02x05 - Jalajhia Finklea

[bunniefuu]

- 18-year-old Kelsey Smith
went on a run to Target,

then vanished without a trace.

- There's no
concrete evidence

that a crime's been committed.
She's just missing.

- I'm calling her,
texting her,

crying, saying,
"Where are you?"

- I called the police.
Something's wrong.

- Her cell phone records
were extremely important.

- There was a text message.
Was this a code for something?

- There's a lot
that can go wrong

between a boyfriend
and a girlfriend.

- You see a flash.

We went back
and watched it again.

It was a person.

I think everyone
stopped breathing.

- I mean, it's just
scary to watch.

- From that moment on,
it was, we have to find her.

- That cell phone tower
is the cell phone tower

that Kelsey's phone
communicated with.

- When your child is missing,
you'll do anything

you can to bring them home.

- His text messages
led us to her.

- The cops are there,
and then they pop the trunk.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- A young woman
is missing tonight

after leaving a bar
with a stranger,

then texting help to a friend.

♪ ♪

- You are watching
her terrifying abduction.

♪ ♪

- A missing woman's nude body
was discovered in this ravine.

- Miraculously,
the young woman survived.

♪ ♪

[camera shutter clicking]

- There is an alarming crisis
of violence,

kidnapping, and m*rder
against innocent women.

- The senseless m*rder
has struck a chord

with thousands of women.

♪ ♪

- This has sparked
a global movement online

of women sharing
their own fears.

They're united under the
hashtag #textmewhenyougethome,

a phrase that women
are all too familiar with.

♪ ♪

[somber music]

- When I think of Kelsey,
I think of music,

theater, drama, band.

She was involved
with everything.

And she was skilled
at everything

that she was involved in.

Also, the most
giving and caring person

at the same time,
like a no-nonsense,

but will give you
the shirt off her back.

- In 2007, Kelsey Smith
is 18 years old

living with her parents
and four siblings

in Overland Park, Kansas,
Kansas City's largest suburb.

Kelsey is the middle child and
often the center of attention.

- Kelsey, to me,
is my older sister

and kind of the favorite child.
[laughs]

When I think of her,
probably the words

that come to mind are, "loud,"
"in-your-face," and "defiant."

[starter p*stol bangs]
[cheering]

- She did track.

She was in choir.

She was the section leader in
band for her clarinet section.

- Music was a great
opportunity for her.

She got to go to London
and see stuff

most of us haven't seen.

- There was one time
they had auditions,

and she was home sick
with the flu.

So she stayed home.

She sent her teacher a message

and slept up until
her audition,

went to do the audition
in her pajamas,

and then came back home.

She loved band that much.

- Kelsey graduates from
Shawnee Mission West

High School, where her
parents Missey and Greg

watch her thrive.

- Kelsey was one to not
let anyone be left behind.

- She was friends
with everyone.

She was big into social media.

You put balloons on a
friend's locker and stuff,

you're gonna post
stuff like that.

You know, you share
everything with everyone.

If she had any enemies
at school,

I knew she was a popular kid
and liked by most,

but everybody has someone
that doesn't like them.

- Although she's popular,
Kelsey enjoys spending

most of her time
with her boyfriend, John.

- John was one
very, very nice guy.

Whereas Kelsey was loud,
in-your-face all the time,

John was, like, the calm one,

always there to hold her back

so she didn't do something
to get in trouble.

- With plans of attending
Kansas State in the fall,

Kelsey keeps in close contact
with friends and family

during her last summer
before college.

- We each got our cell phones
when we were in high school.

Kelsey got hers,
I wanna say, like, 16.

- If I had to use one word
to describe Kelsey's texting,

it would be prolific.

Because she did it a lot.

She and John texted
each other all the time.

- Dating Kelsey
for six months,

John is a fixture
in the Smith house.

- When Kelsey and John
were dating,

at first I didn't
know him that well.

I would see them snuggling
on my parent's couch,

and I was like,
what is happening?

Like, Mom and Dad
are allowing this?

Like, not when
I was a kid, uh-uh.

Where's Dad?

But he always made her smile.

- As a father, Greg may have
softened over the years.

But as a former
police officer,

there is still one particular
expectation Greg has

of Kelsey and her siblings.

- We had a rule that
if you left the house,

you had to tell us
where you were going.

If you changed locations,

you had to tell us
where you were going.

That could be by phone call,
that could be by text.

If something would happen,
we knew where to start.

- If she was
at a friend's house,

she would send us a text
or call us and let us know

she was changing locations.

And she also did that
with her friends.

If they were running late,

she made them
let their parents know.

She was very responsible.

♪ ♪

- That day,
the town over from us

had what was called
Old Shawnee Days,

and it was like a carnival
atmosphere with rides

and all that kind of stuff.

And so all the kids
and I went out.

Kelsey was a risk taker
in a good way.

You know, she didn't mind
doing roller coasters and,

you know, that kind of stuff.

- I was out of town
in Des Moines, Iowa.

A girlfriend of mine,
her son was getting married,

and I had gone up
to help her with the wedding.

♪ ♪

- Kelsey attends the
graduation party of a friend

in the nearby town of Lenexa.

She stays
for about 20 minutes,

then leaves to get ready
for a dinner date with John

to celebrate their
six-month anniversary.

♪ ♪

Back home, Kelsey texts John

to let him know
she's running late.

Then Kelsey runs a
last-minute errand,

knowing John will be
leaving any minute

to come pick her up.

- I was making dinner
for everybody,

and Kelsey was going out
and said, hey,

I gotta go to Target.

And I said, okay, you know,
have fun, love you.

And she was out the door.

♪ ♪

- Kelsey makes the eight-
to nine-minute drive

from her house to Target.

- We expected her back
around 7:30.

- Kelsey had gone to Target
to get a gift for John.

His mom had accidentally
thrown away a card

that Kelsey had
written to John,

which really stressed him out.

So she was getting him, like,
a scrapbook box that he could

keep everything in so his mom
wouldn't accidentally

toss out
what she had given him.

[dramatic music]

- At 7:00 p.m.,
Kelsey phones her mom, Missey.

- She called me to find out

where I had seen
this scrapbooking item.

I explained to her that
it was on a certain aisle.

- After finding
the scrapbook box,

Kelsey checks out
and heads to her car

so she can meet John
back at her house.

♪ ♪

When Kelsey doesn't
return as expected,

John, Kelsey's sister Lindsey,

and her father, Greg,
become concerned.

- John was over here waiting
on her, and she wasn't there.

And so I started
calling and texting

and Lindsey was
calling and texting

and John was
calling and texting.

And she's not answering, which
was totally out of character.

- Lindsey and John hop in his
car and drive around Target

and nearby stores
looking for Kelsey's car.

- It's a 1987 Buick Regal.

And that year,
her car had broken down.

I thought, well,
maybe her car broke down

or something like that.

So I wasn't too
awful concerned yet.

- But with every minute
that passes,

the family's concern
increases.

Lindsey calls
her older sister, Stevie.

- She says,
"Have you heard from Kels?"

And Kels and I don't
communicate often,

unless it's about family.

So I'm like,
"Why would Kelsey call me?"

And that's when she said,
"We haven't heard from Kels.

We don't know
what's going on."

♪ ♪

- 45 minutes since anyone
has heard from Kelsey,

John and Lindsey return home

after their search
comes up empty.

- It's almost like a gut
feeling from the instant,

like something's not right.

As soon as Lindsey called me
to say Kelsey was missing,

I'm calling her, texting her,
blowing up her phone,

yelling at her, crying,
saying,

"I don't care where you are.

"We just," you know--
"where are you?"

♪ ♪

- By 8:00 p.m., the family

is in a heightened state
of alert.

- 30 minutes, and she's late.

I was calling different police
departments around the area,

saying, hey, have you guys
had contact with this car

or this license plate number?

Has there been any accidents?

That wasn't calling
to report her missing,

that was me being a cop
is what that was. [laughs]

- Kelsey's sister Lindsey
checks in to see if her mom

has heard from Kelsey.

- I said,
"Well, Kels was at Target."

And she said, "Well, she's not
answering her phone."

And I said, "Call John."

And she said, "Mom,
John is here at the house."

And my immediate response was,

"Call the police.
Something's wrong."

[dramatic music]

- It's been two hours since

went shopping at Target
in Overland Park, Kansas,

then vanished into thin air.

Increasingly distraught,
her entire family is searching

for any indication
of where she might be.

Kelsey's mom, returning home
from an out-of-town wedding,

immediately calls Kelsey's
cell phone provider.

- When I pulled in,
I started calling to say,

"I need you to ping this phone.
My child is missing."

And their response to me was,
"We can't do that."

And I'm telling them, "I need
you to help me find my child."

♪ ♪

- Almost four hours
since Kelsey vanished,

Greg calls authorities
to report

his middle child is missing.

Around the same time,
Kelsey's grandparents

make an unnerving discovery.

- My mom and dad found the car
across the street at the mall.

♪ ♪

- Kelsey's Buick is found
in the parking lot of Macy's,

half a mile from Target.

Lindsey and John
arrive at her car,

then call Greg
to let him know.

- "Hey, Dad,
John and I are with the car.

"Mimi found it.

And John wants to go inside
and look at it."

And I said,
"Don't let him touch that car."

Kelsey's not here.

She's not responding
to anything.

Her car's someplace
it wasn't expected to be.

Everything in my mind
is screaming crime scene.

♪ ♪

- Greg phones police again
to relay Kelsey's car

has been found.

- I called the police
and we headed straight out

to the mall and met the police
as they were responding

out there at the car.

- My best friend
drove me up there

because I was just, like,
in a panic at the moment.

♪ ♪

- The people who love Kelsey
most converge at her car.

Police examine the vehicle.

- Her purse was in the car.

Her gift for John
was in the car.

They did not find
Kelsey's keys,

and they did not
find her phone.

- And there's, like,
the handle from a bag

hanging out of the trunk.

That was uncharacteristic,
to have something

hanging out of the trunk
like that.

My concern was,
she was in the trunk.

- We'd brought
a spare set of keys.

It was very surreal
because you want your child

to be in that trunk
so you know where she's at,

but you don't want her
to be there.

- I was hoping that
she was tied up, gagged,

and that's why we couldn't
hear anything, or...

there were no noises
coming from the trunk.

- We're all at the vehicle,

and the cops are there.

And then they pop the trunk.

♪ ♪

When you don't see her,
I dropped to the ground.

Like, you just knew
this is serious.

This isn't just, you know,
she's late or something.

- When they open the trunk,
she wasn't there.

It just--my heart dropped.

- Police take Kelsey's car in
for processing.

The Smiths head
to the police station

for questioning, along with
Kelsey's boyfriend, John.

♪ ♪

Five hours
after Kelsey disappears,

Detective Bob Miller
is assigned to her case.

- I got a call at midnight
from my boss.

And he said there was a strange
disappearance of a young lady

from Oak Park Mall,
and they had located her car.

He wanted me to come in
and start helping Patrol

and begin the interviews.

- The first people
Detective Miller questions

are Kelsey's parents,
Missey and Greg.

- We took 'em into
an interview room.

- There's a mirror.
There's cameras up on the wall.

And that's when I looked
at her and I said,

"You know that we're
suspects right now,

that they're listening to us."

- And I said,
"I don't give a [bleep]."

Just do it--interview me
and then get out there

and find my child.

- Their comments, the story
just was very genuine.

And you could tell they were
just kind of trying

to hold it together.

- Investigators
turned their attention

to Kelsey's boyfriend, John.

- When it came to suspects,
I wasn't thinking about John.

He's just such a wholesome kid

that you would never think
anything like that.

- Detective Miller and his
colleague, Detective Bridges,

have a different take.

- The situation is,
you have an 18-year-old

who just graduated
from high school

and her boyfriend
of the same age.

We did not know if this was
her intentionally

wanting to go somewhere
and not be found.

- Just because
of his relationship

and I had knowledge of how
these things went in the past,

I had an idea.

So until he proved us wrong,
he was the initial focus.

- Investigators grilled John
for answers.

- We learned John had given
Kelsey a promise ring.

We also knew that she was
going one way for school

and he was going another way.

Knowing human nature, people's
emotions come into play,

and there's a lot
that can go wrong

between a boyfriend
and girlfriend.

- Well, maybe she's pregnant
and they don't

want her mom and dad to know.

And they've gotta
figure out a plan.

So part of that plan is,

she disappears
for a little while.

- Not convinced
he could be eliminated

after the initial interview,
detectives questioned John

a second time,
looking to break him.

- In the second interview,
he was willing

to hand us his phone
and show us his text messages.

- He was texting her,
"Please call me."

It didn't immediately
rule out John as a suspect

when we saw the text because
it still could have been

part of the plan of deception,

if they had
planned this together.

- One text in particular draws
the attention of authorities.

- The text message
actually said,

I guess his parents owned
some property somewhere,

"If you're mad or upset,
come meet me at this spot.

You don't have to tell
anybody else."

- What was texted
was somewhat cryptic.

And so they were wondering
what it really meant.

Was this a code for something?

- As open as he was
and with his concern,

that was the point
we were like, well,

maybe it's not him.

Because we did see the context
of the text messages.

But it took that
second interview with John

to be able to decide that
amongst ourselves.

- From the very beginning,
Greg and Missey Smith

said it was not John.

They were both very credible.

In totality,
all of that information

makes you put John
on the back burner.

♪ ♪

- My name is John Biersmith.

Kelsey was my girlfriend
at the time and my best friend.

Fortunately for me,
as a suspect,

I was with her family
the entire time.

As it got later into
the night, like, "Hey,

"I'm sorry if I did anything.

"I think--like, if--
just what can I do?"

So probably went from,
"Hey, where are you?"

to just maybe
more desperation.

- Police request
John's phone records,

confirming his location,

and John is dropped
as a suspect.

- It was definitely tough
to get those questions

on where was I at,
what was I doing.

There were a couple of people
that said that it was me,

like, almost case closed.

So I just wanted to run
outside and tell people like,

hey, let's move off of this
and let's actually try

to find who this person is.

- Back home, Missey and Greg
continue their efforts

to locate Kelsey's phone.

- All we really had was,

our daughter's car is there
and our daughter's not there.

There's no concrete evidence

that a crime's been committed.
She's just missing.

- We needed
the cell phone provider

to help us with the history

of where her phone
had made contact

so we could maybe find her.

And I couldn't get them
to understand.

- Yeah, Kelsey is 18, but the
plan's in her parents' name.

Why can't we trace this phone?

- When your child is missing,
you'll do anything

you can to bring them home.

I just kept calling
over and over,

please help me find my child.

[dramatic music]

- Eight hours since
Kelsey Smith disappeared

after a run to the store
in Overland Park, Kansas,

authorities seek to obtain
Kelsey's phone records.

- Their cell phone records
were extremely important.

We started working
on those at 3:00 a.m.

Right after my interview
with Greg and Missey and John,

I called my boss
and I said, I need help.

So he called in another
half a dozen detectives.

And we were on the phone
by 3:30 in the morning

trying to extract
cell phone records.

- Not legally obligated
to comply,

the phone company refuses.

- Basically, just coming up
against a brick wall.

It was very frustrating.

- In the wee hours,
Kelsey's friends and family

mobilized their own search.

- Back home, Kelsey's friends
and her siblings

had started to put together
a missing flier.

That's how serious
they took it.

- That night, her friends
came to talk to me and said,

"Mr. Smith,
how do police do a search?

How do they look for people?"

I drew a pattern
on the map for them

and I said, "Everybody's
assigned an area."

♪ ♪

The next day,
when it's first light--

I didn't do it, they did it--

they assigned everybody
to grids.

And these kids are out
handing out flyers

with Kelsey's picture on it.

- Almost 11 hours
since Kelsey went missing,

Greg works on
getting the word out.

- Sunday morning, I'm on the
phone calling radio stations

and TV stations
and everything saying,

"My daughter is missing.

We don't know
what happened to her."

And the news media picked up
on there's a missing girl.

- Authorities in Overland Park
are looking

for a missing 18-year-old
girl, Kelsey Smith.

Kelsey left target
last night around 7:00 p.m.

but never returned home.

- Meanwhile, detectives
turn their attention

to accessing surveillance
footage from Target.

- So we watched the video

and nothing stood out
as suspicious.

We see Kelsey enter the store,
which confirmed

Kelsey actually did
make it to Target.

She's talking to her mom
on her cell phone.

She selects her items
and pays for them

and then exits the store.

It didn't look like
anyone talked to her

or approached her
inside the store.

She walked out by herself.

The next view outside
is Kelsey walking to her car,

and she drives away.

Everything seemed natural.
Everything seemed okay.

We couldn't say we had
a missing person yet

or just a young lady,
for whatever reason,

who didn't want to be found.

- Unable to rule out
something more sinister,

authorities continue
searching for Kelsey.

- We had set up a hotline
right away through Dispatch

to take leads,
to take phone calls.

The first 24 hours,
we got, like, 11 leads.

There was nothing.

It was a dead end
almost right away.

♪ ♪

- Two days since
Kelsey vanished,

her family works
around the clock

to amplify
the public's awareness.

- Mom and Dad dealt
with nationwide news.

I dealt with local news.

Lindsey dealt with volunteers.

We all had our role to play.

- We knew we had to keep
her name out there.

- As news of Kelsey's
disappearance spreads,

people from Overland Park
and beyond show up in droves.

- We had, like, 400 people
coming out to Target

and help look for Kelsey.

Companies, businesses came by

and dropped off
food and water.

- You really didn't know
what kind of community

we lived in
until this happened.

Hundreds of people
came out of nowhere

to come search for my sister.

And I don't know
any of these people,

but these people
are all family now.

- Meanwhile,
detectives leverage

every technological resource
to re-examine the footage

from Target's outdoor
surveillance cameras.

- We moved to another larger
building, the Command Center.

- The Command Center was
a much larger facility.

We had projectors
and technology

that allowed us to view the
video in a much larger format.

It was the size of the wall.

We were all standing there
watching it.

We could now see
Kelsey walk to her car,

put her packages
in the driver's side door,

walk around the rear
of the car.

And as she's at the
driver's side door,

you see a flash enter from
the left side of the screen.

Everyone kind of
stopped talking.

And it was, wait a minute.

What was that? A video glitch?

We honestly did not know
what it was,

I remember, to this day.

So we went back
and watched it again

and realized it was a person

that was running
from out of the frame,

and they ran up to Kelsey
as she was getting in her car.

All we could see was a blur
that looked like someone

with a light or white colored
shirt and dark colored shorts.

It was like a moment where

I think everyone
stopped breathing

for just a split second or two.

And then we realized
what we had.

This just got real.

From that moment on,
it was, we have to find her.

Not just that she's somewhere

that she doesn't
want to be found,

she's somewhere
somebody took her.

It was really a pivotal
moment because that is when

we knew we had an abduction.

- Authorities
immediately go back

to the video of Kelsey
inside Target,

and it becomes clear Kelsey
was not alone in the store.

- She was being stalked.

We see her enter the store.

And shortly after Kelsey
is seen in the video,

then you also see this male
who's right behind her

that's wearing
a white shirt and blue shorts.

Everywhere Kelsey goes in the
store, a short time later,

this male follows.

- It was like watching
a lion stalk its prey.

- It was almost
a sickening feeling for me

because I knew his intentions
were not good.

- Once he noticed she was
going to the checkout stand,

then he walked out the door.

- And as he does, the video
captures him from the front.

And that's when we get

a pretty good
physical description of him.

That's who we knew
we were looking for.

- Two days since Kelsey Smith
vanished during a trip

to Target in Overland Park,
Kansas,

authorities discover
her abduction

is captured on an
outdoor surveillance camera.

Police show Kelsey's parents
video of a person of interest,

a goateed man in a white shirt
and blue shorts

following Kelsey
throughout the store.

- His head's on a swivel
with her wherever she goes.

I mean, it's just
scary to watch.

- By scrubbing backwards and
forwards through the footage,

investigators connect
the goateed man

to a '70s-era, dark-colored
Chevrolet pickup

parked near Kelsey's car.

- We're looking for this truck

and then possibly a white male
with a white shirt on.

That's all
we could really tell.

So we're like,
let's toss it out there

and see if we can start
getting some more leads.

Because at this point,
we had nothing.

We were not
twiddling our thumbs,

but there wasn't
anything to go on.

♪ ♪

- Three days since
Kelsey went missing.

Images of both the man
and the truck

are released to the press.

- "The Kansas City Star,"
the paper

put his picture
on the front page.

By the noon news,

we were able to release
those images on the TV.

- Kansas Police are searching
for an 18-year-old girl

who was carjacked
and abducted on Saturday.

Authorities now have
surveillance video

from outside a department
store that shows Kelsey Smith

being forced into her own car.

- Investigators receive
hundreds of leads

about the person of interest
in the surveillance video.

- Everything started going out
in the news and the media.

The following 24 hours,
we got 350 or so.

- Several tips point to
known criminals in the area.

- There were some sex
offenders that resembled

the video of the suspect.

Local probation
and parole officers

were actually
calling us saying,

"That looks like so-and-so,
and he's one of my clients."

- One person in particular
looks like a match.

There was one in Lenexa,
which is just the next city

on the west side here.

- The graduation party Kelsey
attended before leaving

for Target was also in Lenexa.

- Two detectives went over
and talked to him,

brought him in
for questioning.

- Authorities
questioned the man,

but his alibi is confirmed,

and it's determined
he's not the person

from the Target
surveillance video.

- They could have
been brothers.

- Then investigators
receive a break in the case.

- His neighbor called
and said,

"That's this guy
down the street.

Lives just three doors down
from me."

He gave us his name.

Later on, I think that evening
at the 5:00 news,

called back and said, "Well,
now I know that's my neighbor.

That's his pickup truck."

- The man is 26-year-old Edwin
Hall, also known as Jack.

Hall lives with his wife
and their four-year-old son

in Olathe, Kansas,
about 20 minutes

southwest of Overland Park.

Then, a second lead, also
about Hall, comes through.

- He was at his job,
and his co-workers

were reading this paper,
reading this story.

And his picture
comes up on the TV,

and his coworkers go,
"Is that you?

That's you."

And they pointed at the guy
reading the newspaper,

"And that's your pickup truck."

He basically got up,
told his boss, "I'm sick,"

and he left, went home sick.

- A wanted man,
Hall desperately

takes steps to clear his name.

- He went to the library
and was Googling attorneys

and all that,
and then he found an attorney.

♪ ♪

- A surveillance team
is assembled to keep watch

on Hall outside his house.

- Knowing we had
those two tips,

we had already put together
a surveillance team.

They went out later,
a little later in the morning.

- During this same time,

Hall's lawyer
contacts the station.

- The attorney called and
said, "I've got this client

"who says he's your guy.
He's your person of interest.

"He knows nothing
about the case,

"but he's more than willing
to come in and talk to you.

He's claiming he's innocent."

My boss called me and said,

"His attorney is
bringing him in at 3:00.

Get your butt back here."

- As Detective Miller
speeds back to the station,

the surveillance team reports
Hall is preparing to flee.

- I saw him and his wife
coming out,

loading the car with bags
like they're taking a trip.

And my boss said, "Stop them.

Go take him into custody."

- Four days
after her abduction,

investigators finally obtain
Kelsey's phone records,

tracking her phone's location
via cell tower

by tracing texts
from her boyfriend

the evening she was abducted.

- We followed her
cell site hits along 435,

out to the park area, where,
after a particular time,

I think maybe an hour or two
after she was out

in that area, the cell sites
hit twice in the same spot,

and then they stopped.

- That cell phone tower that
you see about 300 yards away

is the cell phone tower
that Kelsey's phone

communicated with about

- Authorities are searching in
Longview Lake, the wooded park

just across
the Missouri border

in Overland Park.

- We began a coordinated search
around Longview Lake

with around 200 police
officers, the FBI,

and recruits
from the police academy.

♪ ♪

- 45 minutes after receiving
Kelsey's phone records,

Detective Miller's phone
rings again.

- We got a phone call
from the detective

from Overland Park
that was out at the search.

He called and said,
"We found Kelsey."

[dramatic music]

- Four days after Kelsey
Smith's abduction from Target,

Edwin Hall
is in police custody,

identified as the man seen

following Kelsey
through the store.

Moments before questioning
Hall for the first time,

authorities tracked Kelsey's
phone via cell tower pings.

Zeroing in on a
quarter-mile square area,

their search comes to an end.

- We got a phone call
from the detective

from Overland Park
that was out at the search.

And I was probably
a mile from that area.

He called and said, "We've got
crime scene B out here.

We found Kelsey's body."

- Her body is discovered
in a wooded park


- When we found Kelsey,
she was discovered nude

and covered with branches.

She had a gray belt
tied around her neck.

Her clothing was found
about 100 feet away

from where her body was found.

What we later discovered
is that she had been

sexually assaulted
and strangled with that belt.

We didn't realize
how vital it was

that John was sending her
text messages.

- I believe the text messages
that I had sent her

were used to help triangulate.

- Because we were able

to follow the pings
down the highway,

because John was texting her,
"Please call me,"

that ended up being
the saving grace

because it led us to her.

His text messages
led us to her.

- Round-the-clock
media attention,

so vital to the case,
now becomes the enemy.

- The chief of police

and another law enforcement
officer came up

and they said,
"Where are your parents?"

They said,
"We need to talk to them."

And it was just a look
on their face.

- Police raced to let
Missey and Greg know

that Kelsey's body
has been discovered

before they hear it
on the news.

- My question was,
is this something

we need to brace for?

♪ ♪

And he said, yeah,
you better brace.

Within just a few minutes,

we met him right out here
in the driveway.

And they told us that Kelsey's
body had been recovered.

- I remember I started yelling,
"Not my Kels.

Not my Kels."

- I pull up right in front
of my parents' house

and I see them sitting
on the back of Dad's pickup,

and they're just bawling.

And seeing my dad
cry like that...

and they just gave us
this look, and I just--

I just dropped the ground
and screamed, "No!"

I said, "No!"

And then I couldn't walk.

- Fortunately,
my parents were there.

Greg and Missey told people
that she had been found.

And I had held my dad.

My dad's not really
an emotional guy, too.

So when I saw him tear up,

that probably hurt almost more.

♪ ♪

- Back at the station,
Detective Miller

enters the interview, knowing
the man he's about to face

could be Kelsey's m*rder*r.

- He introduced himself,
"I'm not the guy.

"I'm not the guy.

"I'm that guy on the news,

but I'm not the guy
you're looking for."

Right away,
we realized the suspect

has convinced his attorney
he had nothing to do with it.

He talked the suspect
into giving up prints,

photographs, DNA.

You're here
to eliminate yourself.

Let's make this quick.

- Paul's DNA and prints
are sent to the crime lab,

and investigators
go hard at Hall.

- In the first two hours,
it was, "Is this you?"

Yeah, that's me.
"Is that your truck?"

Yeah.
"Tell us why you were there."

- Edwin told us
he had been shopping

for a present for his wife,

but he wasn't the one
who took Kelsey,

claimed he didn't have

anything to do
with her disappearance.

- During questioning,
Detective Miller receives

updates from his boss.

- I was getting text messages
on my pager from my boss,

telling me
they were getting leads now

from women at the mall
who were approached by him.

"That's the guy that came up
and was asking us

those weird questions
at the mall."

- One caller is a local server
who verifies

Hall harassed her,
then skipped out on his bill.

- He admitted to, we call them
a dine and dash,

at a local restaurant
around the mall.

Ordered food and a drink,

and then walked away
from his tab.

- But other than that,
Hall maintains

he didn't speak to
or meet with anyone.

- We're dangling things
in front of him,

trying to get him to bite,

and he just wouldn't do it.

He was pretty smug
most of the time,

which was
kind of pissing me off.

He kind of came across
as thinking

he was the smartest person
in the room.

- After two and a half hours
with no concrete proof

linking Hall to Kelsey,
detectives take a break.

- We had photos
and the admission

that he was at the mall
and at Target.

But that's--
we had nothing else.

No witnesses, no nothing.

I get a page from my boss.

"Call me now," so I call him.

And he said the Johnson
County Crime Lab has matched

the thumbprint on the back
of the seat belt buckle

of her car, his thumbprint.

I got a rush.
I got an adrenaline dump.

It was bad,
so I had to calm myself down.

Went to the bathroom, splashed
a little water on my face,

just to kind of flush it out.

- Armed with the lab report
finding Hall's thumbprint

in Kelsey's car,
detectives return,

aiming to catch Hall in a lie.

- He left it with,
"I didn't talk to anybody.

"All I was doing was shopping.

And I stole that food."

So I went in and shoved
her picture across the table.

I said, "Do you see
this young lady here?"

And he goes, "Yep.

"Yep, I do recognize her.

She had nice legs."

I wanted to jump
over the table at him.

I wanted to climb his frame.

"Well, you said you didn't
see anybody

or nobody caught
your attention

just a few minutes ago."

Oh, I did?
I don't remember that.

But we had a hook in him

because now
he's changing his story.

We found a ch*nk in the armor.

His attorney goes, okay,
hang on, I think we're done.

Now, all of a sudden,
it's starting to get real.

- Four days after
she was abducted,

Kelsey Smith's body
is discovered.

With Edwin Hall's thumbprint
being the only evidence

tying him to Kelsey's car,
authorities book him

on a lesser charge
and continue building

their case against him.

- Basically, we told him
we're booking you for theft.

The judge is gonna make you
post $500,000 bond.

He was angry.

And he immediately
started saying,

"Is that all you got?
That's it?

That's what you're
putting me away on tonight?"

- Moments later,
Bob gets another update

from the crime lab.

- I started booking him.

Then the crime lab called back.

They found his DNA in the car,
a couple of other things.

- With Hall's DNA found
on Kelsey's steering wheel

in addition to his thumbprint
on the seatbelt,

authorities have enough
to book Hall

on more serious charges.

- Right when he was
driving out of the garage,

I flagged the officer down

and had her
roll her window down.

That's when I told him, "We're
releasing you on the theft."

And he smiled, and he had this
look of relief on his face.

And I said "But now you're
being booked on kidnapping."

And he screamed bloody m*rder,

the officer
rolled the window up,

and they drove off.

- Over the next few days,

authorities continue
to examine evidence.

Inside a suitcase
recovered from Hall's car,

police discover he unwittingly
sealed his own fate

by packing the same clothes
he wore

while committing the crime.

- He packaged up his clothing
he was wearing that day for us

to include the shoes he had on.

Here you go.

- With her DNA matched
on his clothing,

Hall is charged with the
m*rder of Kelsey Smith.

- My whole life was on trial

because I believe
in the system.

And if something happened
where the system failed me,

not only did I
lose my daughter,

but I've lost the compass
that I live by.

- To avoid the death penalty,

Hall must admit
to k*lling Kelsey.

- Mr. Hall, to that charge,
how do you plead?

- Sentenced to life in prison
without the possibility

of parole, he must also
provide a full confession.

♪ ♪

- Said he was trawling,
looking for an opportunity.

And unfortunately,
Kelsey was that opportunity.

He knows that
she wasn't paying attention.

- He was hunting,
and he found her.

After following her
around the store

and determining she's alone,
he leaves ahead of her

and goes to his truck
and grabs a pellet g*n,

which looks like a real g*n.

- So basically,
it was just

what I would consider
a violent takeover.

- What he told us later was
that he rushed up behind her

with the air p*stol,
pellet g*n,

and shoved her into the car,
pulled up the seat,

and got right behind her
and held the g*n

to her back of her head
and told her,

"If you drive where I need you
to go, I won't hurt you."

- He just kept stringing her
along with promises of,

"It'll be fine.
I'll let you go here."

You know,
and it didn't end up that way.

- Hall forced Kelsey
into the wooded area on foot,

which is where
authorities confirm

she struggled
against her attacker.

- Defensive wounds on her body
show that Kelsey

put up a really good fight.

- She loved life, and I knew
that she would fight.

♪ ♪

- I do feel like justice
was served because he's gone.

We never have to deal
with him anymore.

- Honestly, he's in jail
for the rest of his life.

But the vindictive side
of me says

he should have had
the death penalty.

- Life without parole,
no possible appeals.

I'm good with that.

We get to move forward.

You never move on from it.

♪ ♪

- The outpouring of support
for the Smith family

continues at Kelsey's
memorial service.

- We had to move
to a different church.

Ours was too small.

And the funeral home folks
came to us and said,

you've hit the time
that you set.

And we're looking
and there's a line

completely out the door
outside.

And the funeral person
looked at me and she goes,

"They're wrapped around
the building."

I was told there were

- We stayed,
I think it was five hours.

If they were coming out
to honor our girl,

then we would be there
to say thank you.

- Awesome just to have
met her.

If I could text her right now,
I'd say "I'm sorry."

Like, she was definitely
there for me, which sucks.

♪ ♪

So yeah, it'd probably
just be, "I'm sorry."

I mean, she was gonna
do incredible things.

She was gonna go to K-State
to play in the band.

♪ ♪

Probably go on to be
a great veterinarian.

- She wanted to be
remembered for

the way she made people feel.

It's not about the way
she left Earth,

it's about the way she lived.

And that's what's
most important.

- Furthering her legacy,
Greg and Missey

have worked to pass meaningful
legislation in Kelsey's honor.

- The Kelsey Smith Act is a law
that requires

cell phone providers
to release

the location of a device

when someone's life is at risk
or they're missing.

It's because police
could not get that information

when she was missing.

I was dumbfounded.

- This is simply,

I need to know
where this device is now

because somebody might die
if I don't know.

That's it.

- The Kelsey Smith Act
is passed in 30 states.

- Because of Kelsey's Law,
you go missing,

people can find out where you
are instantly on your phone.

She wanted
to make a difference,

and now because of her,
lives have been saved.

It's amazing to hear
how many stories of

where she's touched
other people's lives.

♪ ♪