The Disappearance & Murder of Kelsey Smith

This past week advocates of the missing watched the news as the video tape rolled of 18 year old Kelsey Smith entered a Kansas Target store, and then was apparently abducted by a young man that the store camera captured leaving the store just moments before she departed last Saturday night (June 2, 2007). The news reports asked "have you seen this man", and "where is Kelsey?" - "Please help us". Less than a day after the tapes were released, a description of the vehicle believed to be involved with the abduction was released. It was a 70s model Chevy truck, but the quality of the person of interest and truck were still so grainy. At this time, Kelsey Smith was still missing, and the clock was racing to find her.

On Wednesday, as Texas Equusearch moved into the area to search an area where a cell phone ping was picked up from Kelsey's cell phone, shortly thereafter, her body was located in a desolate area near a creek bed. It was all so odd to see a young woman just days earlier going in to purchase something in a Target store and now, her body was being discovered in some woods. Now it was apparent that something had gone awry as Kelsey exited the Target store, and just who was the mystery man and was he responsible?

As soon as I turned on the TV Thursday morning, FOX news was reporting that 26 year old Edwin R. Hall had been arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Kelsey Smith. I will have to admit that these past few days I've watched the tapes over and over again, passing along the photos online to various websites, forums, and Myspace pages, to help search for this mystery man, and now that his face finally appeared off the grainy film, I was shocked to see a tiny, nerdy, pathetic human being walking into the court room almost in a robot form. I could not believe what I was looking at and I still don't know why. As more reports come out about this individual the more I see just how troubled Edwin "Jack" Hall is. He was in a foster home and was removed because he threatned his sister with a knife. His Myspace page (which everyone has) said that his hobbies were eating small children and harming small animals. While those may have been in a joking tone, there's something that can probably be read into those words.

Authorities are taking a look into another young woman (Kara Kopetsky) who vanished a month prior to Kelsey Smith and has not been located. Kara is almost identical to Kelsey in physical appearance and authorities do not know if Edwin "Jack" Hall may be responsible for Kara's disappearance.

I have a deep concern for what's really behind Edwin Hall. I firmly believe he left his residence on June 2nd of 2007 planning to take a young woman and Kelsey Smith just happened to be the one he encountered. A news report said that Kelsey was strangled to death from ligature. This leads me believe that Edwin Hall took materials from his home in order to carry out a vicious act of violence against "someone" this particular night. I believe he's possibly a serial killer.

While his neighbor turned him in and kudos to this person, they claim he was so normal. How many times have we heard this about serial killers? There's more and more disturbing reports coming out about Edwin Hall and I believe as time presses on that we will learn more and more about this "sweet troubled soul" as he drescribed himself on his website. I'm glad that this individual is OFF the streets. I'm so very sorry for what's happened to Kelsey Smith. I pray that this man is not responsible for any other disappearance or violent crimes. If in fact he is, I hope that he is man enough to step up and tell us what he's done and help the families find them if they are missing.

Please see some of the following links regarding Edwin R. Hall but only after visiting the informational sites regarding Ms. Kelsey Smith - now an angel among us. Thinking of you always.

Kelsey's Army

Kelsey Smith Myspace Page

Murder suspect has troubled past, Iowa connections

Edwin Hall - Myspace Page 2