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Nancy Grace
Suspect on Target Video Charged With Kidnap, Murder of Kansas Teen
Aired June 07, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight in the disappearance of a Kansas girl who`d just graduated high school, shopping at a local Target. An arrest goes down today after a body found just 20 miles from the Target store is positively identified as Kelsey Smith. The prime suspect, in fact, the person of interest spotted in a surveillance video released by a Target store in the search for Kelsey, Kelsey a Kansas girl scrubbed in sunshine. Tonight, who is this 26-year-old man charged with murder one? And stunning allegations he may be linked to the disappearance of another young girl who looked startlingly similar to Kelsey.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A major development in the case of murder case of Kelsey Smith. Less than 12 hours after the 18-year-old`s body was, in fact, found, an arrest made, Edwin Hall, a 26-year-old from the suburb of Kansas City. He, in fact, the man that police were calling a person of interest. Target surveillance video showed him walking out of the Target store in that suburb of Kansas City soon after Kelsey Smith did on Saturday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Edwin R. Hall, 26, of Olathe, has been arrested for aggravated kidnapping and murder in the first degree. Mr. Hall faces 25 years to life minimum sentence on the premeditated murder charge, 147 months minimum sentence on the aggravated kidnapping charge.
CHIEF JOHN DOUGLASS, OVERLAND PARK POLICE DEPT.: I realize that this is not the preferred conclusion. While we cannot give them their daughter back, we can at least give them justice.
GREG SMITH, KELSEY`S FATHER: She could walk into a room with strangers and walk out with a roomful of friends. Her excitement and passion for life was unmatched. She lived more in 18 years than many people do with a great deal more time. Please keep us in your prayers. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening, I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Breaking news, an arrest in the disappearance and murder of an 18-year-old Kansas girl, Kelsey Smith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The man police say kidnapped and killed Kelsey Smith made his first court appearance today. Edwin Hall is facing charges that he abducted Smith from the parking lot of a Kansas Target store and then killed her. If convicted of kidnapping and murder, Hall could be facing life in prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was really funny and just so easy to talk to. You really don`t know what you`re feeling because it just changes so often. You feel excited because they found the guy, but then as soon as that hits, you realize she`s not coming back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: A man now arrested, a 26-year-old father of one, in the kidnap and murder of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, this girl literally scrubbed in sunshine, just graduated from high school, shopping at a local Target for someone else`s graduation gift. We see her coming out of the Target on excellent surveillance video, carrying not only the present but a big stack of wrapping paper to wrap the little present. She never made it out of the parking lot except by kidnap, according to police.
Straight out to "America`s Most Wanted" Ed Miller. Ed, what do we know about this 26-year-old man?
ED MILLER, "AMERICA`S MOST WANTED": Well, his name is Edwin Hall. As you said, he is married and has a child, very similar, strikingly similar to somebody that you are very familiar with, the BTK killer, remember him, out of Wichita, Kansas, wrote those letters to a newspaper. He was married with children, even president of his church, very similar in nature because neighbors described Mr. Hall as quiet, average suburban guy, interested in cars, cutting lawn, that kind of thing, and not suspicious in any manner. But he was one of several people that police questioned yesterday for several hours, and at the end of the questioning, they arrested him. He obviously did not give good answers.
GRACE: I noticed that he has altered his goatee by the time of his arrest, Ed.
MILLER: Yes. And you know, something we should say very important. Several people that they spoke to who seemed to matched the description of the person of interest on the videotape, not just in terms of the white T- shirt and the shorts, but the shape of head, ears, that kind of thing. But again, he did not give good answers in the interview.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Edwin Hall is charged with first degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Kelsey Smith. Smith went missing Saturday after leaving a Target store in suburban Kansas City. Police found her body yesterday, but they aren`t saying yet how she died. Police say Hall appears to be the same person shown in this surveillance video leaving the Target store.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 26-year-old man is in court, accused of killing an 18-year-old girl from Kansas. Edwin Hall is his name. He`s charged with first degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Kelsey Smith. Smith went missing Saturday after leaving a Target store in suburban Kansas City. Police found her body yesterday in a wooded rural area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us shortly are Kelsey`s parents and her boyfriend. We believe that his texting her, trying to reach out to her when she didn`t come home on time, might have resulted in the pings that led police to find her.
But back to you, Ed Miller with "America`s Most Wanted." How were police led to this guy?
MILLER: Well, again, there was a neighbor -- first of all, we should say several hundred tips came in to police, and they investigated almost all of those tips. But one particular tip zeroed in on this man.
GRACE: Joining us right now, a special guest, Cameron Migues, the neighbor of suspect Edwin R. Hall. Cameron, thank you for being with us.
CAMERON MIGUES, NEIGHBOR OF MURDER SUSPECT: Thank you.
GRACE: Tell me what you know about this guy.
MIGUES: You know, I don`t know a lot about him. He was, you know, a pretty average guy. Like I say, liked to mess around with cars, and you know, spent a lot of time outside, you know, pretty happy-go-lucky most of the time.
GRACE: How would you describe his family? Is it true he has a child?
MIGUES: Yes.
GRACE: And what do you know about an old Chevy truck? Did he own one?
MIGUES: Yes.
GRACE: Did you think he looked like the guy on the Target videotape?
MIGUES: My wife saw him Tuesday night on the surveillance tape, and she was the first one to bring it up, that it resembled him very closely. It wasn`t until we saw the video of the truck, as well, that we put two and two together and decided we need to report something.
GRACE: Did you?
MIGUES: I`m sorry?
GRACE: Did you call police?
MIGUES: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: What did you tell them?
MIGUES: I just told them I had a neighbor that resembled the suspect or person of interest they were looking for and had a vehicle that matched the description of the one they were also looking for.
GRACE: What did you think when you realized your wife was correct?
MIGUES: Oh, you know, shocked more than anything, sadness, you know, hard to believe. You know, just like you`ve seen in many so cases before, you know, you never expect it in your own neighborhood.
GRACE: No, much less your next-door neighbor. Question. Did you see him around the date of last Saturday?
MIGUES: No, ma`am, I didn`t.
GRACE: Was that unusual?
MIGUES: No. We were in and out all day, birthday parties, stuff like that. So we were, you know, out and about and never noticed anything.
GRACE: What was his job?
MIGUES: I`m not sure.
GRACE: What about his wife?
MIGUES: I`m sorry?
GRACE: What about his wife? What does she do?
MIGUES: I don`t know what she does. I only talked to her a couple of times over the span that I knew them.
GRACE: Did you ever see the child?
MIGUES: Oh, yes. The child was over my house frequently, playing with my kids.
GRACE: With us is a man that made a difference. Cameron Migues called police when he realized -- he and his wife realized that their neighbor -- here he is right here, now under arrest for murder one -- was the guy on the Target video and that his vehicle matched that of a vehicle leaving the shopping mall.
You know, Mr. Migues, if there were more people like you and your wife, can you imagine how many cases would be solved and how much heartache would be saved? I want to thank you very much on behalf of crime victims all over for you standing up and hitting a home run. Thank you, sir.
MIGUES: I can`t say enough also about the police...
GRACE: Yes.
MIGUES: ... you know, following all these leads. And you know, within a couple hours of my call, they were right there, checking on it. And so you know, I can`t the say enough about them, either.
GRACE: Everyone, joining us right now are Kelsey`s parents, Melissa and Greg, and her boyfriend, John Biersmith. We`ve heard a lot about him. I want to thank you guys for being with us.
MELISSA SMITH, KELSEY`S MOTHER: Thanks for having us.
GREG SMITH, KELSEY`S FATHER: Thank you.
GRACE: Thank you so much, especially, Melissa, Greg, John, for coming on and being with us tonight. So many people want to hear from you. I want to go first to you, Greg. When did you learn that they had identified Kelsey?
GREG SMITH: We received a phone call shortly before the press conference with that information and were told by one of the lead investigators on the case they needed to come by and relay some information to us. And I asked if it was something that we should be concerned about, and I believe his answer was, You need to brace yourself. And I think that was about -- they arrived at our around house around 2:00 or a little after 2:00 o`clock that day.
GRACE: When they told you, did you know? Did you know in that moment she was gone?
GREG SMITH: Just the tone of voice and the recommendation. I mean, I have to commend the detective that`s in charge of that because that`s in charge of that because he told me he`d never lie to me and that he`d give it to me straight if I asked for it, and he did. So I`m very grateful that he was quite frank with me and didn`t try to shield me from that.
GRACE: Melissa, so many current victims and families of murder victims remember that moment. That moment seems to be crystallized in every victim, including myself, that I`ve ever spoken to. Were you with your husband when they called?
MELISSA SMITH: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: That he was on the phone. Did you know in that moment what had happened?
MELISSA SMITH: When he came over to me and he said the detectives were coming, I just started yelling, No, not my Kelse.
GRACE: I know that you two, because you have told me -- you have told me, Missy (ph) -- are trying very hard to make something positive out of this horrible tragedy. What are you trying to do?
MELISSA SMITH: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: What are you trying to do? I want other crime victims to note how strong you are being.
MELISSA SMITH: We`re not quite sure, but it will be something positive. I said to several people today, he took her from us. He is not getting anything else. That`s it. We`ll be at the hearings. That`s all he gets. We`re not quite sure, but I did call and ask you and you said we could use the way you described her, so it will be "scrubbed in sunshine," whatever it is.
GRACE: Missy, when you say he`s not getting anything else, what do you mean by that?
MELISSA SMITH: He`s not taking any more of our future, such as -- I mean, we`re going to grieve, but people were asking if we`re angry, if we wanted to do something to him. That doesn`t honor her. All that does is give him more of us, and that`s not happening.
GRACE: Joining us tonight is a young man that we`ve heard a lot about. This is Kelsey`s boyfriend. He was to meet her that evening to take her to a graduation party, a pool party I believe it was. And he was one of the first ones to realize something was wrong. And from the evidence that I have seen, I firmly believe it was him texting her on her phone, those phone calls, those texts that turned into pings that later identified where Kelsey could be found. With me is John Biersmith. John, thank you for speaking out tonight.
JOHN BIERSMITH, KELSEY`S BOYFRIEND: Thank you for doing the story.
GRACE: John, what were your plans? I know Kelsey was going off to college, but what was your dream with Kelsey?
BIERSMITH: Well, she was so hard-headed. My dream was probably, after sophomore year, to go to K State and go to the same college as she is, and that way we could seen each other more often.
MELISSA SMITH: I think we lost audio.
GREG SMITH: We lost audio.
BIERSMITH: And then after that, I don`t know, I hoped for the best. That`s all I can say.
GRACE: John, why did she want so very much to be a veterinarian?
BIERSMITH: Oh, she was great with dogs.
(LAUGHTER)
BIERSMITH: My dog, at least -- man, she loved that dog as soon as she saw her, and my dog just loved her. She was great with animals.
GRACE: Greg, was she always like that? She really had her heart set on being a veterinarian?
GREG SMITH: She -- as a child, she always used to tell me that she`s going to have three jobs, like Peppy (ph), which is my dad. My dad worked as a school teacher and he worked in the summertime doing other jobs, a pool manager and that type of thing. And she kept naming off all these different jobs she was going to do. And she`s always had a passion for medicine and she was looking at either being a doctor or a veterinarian. And she finally told me one day, she said, Dad, I think I decided to be a veterinarian because I don`t want to have to look inside people, but I can look inside animals.
GRACE: Missy, you guys decided to watch the arraignment today. Why?
MELISSA SMITH: I had to be there for her.
GRACE: Why?
MELISSA SMITH: Because he was there and she wasn`t. And I know -- she always told me, Mom, I`ve got your back, so I had to be there to have hers.
GRACE: Greg, how did you tell the other children -- you`ve got a very big family. You`re very lucky. How did you tell the other siblings?
MELISSA SMITH: We called them home.
GREG SMITH: We called them home, told them that we needed to talk to them. They...
MELISSA SMITH: Yes.
GREG SMITH: They had a good idea why I told them that they had to come home. We just discussed it, took everybody inside and started grieving.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 26-year-old man is in court, accused of killing an 18-year-old girl from Kansas. Edwin Hall is his name. He`s charged with first degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Kelsey Smith. Smith went missing Saturday after leaving a Target store in suburban Kansas City. Police found her body yesterday in a wooded rural area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Kansas is a death penalty state. So far, no announcement of that nature has been made.
Joining us tonight, our very special guests, guests that inspire crime victims all over the country, Kelsey`s parents, Greg and Missy, are with us, along with her boyfriend, John Biersmith. Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being with us.
GREG SMITH: Thank you.
BIERSMITH: Thank you.
GRACE: I want to go back to Greg. You told me the other night that you were convinced that she fought, that she would not have gone without a fight. Do you think that that will result in DNA to help prove this case, Greg?
GREG SMITH: I don`t really know the evidence. I haven`t been briefed on everything that`s been found. And I really don`t want to discuss it too much because I don`t want to jeopardize an air-tight case against this person.
GRACE: Well put. Well put. To you, Melissa. You say you had to be there to see him. Do you think you and your family are going to go to every court appearance?
MELISSA SMITH: I don`t know that we`ll go to every one, but we`ll go to a lot of them.
GRACE: John, you obviously cared so much for Kelsey. When did you first realize -- when did it come over you that something was wrong?
BIERSMITH: Well, it kind of started off slow, like, 7:40, you`d expect a text back or something like that, saying she would be late or she went somewhere else. We went looking for her at 8:20 at that Target and didn`t see her car and kept searching.
GRACE: How often did you text her?
(LAUGHTER)
BIERSMITH: Enough to change her monthly bill three times.
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: Well, I`m guilty of that. I`ll go ahead and plead guilty right now. I love those things.
(LAUGHTER)
GRACE: Did she always text back?
BIERSMITH: Oh, always. She was quicker than I was.
GRACE: Was it on her phone then?
BIERSMITH: Yes. Yes, it was.
GRACE: Let`s go out to the lines. Joining us by phone, Martha in Tennessee. Hi, Martha.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Thank you for your loving concern for victims.
GRACE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`d like to know, what is the difference in kidnapping and aggravated kidnapping?
GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, Mike Brooks, former D.C. cop and former fed, Michael Cardoza and Pam Hayes. Mike, first to you. What do you believe will be the difference in that jurisdiction of aggravated and regular kidnapping? I think I`ve got Mike with me.
MICHAEL CARDOZA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Which Mike? Michael?
GRACE: No, Mike Brooks.
MIKE BROOKS, FORMER D.C. POLICE, SERVED ON FBI TERRORISM TASK FORCE: There you go, Nancy.
CARDOZA: OK.
BROOKS: Regular -- aggravated kidnapping is when there`s some overriding, you know, like, what happened in this particular case. And if it`s a death penalty case, a capital murder case, aggravated kidnapping is included in that, and that`s reason they`re eligible for the death penalty. And I tell you what. I hope that they take this predatory animal and bury him underneath the jail, after they put together a rock solid and air-tight case. It`s going to be a while, still early on the investigation, Nancy. But I tell you what, hat`s off to these investigators. They`ve done one hell of a job, and their job isn`t over yet.
GRACE: And out to you, Michael Cardoza and Pam Hayes. Legally, what is the difference, Michael Cardoza, between regular kidnapping and aggravated kidnapping?
CARDOZA: Well, the difference simply is, in this case, you have a homicide. You have a murder that happened with the kidnapping, and that`s what makes it an aggravated kidnapping. Simple kidnapping is...
GRACE: I think there`s some bodily harm, Michael. Don`t you think it`s bodily harm?
CARDOZA: Well, isn`t death bodily harm, Nancy? I mean, that`s the bottom line.
GRACE: That`s my point, Michael. That`s my point. That`s what makes this aggravated kidnapping.
CARDOZA: All right. Sure.
GRACE: It was bodily harm.
CARDOZA: The death in this case makes it aggravated, which is the bodily harm, sure. In a lot of kidnappings, you don`t have bodily harm, but in this one, like I say, it`s the death that makes it the aggravated portion, and that`s -- as Mike said, that`s what opens it up to perhaps a death penalty in this case. But keep in mind here, we have one box with this horrible, horrible murder. In the other box, we have, Whodunnit? Let that be answered first.
GRACE: Well, obviously. Pam Hayes, agree on the difference between ordinary kidnap, aggravated kidnap?
PAM HAYES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Ordinary kidnapping is just a taking away over a certain timeframe. It becomes aggravated kidnapping when the person is injured during the course of the kidnapping. And as Michael said, the injury in this case was death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police looking for a missing teenager say they found a body, and one of our local affiliates said it is the body of the girl they`ve been searching for. That body found just over the Missouri border from where 18-year-old Kelsey Smith disappeared. The body was found right near a couple of nature trails, right where two trails come together. They had been in that area because they believed cell phone signals led them to that area, from Saturday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: In an amazing show of strength, a real example to other crime victims, joining us tonight and speaking out, Kelsey`s parents are with us, along with her boyfriend. Greg and Missy, along with John Biersmith are with us.
Back to you, Missy. When you see this guy in court and you hear about him, in your heart, do you have a decision as to whether or not the state should have the death penalty? At this juncture, does that matter to you?
MELISSA SMITH: That`s something for the district attorney to do. He told us that would not be our moral responsibility, it would be his.
GRACE: Well put. Greg, agree or disagree?
GREG SMITH: I agree wholeheartedly.
GRACE: And John, do you agree or disagree?
BIERSMITH: Yes, I definitely agree, with this guy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police now announcing an arrest overnight in the case of missing 18-year-old Kelsey Smith. Now, here is the video that put this case in the national spotlight. Security cameras at a Target store in Overland Park seem to show Smith being abducted. She was shopping four days ago, paying for items at a checkout, and walking out to her car, where she was grabbed. Smith`s body was then found yesterday near a shallow creek across state lines in Missouri.
Police say that cell phone signals led them there. It`s about 20 miles east of the Target store. The suspect under arrest is 26-year-old Edwin Hall. Investigators say he was also captured by the store`s security cameras. Police also located the pickup truck that was seen in the surveillance video. They say they don`t know why Smith was targeted or if Hall acted alone, but they`re calling the arrest a big break for the family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us tonight, Kelsey`s parents, her boyfriend, and in addition to them, two other parents who have lived through a similar nightmare. Joining us tonight are Jim and Rhonda Beckford. They are the parents of Kara Kopetsky, a teen missing from the same area since May 4.
Jim and Rhonda, thank you for being with us.
RHONDA BECKFORD, MOTHER OF KARA KOPETSKY: Thank you for having us.
GRACE: To you, Rhonda, do you believe that there is any connection between your missing daughter and this guy, Edwin Hall?
R. BECKFORD: Well, the two girls are so close in age and almost the same height, same weight, both dark haired, both very beautiful girls. And Dalton is a suburb of Kansas City, just like Overland Park.
GRACE: When you heard about Kelsey`s disappearance, did it remind you of when Kara went missing?
R. BECKFORD: Yes, me and my husband, we were watching the news coverage on TV, and we understood exactly what the Smiths were going through. And we felt, you know, very...
JIM BECKFORD, FATHER OF KARA KOPETSKY: It was a moment that my wife turned to me and said -- she said, "Does that remind you of anything?" Because when we were watching Mr. Smith, you know, ask for anybody who had seen his daughter or knew where she was, to bring her back home, just to see the fear and the terror in his voice and to see it in his eyes -- I mean, he knew something was wrong. And to have the phone going off, I mean, it brought us back to our first weekend.
GRACE: Jim, what were the circumstances surrounding Kara`s disappearance?
J. BECKFORD: Well, we didn`t have any surveillance tape or videotape, but, as a parent, we knew something was wrong. I called her cell phone right at about 3:00. She generally came home from school about 3:00. And it went to voicemail, and then Rhonda came in about 3:15. I asked her if she had heard from Kara. She said, "No," so I called her back, and again it went to voicemail. And after that, I mean, it was unlikely -- Kara has never, not once, returned a phone call, especially on the second time she would answer.
I mean, she may have been some place where she didn`t want to come home or she was hanging out, but we knew she had to go to work. And we didn`t get that response the second time, so we went to the school to see, perhaps, if maybe her phone had been left at the school, and we had no way of finding that out, because it was a nice, sunny spring day, the first day after all -- nice day we`d had after all the rains and stuff.
And I called Rhonda. And it was just a little after 3:30, to see if Kara had returned a call from the second call, and she said, "No." And Kara was supposed to be at work at 4:00 that afternoon, and so I went to her place of employment, Popeye`s, and got there about 3:50 and asked, "Have you saw or heard from Kara today?" And I spoke to the manager, and he said, "No." He said, "She`s supposed to be here at 4:00."
Well, we talked for a few minutes, and 4:00 came and went, and then it was after 4:00, and Kara had never called in or showed up for work. And I called Rhonda from the Popeye`s there and asked if we had heard anything else from Kara, and she said, "No." And so then we went back home and called -- notified the authorities, because it was highly unusual for Kara not to return our calls, not to get back in touch with us.
GRACE: Very, very unusual for Kara, from everything that I have researched. Ed Miller with "America`s Most Wanted," are police investigating to see if there is a link between Edwin Hall, the man arrested in Kelsey`s death, and Kara`s?
MILLER: Yes, they are. Quite simply, they`re looking at everything. They have not ruled it out. But as you said, there is a difference, because they know for a fact that Kelsey was kidnapped on camera, and we really don`t know very much about Kara`s disappearance.
GRACE: Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have seen the surveillance video, the last moments before a teenage girl vanishes from a Kansas parking lot. Well, now, after more than 500 tips in that case, the man police say kidnapped and killed Kelsey Smith made his first court appearance today. Edwin Hall is facing charges that he abducted Smith from the parking lot at the Kansas Target store and then killed her. Police say Hall is the man you have seen so many times on this surveillance tape right here, following Kelsey Smith into and out of the store.
Police found a body not far from the store yesterday, and while positive I.D. is still pending, authorities do believe it is, in fact, 18- year-old Kelsey Smith. If convicted of kidnapping and murder, Hall could be facing life in prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She left behind a vivid electronic trial. Investigators were able to trace a series of pings, the moments Kelsey`s phone made contact with nearby towers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us tonight, Kelsey`s parents. We are taking your calls live. Out to the lines, Shelley in Louisiana, hi, Shelley.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. Thank you for everything that you do. Have the suspect`s neighbors noticed any suspicious activity?
GRACE: We have investigated that and spoken to many of them, and they did not notice specific unusual activity, but when these photos came out, many of them identified them.
Out to Amy in Ohio, hi, Amy.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. My question was, does this young man -- do we know if he had any kind of criminal history or criminal record?
GRACE: Out to Ed Miller, I understand that there is a juvenile history.
MILLER: Well, you know, of course, because if there`s a juvenile history those records are sealed, there is no criminal history that we know of, but there is some sort of juvenile activity. I`m not sure exactly what it is, though.
GRACE: It`s our understanding right now -- we`re trying to confirm that we know of one assault that is a juvenile offense. And don`t get this wrong, a juvenile offense is still a crime. It`s just that those documents are kept under seal and it`s very, very difficult, even for prosecutors, to get juvenile histories.
So, Amy in Ohio, your answer is, we believe so, but no adult history that we know of.
Out to Linda in South Carolina. Hi, Linda.
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. I`m so sorry to hear about this. My question is, Kelsey was missing since last Saturday, and I know her boyfriend and family and probably other people were trying to reach her by her cell phone. And my question would be, why did it take so long to trace her cell phone location? Is there a process or something that police can expedite something like this, where they can trace the location a lot sooner?
GRACE: Interesting question. I want to go to Greg Smith. This is Kelsey`s dad. He is also with the security force at a local college there, police force on college. Greg, what have they told you about the pings, why it took so long? I mean, in retrospect, when you look at other cases, it wasn`t that long, but it was a series of several days.
GREG SMITH: Well, actually, it was incredibly quick. It`s a rather detailed process to get those records and to track that down. And it`s my understanding is that it`s a little complicated to pull the raw data. So they did a fantastic job, and I have no problem with the way they handled this.
GRACE: Yes, compared to other cases, it was incredibly quick, Mike Brooks.
BROOKS: Nancy, it takes quite some time to go ahead and analyze all of the information. First of all, you have to get a court record to get that information about the phone. And then you -- from there, they have to go down, take a look at all the analysis of the calls made, calls received, where the phone was on, when it wasn`t on. And, again, it takes a long, long time to put together an analysis of this. And, as Greg said, I think they`re to be commended. It was really quickly.
GRACE: And very quickly, Pam Hayes, pings are admissible in court, right?
HAYES: Yes, they are. And what they do, Nancy, is they call the expert, and the expert comes in and tells where they are from. It tells the differences between the ping sounds. And it`s quite helpful in making a determination of, you know, how this went on.
GRACE: We`ll all be right back, but very quickly to tonight`s "Case Alert." The search for a 20-year-old Milwaukee man missing since early Feb. after leaving a local mental health facility. Take a look. Schizophrenic and bipolar, Marshall Hutcherson`s dad says he was not notified about his son`s release. His son is off his meds. No activity on the son`s bank account. Hutcherson, also called Hutch, 5`11", 160 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. Please take a look. He needs our help. Call Milwaukee police, 414-933-4444.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
GRACE: As you know by now, an arrest has been made in the kidnap and death of a young Kansas girl, Kelsey Smith. Her parents and boyfriend with us tonight. Back out to her parents and boyfriend, Missy and Greg Smith, John Biersmith.
Missy, do you recall your last words that you got to speak to her?
MELISSA SMITH: I do.
GRACE: What were they?
MELISSA SMITH: I said, "Bye, baby. See you when I get home."
GRACE: I bet you have replayed that in your mind a million times.
Greg, do you recall?
GREG SMITH: Yes. When she left the house and she said, "Bye, dad. I`ll be at Target. I`ll be back in just a few."
GRACE: And John?
BIERSMITH: It was in the morning when I was leaving her house. I said I would call her after I was going to go -- after I was done working and talk to her about what we were doing that night. And she said all right. And that was the last thing I said.
GRACE: I bet you three, like so many crime victims, have replayed those words a million times. And I`ve got to tell you, they were happy words and happy memories that you`ll have with you, thank God in Heaven, thank God in Heaven.
MELISSA SMITH: Yes, ma`am.
GRACE: Joining us also, a special guest, Eric Hillmer, a friend of Kelsey, that organized the search party. Eric, that was quite a task. Why did you take on that huge task?
ERIC HILLMER, FRIEND OF KELSEY SMITH: You know, we wanted to find her, but, I mean, it wasn`t just me. We had over 400 volunteers there. I mean, they were there every day. They worked extremely hard to find her. And, obviously, it wasn`t the outcome we were looking for, but, you know, everyone loved her. And we had people...
GRACE: And we just want to say thank you. And you have been a real model for other people.
And to Don Mapes who organized a prayer vigil last night, what possessed you to take on that role?
DON MAPES, MEMBER OF KELSEY SMITH`S CHURCH: We just knew that the family and friends needed a place to come. And at first, the prayer vigil had been planned to simply pray and encourage one another. And after we got the terrible news in the afternoon, it turned into an opportunity to give people a place to come and grieve and cry together.
GRACE: Everyone, joining me right now, Phillip Messina and Holly Sebeli (ph) with Modern Warrior Defense Tactics Institute. We want to help. Out to you, Phillip and Holly, she was abducted from her car. What is your advice?
PHILLIP MESSINA, SELF-DEFENSE EXPERT: Well, my advice is, in car abductions, they always happen in confined spaces, either just inside or just outside the vehicle. So if Holly is inside her vehicle, the trick is, when I try to either pull her out or push her further in, she has to take advantage of the little space (INAUDIBLE) push her out, she has to put me in a position where I want to get out.
GRACE: I would never have thought about -- what about if she`s outside of the car?
MESSINA: Now, if she`s outside the car -- we`ll pretend this is the side of the car -- while most people do try to push themselves away, so if this is the door, and she`s getting in, and I go to grab her, she comes into that space where she`s protected, and I have to reach down and put myself in danger in order to move her. It`s very hard for nice people to realize that self-defense is often invading space, not creating space.
GRACE: And in no way are we blaming any victim. We`re just trying to help potential victims. And we will rerun this demonstration on our Web site.
I want to go to Bethany Marshall. A lot of people are scratching their heads over this 26-year-old father of one, a married guy. He really doesn`t fit a profile.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: He does fit a profile, Nancy. He fits a profile of a sadistic rapist with serial tendencies. Often these guys are white, in their 20s. They`re married. They masquerade as normal, married men. Usually the wife is passive and under their firm control. They have children. They usually drive like a family-type vehicle, like a Suburban or an SUV. Often they have a bondage kit, S&M, B&D pornography is very important to them. They`re diurnal. They often strike during the day.
Again, I hate to dignify him by even talking about him, but really these guys do wear the mask of sanity. So they could be your neighbor; they could be your pastor; they could be someone who looks really normal on the surface, but the whole M.O. of the crime is to inflict cruelty in order for sexual satisfaction.
GRACE: When we get back, we are going to be joined by renowned Dr. Joshua Perper, medical examiner. But first tonight, "CNN Heroes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NTHABELENG LEPHOTO, HIV-AIDS ACTIVIST: Personally, I`ve had people very close to me dying of HIV-AIDS. This stupid virus is tearing lives apart.
My name is Nthabeleng Lephoto coming from Touching Tiny Lives. We support often vulnerable infants. Our safe house is for critically ill or in-need children. For us, babies come first. We have to give them medication, even if sometimes they have to cry.
But it`s not just the medication. They start feeling loved. Eighty percent of the children we help are in the rural areas. We go to each individual household. We give them nutrition, like foodstuff packages and medication. We want to discuss their own problems where they feel free.
It`s HIV-AIDS leaving the children with grandmothers. They shouldn`t be doing this, but they have to. I need to support these people. It`s going to go on and on. Believe me, there are times when I really say, "This is too much." But to see them smile, starting to enjoy life as it comes, makes me want to help more and more and more and more. If there`s no Touching Tiny Lives, honestly, all these children that we have helped would have died.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: As you know by now, an arrest has been made in the kidnap and death of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith.
Out to Dr. Joshua Perper, renowned medical examiner and author of "When to Call the Doctor," Dr. Perper, we don`t know the state of the body yet, but what clues do you believe can be gained?
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER: The condition of the body makes sure whether the death occurred shortly after the abduction or not. Whether there are physical injury, which may explain the death, whether there was sexual assault, and unfortunately, that`s a high likelihood that this, indeed, occurred. And most important, whether there`s physical evidence, trace evidence or seminal fluid, which can be checked for DNA fingerprinting, and they can link the crime to the suspect.
GRACE: Dr. Perper, how difficult is it to get a fingerprint off a human body?
PERPER: It`s not difficult, because if it`s a sexual assault, it might be in a protected area, and therefore the DNA may be available, even if it`s available in very tiny amounts.
GRACE: And, Dr. Perper, what forensic evidence do you believe the perpetrator could have left behind, either on the body or at the crime scene?
PERPER: There might be fragments of skin under the victim`s fingernails. There might be seminal fluid, spermatic fluid, which can be tested for DNA and, therefore, if indeed this is the case, a positive identification may be made.
GRACE: And to Michael Cardoza, very quickly, Hall was interviewed as a person of interest. Is there going to be a problem getting that interview into court?
CARDOZA: No. If they -- at the time, if they Mirandized him properly, no, if they had focused on him. But if he was just a person of interest, they don`t even have to Mirandize him, so there shouldn`t be any problem at all.
GRACE: Agree? Do you agree, Pam?
HAYES: Absolutely. There`s no custody, therefore, no Miranda. He didn`t make his statements as a result of being in custody. So, you know, there`s no need to worry about that.
GRACE: Tonight, we are going to stop to remember Army Specialist Coty Phelps, Kingman, Arizona, just 20, killed, Iraq. Paratrooper and paralegal, he enlisted straight from high school, loved making fellow soldiers laugh. He leaves behind grieving family, dad, Robby, stepmom Regina, two brothers and a sister. Coty Phelps, American hero.
Thank you for being with us tonight, and our prayers to Kelsey`s family. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, good night, friends.
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