Man Arrested in Kidnapped Teen's Death

Yesterday, police found the body of the missing 18-year-old Kelsey Smith in a wooded area in a park in Grandview, Missouri, about 20 miles from the Target Store where she was abducted. The kidnapping was caught on an outside surveillance camera, and after reviewing the footage, investigators had decided upon a "person of interest". That person, Edwin R. Hall, 26, of Olathe, Kansas, was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder.

Kelsey, who recently graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School in Overland Park, can be seen on the surveillance footage leaving the Target Store carrying packages. A few minutes before her departure, a man believed to be Hall, wearing a white shirt and black shorts, can be seen on surveillance as well, exiting to the parking lot. Another angle captured Kelsey putting her items into her car, a 1987 Buick Regal, which was later found across the street in a mall parking lot by Kelsey's grandparents. Another person was shown running up behind her and seems to have shoved her into the car.

Police traced pings - points of signal from recieving or making a call from a cell phone - from Kelsey's phone across state line, where they ended near Grandview. While understandably protective of the details of the case, Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass seems confident the case is moving in the right direction. "We can't give them their daughter back - we can at least give them justice," he said.

Edwin R. Hall is a resident of Olathe and, a neighbor told news station KMBC, married with a young child. The surveillance camera at the target store captured a truck leaving Target soon after Kelsey was kidnapped, a vehicle also captured on surveillance at the Macy's where Kelsey's car was found. Police believe it appears to be the same vehicle found in Hall's possession.

Hall was also named by anonymous tipsters as being a person of interest.

Special thanks to thekansascitychannel.com & Fox 4 News for information on this story.