors.
It was earlier believed Lora Joy Smith had died falling off a cliff as she fled the crime scene in the Khata Gorge, 52 miles from Tbilisi.
Now investigators - working with the assistance of the FBI - say there is forensic evidence that 19 year old shepherd Malkhaz Kobauri raped the terrified mother after killing her husband Ryan, and the couple’s young son Caleb.
Then he murdered the 42-year-old woman in “aggravating circumstances”, forcing her off a cliff at gunpoint, it is alleged.
The shepherd had been showing the family to a scenic waterfall in July.
Lora Smith with her son Caleb 

An argument ensured after 43 year old Ryan - who like his wife had joint US and Georgian citizenship - told Kobauri to take care with the rifle he was carrying, say Georgian prosecutors.
The “irritated” shepherd then shot the husband in the back and face.
Next he shot dead the child.
New charges have been made against Kobauri that he raped the wife despite his defence’s claims that he was incapable of having sex and was a virgin.
“The investigation found that before the incident, Malkhaz Kobauri had been visiting pornographic websites, which underlines his interest in this regard,” said prosecutor David Kazarashvili.
Lora Joy Smith with husband Ryan 
DNA tests found the shepherd’s sperm in the body of the victim and on her underwear, law enforcement claimed.
Shortly after the results were declared the man’s lawyer David Girgvliani quit the case.
The defendant’s new lawyer Lekso Kobaidze insists his client is innocent, and he retracted an earlier confession.
He claimed “two foreigners” killed the family.
His mother Mariam Martiashvili claimed her son was forced to confess.
the family were killed near Khada Gorge in Georgia 

Prosecutors say Kobauri showed police where the child’s body was hidden and if convicted in next month’s jury trial he faces a life sentence.
Ryan, originally from California, and Lora Smith had been living in Georgia’s eastern Marneuli city for more than 10 years.
They ran a business producing traditional Azerbaijani rugs sold all over the world.
They were “well respected” members of the local and expat community. Lora had been a teacher in Washington state.