Murder Charges Filed In Kansas Teen Death

A man videotaped leaving a store in this Kansas City suburb shortly before a teenager was abducted in the parking lot was charged with murder Thursday, authorities said.

Edwin R. Hall, 26, was accused of premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, the Johnson County Court Web site said. Bond was set at $5 million.

Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline said Thursday he would consider seeking the death penalty.

Hall, looking tired and downcast, appeared Thursday in court via video feed from jail. He waived reading of the charges until he can hire his own attorney. His next appearance was scheduled for June 14.

The charges came a day after Smith's body was found in the woods. She had been missing since Saturday night, when she went to the Target store in Overland Park to buy a gift for her boyfriend.

Surveillance video showed her being forced into her car around 7:10 p.m., and the car driving off. It was found in a nearby mall parking lot about two hours later.

Police Chief John Douglass said Hall appeared to be the same person shown in the video leaving the Target soon after Smith. He was wearing a white T-shirt, sneakers, shorts and a goatee.

"This community has lost a vibrant and promising life, and a family has suffered unimaginable tragedy," Kline said.

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."

Detectives said a tip led them to Hall, of nearby Olathe.

A next-door neighbor of Hall contacted police when he saw the man's pickup in a surveillance video, he said.

Cameron Migues, 30, said he and his wife laughed when they noticed a similarity between Edwin R. Hall and the man pictured in the video. But then the video of the truck was released, and "we put two and two together," said Migues, who called a police hot line Wednesday morning.

"The worst part is I just talked to him Monday," he said. "We were talking about cars."

Neighbor Harold Barry, 50, said he was surprised when he heard Hall had been arrested. Hall recently helped him repair his pickup truck, he said.

"If I can go see him, I will see if I can help him out," said Barry, who added that Hall seemed especially close to his son.

"He loved his son his so much," Barry said. "He had his small kid in that truck every time I saw him."

Police received more than 500 tips and questioned numerous people, including Hall, police said. He was arrested at the end of his interview Wednesday.

If convicted, he would face a minimum sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the murder charge and more than 12 years for aggravated kidnapping, said Brian Burgess, spokesman for the Johnson County district attorney's office.

Douglass said police had received more than 500 tips in the case and had questioned numerous people, including Hall, who was arrested at the end of his interview Wednesday.

Douglass said there was no evidence that Hall and Smith knew each other. He declined to offer a motive for the attack or to specify whether investigators had determined that Smith was killed in Kansas, where the murder charge was filed.

Police found Smith's body in a wooded area near Grandview, Missouri, about 20 miles east of the Target store. Authorities have not say how she died.

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, Missouri.

Hall and his wife, Aletha, and a 4-year-old son lived in south Kansas City, Missouri, earlier this year.

"Just a nice young family," former neighbor Sarale Russ told The Kansas City Star. "Nothing unusual."

Meanwhile, a MySpace page that appears to be that of a man accused of kidnapping and killing a teenager contains some bizarre references that turn more disturbing in light of the criminal charges.

The general interests include "eating small children and harming small animals," but also photography and painting and wanting "to own my own company someday." The author describes himself as a "Sweet Troubled Soul."

He uses only the name "Jack," which Edwin R. Hall is known by to neighbors, and the picture he posted strongly resembles the 26-year-old. The person on the MySpace page also uses the same age and location as Hall, and a person with the same name as his wife, Aletha, has a page linked to "Jack's."

In a photo on the page, the man is posing with a young boy.

The existence of the MySpace page was first reported by someone who posted a link to it on The Kansas City Star's crime blog.

The man said his favorite movies are "anything that pushes the envalope, A clockwork Orange, Srangeland and lets not forget horror movies!!!! yea scary (or cheesy)like."

"Jack" lists his occupation as millwork specialist and his heroes as Batman and "my dad" — whom he then describes with a mild expletive.

MySpace and Brian Burgess, spokesman for the Johnson County district attorney's office, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment on the page.

By Thursday, "Jack's" page had more than 200 postings from people hurling invective at Hall. "Aletha's" page also had many postings — most in sympathy but many accusatory — before the page was made private that evening.

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.

Smith remembered his daughter as a young woman "scrubbed in sunshine," reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

"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."