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15 years after murder
Kelsey Smith’s family reflects on her impact 15 years after murder
Kelsey Smith.jpg
Greg and Missey Smith.jpg
By: Tod Palmer
Posted at 7:51 PM, Jun 01, 2022
and last updated 10:24 PM, Jun 01, 2022
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Fifteen years after she was abducted and murdered while running an errand, Kelsey Smith’s name still resonates across Kansas City, the country and the world — and her family’s fight to provide law enforcement with tools to prevent a similar tragedy continues, too. “Fifteen years feels like yesterday in some ways,” Kelsey’s mom, Missey Smith, said last week during an interview at the family home.
Kelsey’s dad, Greg Smith, agreed: “It's a weird feeling. It can feel just like yesterday, and then there are times where it feels like, ‘Wow, it's been a long time.’”
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Darrius Smith/KSHB 41
Greg and Missey Smith spokes to KSHB 41 News on the 15th anniversary of the abduction of their daughter, Kelsey Smith, from an Overland Park retailer.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about June 2, 2007, when Kelsey popped into a Target store in Overland Park to pick up a gift for her boyfriend.
Perhaps that’s precisely why the story continues to resonate a decade and a half later.
“I think there's such an interest, because she just went to Target,” Missey said. “She's just an all-American girl that went to Target and that was it. She didn't come home. ... No one thinks you're just going to go pick up a gift from Target or the department store and not come home. That just doesn't happen, especially in Overland Park, Kansas.”
As she left Target, Kelsey was abducted by Edwin Hall in the parking lot and eventually murdered.
Her body was dumped in a wooded area near Longview Lake, but it wouldn’t be found for four days as the family fought with Verizon to obtain location data from her phone.
Once an engineer armed with the data from Verizon narrowed down the search area, investigators located Kelsey’s remains within 45 minutes.
During the 15 years since her death, Kelsey, who would have turned 33 on May 3, has become the face of a movement to force telecommunications providers to be responsive in emergency situations, especially as GPS and cell-phone technology has continued to improve and evolve.

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