`MOST WANTED' VIEWER'S TIP LEADS TO SUSPECT.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

A suspect in three Los Angeles murders profiled on ``America's Most Wanted'' and Oprah Winfrey's show was arrested in Lancaster living under an assumed name, Los Angeles police said.

Edwin Oswald Smith, 30, a former Los Angeles resident, was captured late Wednesday night by LAPD Career Criminal Apprehension Section officers, who staked out the Gadsen Street apartment where he lived for three months with a woman and her 5-year-old son.

``It's a great feeling for it all to finally come together,'' said Detective Carolyn Flamenco. ``I've been searching for him for two years.''

Officials said that they were led to the apartment following a tip phoned in by an ``America's Most Wanted'' viewer who was able to supply a partial license plate that was traced to a red Camaro registered to a Randy Carl Lewis, the name under which Smith was living.

Arrested but released after a double slaying in 1984, Smith went on the run after a 1993 slaying, officials said. He moved around a lot and used false documents to gain a driver's license and Social Security card as Randy Carl Lewis, Flamenco said.

``He tried very hard not to get caught,'' said Flamenco. ``He had been living in Lancaster since November.''

Smith was sought under arrest warrants for the 1984 slayings of 25-year-old Ronald Gregorie, a reputed gang member, and an innocent bystander, college bound honors student Earnest Pickett Jr., 17, during a gang fight on the crowded street in front of Dorsey High School.

Although Smith was arrested following the shooting and charged with double homicide, he was released when a judge dismissed the charges after a preliminary hearing.

``The witnesses changed their testimony,'' said Flamenco.

In 1993, Smith was charged with another murder for the shooting of an acquaintance, and has been a fugitive since then.

The hunt for Smith was boosted by Lee Bertha Pickett-Allen, the mother of the slain honor student, who was persistent in urging law enforcement to continue the investigation.

In 1992, Chief Willie L. Williams directed the case be re-examined. Flamenco was assigned to re-investigate and the work resulted in refiled murder charges in November 1994.

The Los Angeles City Council offered a reward, and between March 1995 and May 1996 Smith was featured twice on the Fox network ``America's Most Wanted'' and once on Winfrey's show. Local newscasts also broadcast updates and requests for assistance.

``Hardly a week would go by without receiving information on Edwin Smith,'' said Flamenco. ``We were working this on a daily basis.''