Suspect arrested

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, June 6, 2007

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Police on Wednesday arrested a man in the abduction and death of a teenager who disappeared four days ago from a store parking lot.

Authorities said 18-year-old Kelsey Smith’s body was found across the state line at a lake in Grandview, Mo.

Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass identified the suspect as Edwin R. Hall, 26, of Olathe. He was expected to be charged Thursday with premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping.

Douglass said Hall was interviewed Wednesday after police acted on a tip that matched Hall and a vehicle to surveillance video from the Target store parking lot where Smith was abducted Saturday evening.

Smith’s body was found about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday about 20 miles east of the abduction site.

Douglass declined to comment on the circumstances of Hall’s questioning or evidence in the case, but said police had located a vehicle that matched the description of one seen in surveillance video pulling into the Target parking lot about a minute after Smith parked there.

He said Hall appeared to be the same person shown in the video walking into the Target soon after Smith entered the store.

Johnson County prosecutor Phill Kline said charges would be filed this morning.

“This community has lost a vibrant and promising life and her family has sufferered unimaginable tragedy,” he said.

Before a church memorial service Wednesday , Smith’s father thanked everyone involved in the search.

“She could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with a room full of friends,” Greg Smith said, 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.”