True Crime Time Hop ep. 24: Kelsey Smith

I know I'm a bit behind already, but for all intents and purposes, today is June 2nd.

Our story takes place on this day in 2007. Kelsey Smith was a freshly graduated 18-year-old who had a love for Target as many women do. As she walked through the Target in Overland Park, Kansas that evening, she spoke with her mother on the phone. When she was ready to wrap up her store trip, she concluded her phone call, proceeded to checkout, then out into the parking lot she went. It was the last time anyone would see or hear from her in this life. The recorded last trace of her was at 7:07pm. Approximately four hours later, her 1987 Buick Regal was found in a nearby parking lot. All of her personal belongings including her purse and the items she had just purchased were left behind in the vehicle.

When Target got word that the woman disappeared from their store, they were quick to go over surveillance footage with police. Upon close inspection, they discovered a man that entered the target about 30 seconds after Kelsey Smith entered. In every shot recorded by CCTV, he can be seen eyeing the young girl at an unassuming but consistent distance. When she proceeded to the checkout, he is seen leaving the store without having purchased anything. It would appear that he was not there to shop but rather to stalk his prey.

In the parking lot, surveillance appeared to show someone forcing Smith into her car. When the footage was slowed down, they were able to make out what appeared to be someone running at a distance. They were also able to make out a suspicious 1970's-era Chevy truck that entered the lot right after Kelsey arrived, and left shortly after the struggle was caught on camera.

About 2 hours after the vehicles departed, Smith's Buick returned to the lot and a figure in a with shirt, with black shorts was seen leaving the car and running towards the nearby street. When police released a still shot of the man from the footage in an effort to garnish help from the community, hundreds of tips poured in but sadly, they were all to vague to be helpful. The Buick was investigated extensively for forensic evidence. It was dusted for prints and then they isolated and eliminated every set of prints that made sense there, such as her family's and her boyfriend's. They located one set of unidentified prints on the seatbelt.

Kelsey's cell phone had pinged its location in a nearby wooded area and that is where it stayed without movement from the date of her disappearance. It took Verizon Wireless four full days to hand over the phone records to police that enabled them to see that information. Within 45 minutes of the location becoming known to authorities, her body was sadly found in said wooded area, near Longview Lake in Grandview, Missouri. It was only 15 to 20 miles away from the location from which she was abducted.

Her cause of death was found to be strangulation. She was choked to death by her own belt. There was also forensic evidence that she had been sexually assaulted. A woman who saw the footage the police had shared when they were looking for information recognized the man and the described truck as her neighbor and called the tip in when it was announced that the body had been found.

On the evening of the 6th of June, police arrested 26-year-old Edwin Roy "Jack" Hall. When they arrived to pick him up, he was in the process of leaving for a vacation with his wife and his four-year-old son. He was charged on June 7th with pre-meditated first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping.

Let's take a moment to look into the past of this monster. Hall had no criminal record as an adult but he had a turbulent childhood, which was challenging at least in part due to his own behavior. He was in the custody of the state until he was adopted at the age of 7. He was later returned to state custody at the age of 15 after he threatened his adoptive parents daughter with a knife. He also assaulted another boy with a baseball bat. He was arraigned on the same day he was initially charged and his bail was set at 5 million dollars.

Hall admitted to being at Target the night Kelsey was last seen, and he said he did see her but she never approached her according to his statements. These statements, however, were quickly discredited when it was found that his prints matched those found on the seatbelt. On July 23rd, at a hearing that was originally just intended to move for a change of venue, he pled guilty to all four charges he was facing, as part of a plea deal. on August 1, he was indicted on charges of kidnapping, murder, rape, and aggravated sodomy.

It is believed that the coward that did this was sitting in his truck outside of Target when he observed the young victim approaching the store. He followed her in to make sure she wasn't meeting with anyone, and when he saw that she was still by herself as she went to pay for her items, he felt confident that she was definitely alone and would be when she went back to her car. With that, he went outside the store and retrieved his gun from his truck.

He abducted her and took her 20 miles away to assault her by gun point, strangle her, and leave her like yesterday's garbage.

Because Hall took a plea deal, his life was spared from the death penalty. However, he will remain in Hutchinson Correctional Facilty, Hutchinson, Kansas for the rest of his natural life, without the possibility of parole.

Circling back the part Verizon played in prolonging the ordeal, up until that point, the company had policies in place that were meant to abide by privacy laws which granted people the right to access the cell phone records directly but impeded anyone else from accessing said records on behalf of the account holder. The Kelsey Smith Act was adopted by most states and is pending federalization. This Act allows cell phone companies to share cell phone records with authorities if the subscriber is thought to be in danger.

Rest in Peace to Kelsey Smith and those who suffered her loss. It is truly sickening to think that this all started with a quick run to Target. Goes to show that you can never truly let your guard down. Monsters are real and they walk among us. Take care and be safe out there.