00:00:05
MAN: Kelsey Ann Smith. [CHEERING] [MUSIC PLAYING] STEVIE MCLEOD: Ever
since she was a kid,
00:00:16
she always loved
the color blue. My mom nicknamed her Blueberry,
and she found this blue dress.
00:00:25
And it's-- I-- it's beautiful on her. She found it at a thrift store
because that's how she was.
00:00:31
She loved a bargain like that. MISSEY SMITH: As Kelsey grew
up, she was very inquisitive.
00:00:42
She did theater and dance
and choir and band. I think band was probably
her favorite activity.
00:00:52
GREG SMITH: Kelsey had to try
everything that there was. She was always out
there exploring,
00:00:57
just like she had been
when she was a little kid. [SIRENS WAILING] I don't remember exactly
what meal I was making.
00:01:05
But when Kelsey didn't
get back on time, and we couldn't get a hold
of her on the phone,
00:01:10
it was an immediate sign
that something was wrong. BOB MILLER: I got
called to advise.
00:01:16
Patrol needed some assistance
with a possible missing persons case. CANDACE BRIDGES: Her
family had been searching
00:01:25
for her for a few hours and had
located her vehicle abandoned. STEVIE MCLEOD: I
remembered my dad
00:01:35
telling me, as soon as we
saw the car, he said, don't touch anything. MISSEY SMITH: This was
a crime of opportunity.
00:01:43
And we don't know if she had
left the house 10 minutes later if it would have happened.
00:01:48
STEVIE MCLEOD: I
saw that footage, and all I see is just
a quick dash of something
00:01:54
run across the screen. We all knew that
someone had taken her. BOB MILLER: We see
this, and we froze.
00:02:01
The room got deathly quiet. STEVIE MCLEOD: I was fearful
of exactly what happened.
00:02:09
I just didn't realize how it
was going to completely change our entire family's lives.
00:02:35
[MUSIC PLAYING] MISSEY SMITH: Don't you even. - [GASPS] - What do you mean? I have no idea what
you're talking about.
00:02:51
WOMAN: You're in trouble-- - --silly string. - We got silly string, Dad. You better sleep
with your eyes open.
00:03:00
MISSEY SMITH: It's Christmas. She looks very happy
about Christmas. - She does. - I wonder where
she got that year.
00:03:08
STEVIE MCLEOD: When we went to
the Alamo, there's these steps. And Mom decided she wanted
to get a picture of all of us
00:03:14
in order. So I'm sitting
at the top, and then it goes Lindsey, Kelsey,
Codie and Zach.
00:03:19
Kelsey has just
got the cheesiest, biggest smile out of all
of us in that picture.
00:03:23
Just super happy. It's one of my favorite
photos of all of us. Little did we know would only
have a few more years left.
00:03:38
MISSEY SMITH:
When I met Greg, I had already had my oldest
daughter, Stevie, from my previous marriage.
00:03:45
And then we had our daughter
Lindsey just shortly after we got married. And now we have five kids.
00:03:57
GREG SMITH: Kelsey was
the only one that we planned. All the others were you
know, miracles of God.
00:04:04
They just came along. MISSEY SMITH: We ended
up in Overland Park because my husband
is from here.
00:04:18
After he got out
of the navy, Greg became a Kansas City,
Missouri police officer.
00:04:24
I think Kelsey was about nine. GREG SMITH: Coming back
home for me was a big deal.
00:04:31
Overland Park, growing
up, I always had fun. I always thought it was
a nice place to live.
00:04:36
STEVIE MCLEOD: I never felt
unsafe in Overland Park. It feels like a place where
you can just leave your doors
00:04:43
unlocked, and you're
gonna be OK. MISSEY SMITH: Kelsey
had a lot of friends. All of her friends
would always come
00:04:53
to our house for everything. GREG SMITH: They'd go down
in the basement and play games
00:04:58
or sit around
and watch television. Just seemed like
our house was the house to come to for some reason.
00:05:05
I don't know why. STEVIE MCLEOD: I do remember
Kelsey having a couple boyfriends, but John was--
00:05:12
God, they were just so in love. It was one of those where it
was annoying, and it was cute.
00:05:17
He meant so much
to her and vice-versa. He loved to make her smile. Her nose would
scrunch up like crazy
00:05:26
because of how he
would crack her up. GREG SMITH: John was
definitely different.
00:05:31
I mean, watching them, I
think probably that eventually they'd ended up being married.
00:05:47
June 2 is a Saturday. Missey had gone to Iowa to a
wedding for a friend of hers.
00:05:53
So I took the kids
to Old Shawnee Days. They had a parade
earlier in the day. It's kind of like
a carnival type atmosphere.
00:06:01
So we did that, rode the rides,
did all the fun stuff, and I came home to make dinner.
00:06:07
STEVIE MCLEOD: I
knew that they said that she had gone to Target
to get a gift for John.
00:06:13
GREG SMITH: Kelsey came back
within just a few minutes because she forgot
a CD that she wanted
00:06:19
to take with her in the car. So she came in and got
that, and she said-- she says, love you, Dad.
00:06:28
See you later. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] MISSEY SMITH:
Kelsey had called me because she was trying
to find an item in Target,
00:06:44
this box for John to put
cards and letters and stuff that she had gotten him. And then as we were
getting ready to hang up,
00:06:55
I told her, bye, baby. See you when I get home. And that was the last
time I got to talk to her.
00:07:13
STEVIE MCLEOD: I was
hanging out with my friend at my apartment. We were watching the movie
about a serial killer going
00:07:19
around killing young girls. And we were all like, wow,
that was an intense movie.
00:07:25
And the credits pop up. And that's when I got a phone
call from my sister Lindsey,
00:07:29
saying, have you
heard from Kels? And she told me that they
haven't heard from Kels.
00:07:41
And we all know the rules. You leave a spot, you call
and let Mom and Dad know. MISSEY SMITH: That
whole trip home,
00:07:59
I just keep calling and texting
and communicating with Greg and Lindsey and everyone.
00:08:04
And there was no sign
of Kelsey anywhere. So as soon as Lindsey
told me Kelsey wasn't answering her
phone, I told her to tell
00:08:12
her dad to call the police. GREG SMITH: I worked
for campus police, so I was still a law
enforcement officer,
00:08:21
but it was on a college
campus rather than a city. So I started calling other
police departments around here,
00:08:29
just trying to see if maybe
she'd been in an accident, see if she'd had
a traffic stop, something.
00:08:34
And we weren't getting
any kind of information. It was pretty
obvious, pretty quick,
00:08:39
that something had gone wrong. STEVIE MCLEOD: I looked
at my best friend in a panic.
00:08:55
I said, we got to go find Kels. So my best friend drove me. And we knew she
had been at Target.
00:09:01
And there was a road that
goes around the mall. And Target and the mall
are across the street
00:09:07
from Macy's parking lot. And I remember my grandparents'
coming in from one angle,
00:09:11
and my friend driving
from the other. And then we just see her car
and pull in at the same time.
00:09:18
GREG SMITH: I remember
Missey getting here when my parents found the car. So we headed out
to the mall, and
00:09:26
we called the police
at the same time and said, hey, her car has been located. Meet us out there.
00:09:31
[SIREN WAILING] There was something hanging out
of the trunk of Kelsey's car. It was like a piece
of paper or a--
00:09:51
a bag or something, which
told me that somebody else had been in the trunk. They opened the car.
00:10:01
And she-- she wasn't there. She wasn't in the trunk. It was just very strange. I mean, her car's there.
00:10:10
Her purse is there. The stuff she bought
for John is there in the car, but she's not there.
00:10:17
And her phone's not there. Those-- those
things are missing. MISSEY SMITH: We
started looking around
00:10:23
all of the bushes
and in all of the dumpsters, because there was no
sign of Kelsey anywhere.
00:10:31
STEVIE MCLEOD: I
had this gut feeling that her not being
in the trunk, I already knew what the results
were gonna be from it.
00:10:39
I fell to my knees. And I told my best
friend, this isn't gonna end the way we want it to.
00:11:02
BOB MILLER: June 2, 2007 was
a typical early summer day. Great weather. No rain.
00:11:09
Just nice and sunny. I was actually sleeping
when I got the phone call. CANDACE BRIDGES:
The information that
00:11:19
I got was a family
reported their 18-year-old daughter missing. Kelsey's car had been
taken into evidence
00:11:29
and was being processed
by our evidence techs. BOB MILLER: I called
the sergeant on scene
00:11:36
and asked him to escort
everybody to the headquarters, so I could do
the interviews in private.
00:11:44
GREG SMITH: I am
a police officer, so I knew what
questions were coming. And I knew what to expect.
00:11:49
And I also knew
we didn't do it. So it was just a matter
of saying, let's do this.
00:11:54
Let's get it over
with, so they can go look for the right person. CANDACE BRIDGES: So while the
family was being interviewed,
00:12:06
Kelsey's car was being
processed by our evidence technicians, gathering
fingerprints and DNA and
00:12:14
anything inside the vehicle. We found the Target
bag that was in there. It still had
the photo album in it.
00:12:22
We found the roll
of wrapping paper in the car that she had purchased
in the Target.
00:12:29
So there was a lot of evidence
to go through in the vehicle. BOB MILLER: I interviewed
the parents and the
00:12:38
boyfriend separately. At that point, we had no
idea what our interview would garner with John.
00:12:46
BRYANNA FOX: Kelsey's mother
and father were immediately disregarded as a possibility,
so that led police
00:12:53
to look to the next
person closest to Kelsey, which would be her boyfriend. Being teenagers, where emotions
and impulses tend to run high,
00:13:05
it would potentially
explain why Kelsey went missing, even
if she just decided to run
00:13:11
away with her boyfriend. CANDACE BRIDGES:
A tactic police use when they're interviewing
a potential suspect
00:13:18
is to ask the same questions
in various different ways. John appeared genuinely upset
and confused by the situation.
00:13:29
His story remained consistent,
which is indicative of someone who's telling the truth.
00:13:35
And we knew fairly
early on that John probably was not involved. GREG SMITH: After
the interview,
00:13:49
John says, you can
ping her phone. You can locate a cell phone. And since Kelsey's
cell phone wasn't there
00:13:55
and Kelsey wasn't there,
the assumption was that the phone was with her. MISSEY SMITH: I
started contacting
00:14:02
our cell phone provider. And we just could not
get them to understand. I even said to one person,
my child is missing.
00:14:11
I need you to help me find her. GREG SMITH: Technically,
the phone was in Missey's name,
00:14:17
but because Kelsey was 18
and in possession of the phone, the cell phone
provider wouldn't
00:14:23
release that information. And they don't have a legal
obligation to do that. BOB MILLER: The next
morning on Sunday
00:14:40
when Kelsey still
had not been found, it was very concerning to us. We still didn't know
if she was missing
00:14:47
or just didn't
want to be found. MISSEY SMITH: Her
siblings and friends immediately started making a
poster about a missing person.
00:14:59
And I remember giving
them, like, my last $30 to go get copies
made so that they
00:15:05
could start distributing it. And Stevie and Lindsey
were doing what they could with meeting with the press
or talking to reporters.
00:15:15
LINDSEY SMITH: Kelsey, if
you're out there watching us, we're coming. We're not gonna stop
until you're home.
00:15:20
Nothing is gonna stop us from
bringing her back with us. BRYANNA FOX: Kelsey's
father was a police officer,
00:15:29
meaning that it was even
worse that her car was found, but Kelsey was not. Unfortunately, I
think he probably
00:15:37
knew that given
the circumstances, this looked very, very
bad for his daughter. GREG SMITH: I kind
of started operating in what
00:15:48
my family calls cop mode. I just looked at it from
an evidentiary point of view,
00:15:53
more as a police officer
than as Kelsey's dad, because the longer
this went on, the more scared and nervous
Kelsey's dad got.
00:16:01
But the cop could kind
of keep it together. [MUSIC PLAYING] MISSEY SMITH: Here,
let's turn it sideways.
00:16:13
That way when we're
watching the video-- I do still have that outfit. It's a sailor one.
00:16:20
It's pink sailor. GREG SMITH: My name is Nono. MISSEY SMITH: That's exact--
we still have that shirt.
00:16:25
Surprise. We actually got her a shirt
that said, "My Name is Nono" because she was very curious.
00:16:33
Got into everything. Wrote on the walls. The lipstick. Remember those
blinds you got me,
00:16:39
and she wrote on them
with lipstick? GREG SMITH: Yep. STEVIE MCLEOD: Oh, man. Kelsey loved to push
mom's buttons.
00:16:48
She knew what mom's
pet peeves were and burping was one of them. So yeah, she would chug a soda.
00:16:54
And then she would purposely
just do the biggest belch. And then the same smile she's
got on her face in this picture
00:17:02
is how she would be
after she burped. Just like, haha, what are
you gonna do about it?
00:17:06
You love me. CANDACE BRIDGES: We gathered
a lot of information from a lot of people, but
nothing added up to a reason
00:17:28
for Kelsey's disappearance. Kelsey was not a runaway risk. She had never done
anything like that before.
00:17:36
BOB MILLER: Kelsey's
parents advised she was last seen shopping at Target. So the next morning on Sunday,
we went to the store
00:17:44
at 10:00 AM when they opened to
give us the footage we needed. CANDACE BRIDGES: When
we viewed the video,
00:17:50
it was on a very small screen,
and the quality was poor. Looking at the video, we
didn't see anyone approach her.
00:18:00
We didn't see her speak
to anyone inside the store. And we set that video aside.
00:18:07
And in the essence of timing
and speed to try and find her, it was now time to ask
the public for their help.
00:18:18
ANCHOR: 12 days
ago, video captured Kelsey Smith as she walked the
stage to graduate high school.
00:18:23
Saturday night, surveillance
cameras show the 18-year-old walking out of a local
Target store
00:18:28
and into apparent trouble. Her car was found hours later
by the teen's grandparents
00:18:33
at a mall across the street. Hundreds of volunteers will
set out again today, passing
00:18:38
out fliers looking for Kelsey. BOB MILLER: After
the first 48 hours, my boss initiated
a metro squad which
00:18:55
reaches out to all
the metropolitan area agencies. CANDACE BRIDGES: We moved
to the Overland Park Command
00:19:02
Center, which was larger. And what we had
at the command center was walls that acted
as projection screens.
00:19:10
We projected
the video on the wall. - We watched 47 different
angles of video. And each one of those
angles that we
00:19:26
caught an image of Kelsey
in, several seconds later, you would see this gentleman
in the white shirt and
00:19:34
the brown shorts
walking nearby. CANDACE BRIDGES: This is
Kelsey walking into the Target,
00:19:42
wearing her pink tank
top and black shorts. Kelsey's walking
through the store. She's selecting her
items and making
00:19:50
her way to the cash register. Shortly after Kelsey walks
by the jewelry counter,
00:19:55
you can see someone
following close behind her. And he's looking
around, making sure
00:20:01
that he sees what Kelsey is
doing and where she's going. BOB MILLER: And the whole
time as we're
00:20:09
sitting there watching that,
it made us feel like we're watching a lion hunt his prey.
00:20:15
And it was clear to me that
this wasn't his first time. She's oblivious. She wrote a check for purchase.
00:20:21
She exits here. And by this time, he is
pretty much back to his truck, if not close to it.
00:20:30
You see Kelsey. She's here at her car. Places her items
in the passenger side. Walks around the back side.
00:20:38
You'll see quick flash. That's what started it
for us was that quick flash. - At that moment, we
knew that Kelsey had
00:21:03
been taken against her will. BOB MILLER: Once we
started walking backwards through the video,
we were able to see
00:21:13
his blue 1979 pickup truck
driving around the back side of the store. In the last frame
of that is basically
00:21:22
the picture of the pickup
truck that we sent the media. ANCHOR: Police in Kansas
are still trying
00:21:31
to find 18-year-old
Kelsey Smith, who was abducted over the weekend. On Tuesday, police
released surveillance tape
00:21:37
that, from a distance,
shows her being forced into her car outside
a Target store
00:21:42
in Overland Park
and then a pickup truck that may have
been driven by a man involved in her disappearance.
00:21:48
MISSEY SMITH: The police
had brought Greg and I to their command center. When we saw the footage
of Kelsey being taken,
00:21:59
we just knew that
it wasn't good and prayed that we would at least
get to bring her home.
00:22:23
STEVIE MCLEOD: When
I saw that footage, you can see clearly that
he was stalking her,
00:22:28
that he was preying on her. It's an image that I will
never get out of my head. Just her walking in so happy,
so carefree, having no idea
00:22:37
what's about to happen to her. BOB MILLER: We knew
we were looking for a stranger at this point.
00:22:44
We had a vague description
of a white male, dark hair, a white t-shirt
and dark colored shorts,
00:22:52
which is probably a description
of 30% of the people out there shopping that day.
00:22:58
CANDACE BRIDGES: We
were able to get a very good facial shot of him. Once that image went
out into the media,
00:23:07
the tips hotline started
getting overwhelmed with calls. BOB MILLER: Overall,
we had 1,700 leads and
00:23:16
we followed up on 1,100 them. BRYANNA FOX: This
was somebody that looked like they were
probably from the area,
00:23:24
because he had either
Kansas or Missouri plates. This suggests that this
was somebody who was
00:23:30
familiar with this location. BOB MILLER: The footage
was provided to America's Most Wanted.
00:23:40
And information that we
gave to the local media gave us three leads,
two from a neighbor
00:23:47
and one from a friend of his. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] We hadn't received
any information yet
00:24:01
from the cell phone company,
but the FBI and the DEA were able to give us
the last known location
00:24:08
for Kelsey's cell phone. So there was a couple
of communications at Oak Park Mall,
a couple communications
00:24:18
along 435 highway. And as they made their way
at the park near Longview Lake, the phone was pinging
and giving us locations.
00:24:32
CANDACE BRIDGES: Her
last known location was less than two hours
after she left the Target.
00:24:38
So I was not optimistic that we
were going to find her alive. BOB MILLER: The information we
got was, like, at 8 o'clock.
00:24:49
Too late to start a search
because the daylight was going away. So at 7:00 AM the next
morning, we started the search
00:24:56
at the cell site tower. When the officers arrived
at the cell site tower, they had information that
Kelsey's last known location
00:25:19
was 1350 feet east by northeast
of the cell phone tower. So the officers walked
directly, almost to her body
00:25:28
down here in the ravine. CANDACE BRIDGES: It was
obvious that it was her. We found her same
pink tank top and
00:25:43
shorts that she was
seen in the Target video were laying not
far from the body. BOB MILLER: It was clear that
she had been lured here or
00:25:53
brought here against her will. There was signs of a struggle. The ground around her
body was disturbed
00:26:01
And it was clear that
she had struggled for a long time due
to the injuries on her hands
00:26:07
and around her neck. Obviously, with time,
evidence deteriorates. So the detectives and the crime
scene investigators
00:26:16
were working against
the clock and make sure they got everything they needed. CANDACE BRIDGES: I felt
like we had failed.
00:26:25
But on the other hand, I knew
that we needed as much evidence and information as we
could gather in order
00:26:38
to get justice for Kelsey. STEVIE MCLEOD:
On June 6, we were at the Target command center.
00:26:51
The detectives and the chief
of police came up to me and asked me if I knew
where my parents were.
00:26:59
And I said, I think
they're at home. And why? And they said, it's important. We need to talk to them.
00:27:05
- And we got a call from
Captain Frederickson. And he said to Greg,
I need to talk to you.
00:27:15
GREG SMITH: And I said, is this
news that we need to brace for? And-- he said, yeah,
you better brace.
00:27:31
MISSEY SMITH: We were waiting
at the end of our driveway for him to come and tell us
that they had found Kelsey
00:27:37
and she wasn't alive. And I just lost it and started
screaming, not my Kels. Because I knew that,
yeah, it was my Kels.
00:27:52
STEVIE MCLEOD: We pull
up to my parents' house, and Mom and Dad are sitting
on the back of Dad's truck.
00:28:05
And they're both so broken. Dad's face. I've never seen
my dad cry like that. I remember seeing him
take a deep breath,
00:28:21
because now they've got to tell
us what they've just found out. And I just remember
screaming, no, no.
00:28:29
I don't want to hear it. No. GREG SMITH: Stevie kind of
folded up out here in the lawn.
00:28:43
I think I may have even picked
her up and carried her inside. I don't remember for sure.
00:28:48
Lindsey, I know her
boyfriend picked her up and carried her inside
because she was so upset.
00:28:53
And then Codie saw
it on television. STEVIE MCLEOD: I love
the media for what they can do when
people are missing,
00:29:04
but I hate the media
for not giving the authorities enough time
to let the family know first.
00:29:13
Because while
my parents are being told that their daughter
is killed, my little sister and brother
are inside the house
00:29:20
watching it on TV. That's how they found
out that their older sister was killed because
of the helicopters above.
00:29:38
CANDACE BRIDGES: When we
received the name Edwin Hall, we set about trying to locate
him as quickly as possible
00:29:45
because if the public is seeing
these images on the news, then the suspects are
seeing those images as well.
00:29:55
BOB MILLER: At that point, we
got a call from an attorney advising he had
a young man by the name
00:30:00
of Edwin Hall, who was
the person in the video that had been on the news. The suspect was 24 and married
with a five-year-old child.
00:30:09
- We were told by his
co-workers at his place of employment that he saw
his image on the news,
00:30:17
and he left work to go
contact an attorney. BOB MILLER: Once Edwin
was at the station,
00:30:25
his attorney arrived
a short time later. We started the interview,
introduced ourselves.
00:30:29
He did good handshake. Looked you directly in the eye. And he basically asked
for our information.
00:30:36
What do you guys have? And that's not
the way-- that's not the way these interviews go.
00:30:51
STEVIE MCLEOD: After
we found her body, and we had a little time
to grieve as a family, Mom,
00:30:56
Dad and I did
another conference to let everyone know
that she had been found and to thank them
for helping us.
00:31:04
No, it's not
the outcome we wanted, but we still wanted everyone
to know how grateful we
00:31:10
were that they helped us
look for our loved one when they didn't have to. - She could walk
into a room of strangers
00:31:21
and walk out with
a room full of friends. Her excitement and passion
for life was unmatched.
00:31:29
She lived more in 18
years than many people do with a great deal more time. STEVIE MCLEOD: It was
later on that evening
00:31:42
that the police released
the identity of her killer. His name and everything. ANCHOR: Police
in Kansas have arrested
00:31:50
a suspect in the murder
of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith. Edwin Hall, police
say, appears to be
00:31:55
the person of interest
identified on the store surveillance video. BOB MILLER: I got a phone
call from Wichita lieutenant
00:32:04
who advised he had
dealt with Edwin several times as a juvenile. CANDACE BRIDGES: He had tried
to stab his adopted sister
00:32:15
with a knife
during a fight, and he had attacked a another
man with a baseball bat.
00:32:25
BOB MILLER:
The detectives told me that Edwin always had
that demeanor of catch me
00:32:30
if you can, and that
was the same demeanor he brought to the interview. GREG SMITH: The initial
interview was about four hours.
00:32:38
That's what Bob told me. And he said he
acted like he was the smartest guy in the room.
00:32:51
BOB MILLER: I
decided I was going to put some photos
of Kelsey in front of Hall because we were basically
getting nowhere.
00:32:59
So I pushed some
photos in front of him. He said, oh, I did see her. She's got nice legs.
00:33:07
And that gave us
kind of a hook. And that was at the point his
attorney said, we're done.
00:33:13
No more questions. He had completely stonewalled
his attorney into believing he was innocent.
00:33:21
CANDACE BRIDGES: When he first
came in with his attorney, he voluntarily submitted his
DNA and his fingerprints.
00:33:28
So while Edwin is there being
interviewed with his attorney, we get a call from
the crime lab.
00:33:35
BOB MILLER: And on his way
out the door, he laughed at us and said, is that all you got?
00:33:40
And at that point, I got
a text message from my boss saying that Edwin's thumbprint
had been mashed in the seat
00:33:46
belt buckle of Kelsey's car. And I told Edwin,
we are charging you with homicide and kidnapping.
00:33:57
And he screamed
something inaudible. And I just turned turn
around and walked away.
00:34:04
I knew right away
I was gonna give Kelsey's family some closure. CANDACE BRIDGES:
During the autopsy,
00:34:15
they discovered that
Kelsey had been strangled. The autopsy also
revealed that Kelsey
00:34:21
had been sexually assaulted. And the presence of bleach
was found on her body. It had been poured
on her intentionally
00:34:29
the next day to try and wipe
away any DNA evidence. BOB MILLER: We saw
the scratch marks on his legs
00:34:37
during the interview. And he had a couple
on his hands too. Tried to play it
off, but everything
00:34:44
collected at the crime scene
had his DNA on it or hers. STEVIE MCLEOD: I know Kelsey
fought off her attacker.
00:34:54
His DNA in her fingernails. I know my sister
fought for her life. She absolutely would have.
00:35:02
GREG SMITH: To kind
of get away from people and to cope with
what was happening,
00:35:08
I took this guy's mug shot and
I went to the shooting range. And you're not supposed
to do rapid fire, but I was.
00:35:16
And the range master
came out and said, hey, you need to slow down. I said, I'm sorry, I'm
Kelsey Smith's dad.
00:35:21
And he looked downrange
and saw what I was shooting at. And he says, yeah, go ahead.
00:35:28
- OK, Kelsey-- - It's a list. And it's a box. How cute. STEVIE MCLEOD: Oh,
shut up and open it.
00:35:35
- Show everybody. - It's a box with me on top. - This is the box
for your birthday
00:35:39
celebration, everybody. In this box are several
symbols to help Kelsey-- Kelsey.
00:35:44
KELSEY SMITH: Kelsey. GREG SMITH: Kelsey
celebrate her 16th birthday. That was the letter
that I wrote--
00:35:49
- --get to read. - --that I wrote
to your future husband. - Did you cry? - That he gets on--
on your wedding day.
00:35:55
STEVIE MCLEOD: It's probably
a blank piece of paper. It's probably just
a blank piece of paper,
00:35:59
and then he'll just switch it-- LINDSEY SMITH: At the bottom,
it's signed, good luck.
00:36:02
[LAUGHTER] That's it. - Yours just says,
God help you. - I know. - No, actually,
yours says, look out.
00:36:09
[LAUGHTER] - You're mean. GREG SMITH: After
Kelsey was killed, I gave the letter to John.
00:36:19
The letter to the future
husband because I thought he should have it. John, he used to come around,
and then over the years,
00:36:27
he stopped. And I-- I think it hurts too
much for him to come over here. I think Kelsey was
the one for him,
00:36:36
and John was
the one for Kelsey. We were kind of at a loss
as to what to do for a funeral
00:36:53
for an 18-year-old girl. And John told us. He said, I know what she wants. MISSEY SMITH: We said,
how did you know?
00:37:03
And he said, because she
talked to me about her funeral before she talked to me
about her wedding.
00:37:10
STEVIE MCLEOD: I remember her
funeral just being massive, huge. People waiting
in line for hours
00:37:17
just to come in to pay
their respects to us. MISSEY SMITH: It went
on until way past midnight.
00:37:27
There were so many people. And if they came out
to honor our daughter, we were going to say thank
you for them coming out.
00:37:37
STEVIE MCLEOD: She
said she didn't want people to grieve and be sad. She wanted people to be happy
and celebrate who she was.
00:37:45
Obviously, she had no
idea it would be so soon, but her wishes were met
as much as we could.
00:37:56
GREG SMITH: Kelsey, like Belle
from "Beauty and the Beast," she said that when
she went to prom,
00:38:01
she was going to wear
a dress like Belle, and she actually did. That's the dress that we
ended up burying her in.
00:38:08
The Belle dress. [MUSIC PLAYING] CANDACE BRIDGES: Hall
was being charged with first degree homicide,
still claiming innocence.
00:38:30
He had entered
a plea of not guilty. BOB MILLER: The district
attorney was pushing for the death penalty.
00:38:36
We knew his narcissism
would take over. And we knew at some
point, in order to avoid the death
penalty, he and his team
00:38:44
would probably be willing
to give some concessions. CANDACE BRIDGES: He
asked for a plea deal
00:38:49
and asked that the death
penalty will be removed. So that information was
taken to Greg and Missey
00:38:55
to see if they
would agree with it. GREG SMITH:
But a friend of ours told us that this is
the best deal for us,
00:39:04
because if it's
a death penalty case, it's gonna keep coming up
and coming up and coming up.
00:39:10
So we got to where
we were OK with that. BOB MILLER: During
Hall's confession, he basically lined
out his entire day.
00:39:23
He said he had spent the
morning on adultfriendfinder and couldn't find
anybody to hook up with,
00:39:29
so he decided he was
gonna go to Oak Park Mall, trying to engage
with random females,
00:39:34
sometimes making lewd comments. Later on, he decided
he was gonna drive over to the Target store.
00:39:41
CANDACE BRIDGES:
Edwin confessed that he had a handgun
when he approached Kelsey
00:39:49
in the Target parking lot. He shoved her into the driver's
seat of her vehicle, and he climbed into the back
seat behind her.
00:39:56
BOB MILLER: Once they
got out to the park, she was pleading to let her go. And he goes, well.
00:40:03
I'll tell you what, if you have
sex with me, I'll let you go. CANDACE BRIDGES: He took
her belt out of the car
00:40:12
and used that to strangle her. BOB MILLER: He covered
her up with the sticks, and he left the area and drove
her car back to the mall.
00:40:22
And then he walked back
across the mall to his truck. So we were able
to connect him completely
00:40:29
from start to finish. BRYANNA FOX: Edwin Hall could
not identify with the pain that Kelsey went through,
or the immense amount of trauma
00:40:51
her family was experiencing. MISSEY SMITH: I
was angry and upset that my child had been taken.
00:41:02
And just-- I had this
overwhelming emotion because it just wasn't fair. BRYANNA FOX:
On September 16, 2008,
00:41:15
Edwin Hall was
sentenced to life without the possibility
of parole for the sexual assault
and murder of Kelsey Smith.
00:41:23
GREG SMITH: He looked at us
and said he was sorry. My personal feeling was
that the only thing he's
00:41:29
sorry for is he got caught. MISSEY SMITH: The Kelsey Smith
Foundation is the foundation
00:41:38
that Greg and I started
after Kelsey was murdered, because we wanted
to make a difference.
00:41:47
STEVIE MCLEOD: My parents
go around educating, like, high schoolers
and young people
00:41:51
on how to be aware
of your surroundings. The foundation also helps to
try to get Kelsey's law passed.
00:41:59
GREG SMITH:
The Kelsey Smith Act says that a cell phone
provider shall provide location
00:42:04
information on a phone
in an emergency situation at the request
of law enforcement.
00:42:10
And we know that it works
because we hear stories from law enforcement agencies
all over the United States that
00:42:15
have used it. CANDACE BRIDGES:
Greg and Missey took a tragedy that
happened to their family
00:42:21
and turned it
into something good. And I can't even begin to know
or understand how many lives
00:42:29
that that has probably saved. I think that is the gift
that Kelsey gave to all of us
00:42:37
is helping other people. MISSEY SMITH: We talk
about her constantly. She is still a member
of our family.
00:42:51
She's still my daughter. I just parent her
differently now. STEVIE MCLEOD: You just
hold on to every memory
00:42:59
you can because you
don't want to forget her. I don't want
to forget her laugh. She wouldn't want us,
any of us, to give up.
00:43:14
We need to keep
moving on as a family and sticking together
and staying close. I just miss my sister.
00:43:34
- I wish I could hear her laugh
again or just sit and talk. She was always happy.
00:43:45
She was always outgoing. She was always
looking to have fun. And that's the way I
choose to remember.
00:44:06
[MUSIC PLAYING]