Post by LadyBlue on Jun 7, 2007 8:45:34 GMT -5
Police arrested a man in the slaying of Kelsey Smith on Wednesday night, hours after her body was found in southern Jackson County.
Edwin R. Hall, 26, of Olathe, is expected to be charged this morning with aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder, Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass announced at an 11:30 p.m. news conference.
Douglass said Hall was one of many people interviewed who matched the description of a "person of interest" caught on surveillance tape at the Target store where Kelsey was last seen on Saturday night. He was interviewed Wednesday afternoon and arrested later in the day.
Smith's parents, Greg and Missey Smith, spoke briefly after the news conference, thanking police for their work in the case.
Douglass said of the Smiths, "I realize this is not the preferred conclusion. While we cannot give them their daughter back, at least we can give them justice."
For four days, family, friends and strangers who had never met Kelsey Smith vowed to bring her home. But Wednesday afternoon, authorities searching a 900-acre area found what her family prayed they wouldn't.
In a wooded area near Longview Lake searchers found the 18-year-old's body.
Just two weeks ago, Smith received her diploma from Shawnee Mission West High School. She would attend Kansas State University in the fall and be in the marching band with her sister. She planned to be a veterinarian someday.
"She lived more in her 18 years than many do with a great deal more time," Greg Smith said, choking up Wednesday night as he read a family statement before a church service in his daughter's honor. He said some described his daughter as being "scrubbed with sunshine."
The Target store tape shows Kelsey Smith being forced into her 1987 Buick Regal by someone who sprinted up behind her. Police say they still don't know if Smith was picked at random in broad daylight or was kidnapped by someone she knew.
The tips in Smith's case had piled to more than 500. Douglass said Wednesday night that one of those tips led to Hall's arrest.
After releasing information Tuesday night about a dark-colored, older model Chevrolet pickup that pulled into the Target lot immediately after Smith, investigators received 200 tips in 12 hours.
That pickup was also seen in surveillance video leaving the Target parking lot at 9:29 p.m. Saturday, 12 minutes after Smith's car was parked at the nearby Macy's in Oak Park Mall. Douglass said Wednesday night that the pickup had been located.
Smith had been gone nearly three days before authorities finished analyzing cell phone data that would eventually lead them to her. On Wednesday, they combed the area in southern Jackson County near Longview Lake where Smith's cell phone sent signals to cell towers in the area.
Authorities began gathering the data shortly after Smith was reported missing but said it took time for detailed analysis.
That data showed that her phone passed through telephone cells located on I-35, I-435 east to U.S. 71, then south to the Longview Lake park area.
While there were several signals known as "pings" in that wide vicinity, there were two from near Longview Lake around 8 p.m. Saturday, said Overland Park police spokesman Matt Bregel.
"Pings" occur when a phone is in use, either receiving a call or sending one.
Authorities believe that in this case, they were from calls coming in.
Smith's boyfriend, John Biersmith, began calling her phone about 7:30 p.m. Saturday when she hadn't returned to her home where he was waiting.
He and Smith's family and friends continued calling throughout the night.
"Apparently her cell phone was traveling," Bregel said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "We focused near where it hit twice."
The data showed the "pings" in that area were within 12 minutes of each other, Bregel said.
Though Overland Park police and others quietly searched the area Tuesday, authorities didn't disclose the location until Wednesday. That's when more than 240 officers, from multiple agencies, canvassed the area.
www.kansas.com/news/story/89967.html
Edwin R. Hall, 26, of Olathe, is expected to be charged this morning with aggravated kidnapping and first-degree murder, Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass announced at an 11:30 p.m. news conference.
Douglass said Hall was one of many people interviewed who matched the description of a "person of interest" caught on surveillance tape at the Target store where Kelsey was last seen on Saturday night. He was interviewed Wednesday afternoon and arrested later in the day.
Smith's parents, Greg and Missey Smith, spoke briefly after the news conference, thanking police for their work in the case.
Douglass said of the Smiths, "I realize this is not the preferred conclusion. While we cannot give them their daughter back, at least we can give them justice."
For four days, family, friends and strangers who had never met Kelsey Smith vowed to bring her home. But Wednesday afternoon, authorities searching a 900-acre area found what her family prayed they wouldn't.
In a wooded area near Longview Lake searchers found the 18-year-old's body.
Just two weeks ago, Smith received her diploma from Shawnee Mission West High School. She would attend Kansas State University in the fall and be in the marching band with her sister. She planned to be a veterinarian someday.
"She lived more in her 18 years than many do with a great deal more time," Greg Smith said, choking up Wednesday night as he read a family statement before a church service in his daughter's honor. He said some described his daughter as being "scrubbed with sunshine."
The Target store tape shows Kelsey Smith being forced into her 1987 Buick Regal by someone who sprinted up behind her. Police say they still don't know if Smith was picked at random in broad daylight or was kidnapped by someone she knew.
The tips in Smith's case had piled to more than 500. Douglass said Wednesday night that one of those tips led to Hall's arrest.
After releasing information Tuesday night about a dark-colored, older model Chevrolet pickup that pulled into the Target lot immediately after Smith, investigators received 200 tips in 12 hours.
That pickup was also seen in surveillance video leaving the Target parking lot at 9:29 p.m. Saturday, 12 minutes after Smith's car was parked at the nearby Macy's in Oak Park Mall. Douglass said Wednesday night that the pickup had been located.
Smith had been gone nearly three days before authorities finished analyzing cell phone data that would eventually lead them to her. On Wednesday, they combed the area in southern Jackson County near Longview Lake where Smith's cell phone sent signals to cell towers in the area.
Authorities began gathering the data shortly after Smith was reported missing but said it took time for detailed analysis.
That data showed that her phone passed through telephone cells located on I-35, I-435 east to U.S. 71, then south to the Longview Lake park area.
While there were several signals known as "pings" in that wide vicinity, there were two from near Longview Lake around 8 p.m. Saturday, said Overland Park police spokesman Matt Bregel.
"Pings" occur when a phone is in use, either receiving a call or sending one.
Authorities believe that in this case, they were from calls coming in.
Smith's boyfriend, John Biersmith, began calling her phone about 7:30 p.m. Saturday when she hadn't returned to her home where he was waiting.
He and Smith's family and friends continued calling throughout the night.
"Apparently her cell phone was traveling," Bregel said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "We focused near where it hit twice."
The data showed the "pings" in that area were within 12 minutes of each other, Bregel said.
Though Overland Park police and others quietly searched the area Tuesday, authorities didn't disclose the location until Wednesday. That's when more than 240 officers, from multiple agencies, canvassed the area.
www.kansas.com/news/story/89967.html