Posted on 06/07/2007 6:20:41 AM PDT by badpacifist
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) - A man seen on surveillance video leaving a store shortly before a teenager was abducted in the parking lot has been arrested, hours after her body was found in a park, authorities said. Edwin R. Hall, 26, was expected to be charged Thursday morning with premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said. Kelsey Smith, 18, had been missing since Saturday night, when she went to a Target store in this Kansas City suburb to buy a gift for her boyfriend.
Surveillance video showed her being forced into her car around 7:10 p.m., and the car drove off. It was found in a nearby mall parking lot about two hours later.
Police said Hall's vehicle matched the description of a dark mid-1970s Chevrolet pickup that was seen entering the Target parking lot shortly after Smith's car.
"I want to again express my condolences to the Smith family," Douglass said. "I realize that this is not the preferred conclusion. While we cannot give them their daughter back, we can at least give them justice."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Police found Smith's body in a wooded area near Grandview, Mo., about 20 miles east of the Target store. Authorities did not say how she died.
"As I understand she was found at a wooded area, but I can't say whether she was directly concealed by bushes," Douglass told reporters.
Officers had been searching the lake area since Tuesday after tracing signals from Smith's cell phone. Investigators isolated two signals from an area in south Kansas City, Mo. Before a memorial service Wednesday evening, Smith's father, Greg Smith, thanked the hundreds of volunteers and everyone else involved in the search for his daughter. "She could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with a room full of friends," Smith told the gathering, fighting tears. "Her excitement and passion for life was unmatched," he said. "She lived more in 18 years than many people do with a great deal more time."
They say God is in control of vengeance and justice. Well I am asking for for powerful vengeance and justice.
I am so sad for the family. What a useless wanton act. I hope the man goes to hell!
Very, very slowly. It's so sad. She was just beginning to start her life and then this horrible creature brutally ended it.
We need prisons like the French Penal Colony of Guyana, known as Devil’s Island.
At least Kansas has the death penalty. I hope for the family’s sake, the “accused” will not have a team of ACLU lawyers to challenge every motion and pleading before trial, and the sentence afterwards for 20 years.
I hope Mr. Hall burns in hell.
And I wonder if the knee-jerk "an illegal did it" crowd will admit their mistake....
Too bad she didn't have a .38 in an ankle holster and the knowledge and skill to use it. I think all women should carry. Too many creeps in this world.
I like impalement better. On a blunt pole so it takes longer to die...
Can we wait until he’s convicted?
Does Missouri have the death penalty in case it turns out the crime happened there?
Yes - Missouri also has the death penalty.
I’ve told my wife and daughter that if anyone tries to grab either of them, they are to ‘go crazy wild’, and fight like a banshee. Under any circumstances allow the person to take them any place else, even if they are threatened with a weapon.
Yell and scream at the top of their lungs. Never give up. It’s fight or die right there.
They agree.
That was silly. You can tell in the video image that he looked like a American.
With splinters.
Did the guy know her? Or was he just out looking for somebody to grab?
Can we all wait to see if he is found guilty of the crime?
No, apparently not.
Well, sure. Whoever did it, though, I hope he burns in hell.
Absolutely, tooth and nail. The idea that cooperation will spare you harm is folly.
This is also why the scam or ruse is often employed to entice women willingly. Like Ted Bundy's "broken arm" scam. She may have been tricked.
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