🎶Kelsey Ann Smith🎶
"You wanna bet?"
She lived life to the fullest extent. Her love for her family and her friends was evident in all that she did. She was known to have a highly outgoing and fun-loving personality. Kelsey could walk into a room of strangers and walk out with a room full of friends. Her excitement and passion for life was unmatched. She had a fabulous sense of humor.
Kelsey was born on May 3rd, 1989 in Overland Park, Johnson County, Kansas. She was the 3rd of what would eventually be 5 children born to Greg and Missey. Her brother Zach was born when she was six. She was so protective of him that she wouldn't allow anyone to take care of him but her whenever she was around.
Kelsey graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School on May 24th, 2007, and was looking forward to attending Kansas State University that fall. She was active in track, theater, writer's workshop, art, and choir. Her main passion though, was marching band. That is why she chose to attend Kansas State University, knowing that they have a strong marching band program.
She had a beautiful voice. One of the last times her parents ever saw her perform was in the Shawnee Mission West Choir. Kesley surprised them by performing a solo. She was so excited about it, she could hardly keep it from them.
Kelsey was last seen on June 2nd, 2007, on surveillance video at a Target department store near her home in Overland Park. She was purchasing a 6 month anniversary gift for her boyfriend. Her last call had been to her mother from the store. She then left the store before she disappeared.
Around four hours later, her car, a 1990 era Buick Regal, was found abandoned outside of Macy's in Oak Park Mall's parking lot across the street. Her purse, wallet, and the items she had bought were left in the car. Upon searching video surveillance, police noticed a suspicious 70's era pickup truck that had been parked in that same lot. The camera from the front of the store showed the driver clearly. They reasoned it was the subject and released that footage.
Kelsey did not seem to talk to anyone while she was at Target except the cashier, who said that Kelsey seemed to be acting normal. And when Target Forensic Services division enhanced outdoor surveillance footage, it showed Kelsey being abducted and being forced into her car.
The detectives reasoned that if she were deliberately singled out for abduction, then her stalker must have been in the store watching her. Going back to the security cameras they noticed that a male figure, who was white and in his early twenties, seemed to be following Kelsey through the store at a discreet distance. Investigators also noticed he was wearing a white shirt and dark shorts. When they looked at the video of her entering they saw him coming in about thirty seconds later. The surveillance showed a good picture of him leaving the store.
Almost immediately, authorities contacted her cell phone company Verizon. They wanted them to pinpoint her location by checking where her cell phone pings went to. The problem is that while they are allowed to do this, they are not necessarily forced to provide this information to authorities. It ended up taking over four days to hand over the cell phone records to investigators.
On June 6th, 2006, a Verizon technician pinpointed a cell phone tower and told investigators to search 1.1 miles north of the tower. 45 minutes later, at 1:30 p.m. local time, searchers discovered Kelsey's body in a wooded area near Longview Lake in southern Jackson County, Grandview, Missouri, 18 to 20 miles from where she had been abducted.
Kelsey had been sexually assaulted, and then strangled to death with her own belt.
A man who had seen the Macey's footage recognized the subject as his neighbor. The next day when he saw the information on the truck he called in a tip.
On the evening of June 6th, 2007, police arrested 26-year-old Edwin Roy "Jack" Hall of Olathe, Kansas. Hall was in the process of leaving town with his wife and son, supposedly on vacation when the police arrived.
The next day he was charged with premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. Hall had no adult criminal record, but had a juvenile record of assault. Police do not believe Hall knew Smith. Hall admitted to being there but claimed he never approached her but soon was caught in a lie when his fingerprints matched the ones on the seat belt.
On Wednesday, August 1st, 2007, Hall was indicted by a Johnson County, Kansas, grand jury for murder, rape, and aggravated sodomy. The Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline decided to seek the death penalty.
On July 23rd, 2008, as part of a plea agreement, Hall pleaded guilty to all four charges brought against him.
On September 16th, 2008, Johnson County District Judge Peter V. Ruddick sentenced Edwin Roy Hall to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Edwin Hall is currently incarcerated in the Hutchinson, Kansas Correctional Facility.
Kelsey's legacy lives on to this day. Her family and friends created The Kelsey Smith Foundation. They do safety Awareness Seminars, and they also work with outside organizations, to provide self defense training, and among other activities, they also promote nationwide, the Kelsey Smith Act.
The Kelsey Smith Act provides law enforcement with a way to quickly ascertain the location of a wireless telecommunications device if a person has been determined, by law enforcement, to be at risk of death or serious physical harm due to being kidnapped and/or missing. It was signed into law on April 17, 2009, by then Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
