Kuklinski's first major mistake was discovered on December 27, 1982, when the decomposing body of 37-year-old Gary Smith was discovered under the bed in Room 31 at the York Motel in North Bergen, New Jersey. Smith had been a collaborator of Kuklinski's who often ran car theft scams with him and another man, Daniel Deppner. Kuklinski and Deppner killed Smith on December 23 by feeding him a cyanide-laced hamburger at the York Motel. When Smith took longer to die from the cyanide than Kuklinski expected, he grew impatient and had Deppner strangle Smith with a lamp cord. When Deppner's ex-wife, Barbara, failed to return with a car to remove the body, they placed it in between the mattress and box springs. Over the next four days, a number of patrons rented the room, and although they thought the smell in the room was odd, most of them did not think to look under the bed. According to forensic pathologist Michael Baden, Smith's death would likely have been attributed to something non-homicidal in nature had Kuklinski relied solely on the cyanide; however, the ligature mark around Smith's neck (and, presumably, the fact that the body had been deliberately hidden) proved to investigators that he was murdered.

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