Heartbreaking Footage: The Abduction of Kelsey Smith | Murdered at First Sight | Forensic Files

MAN: Kelsey Ann Smith. [CHEERING] [MUSIC PLAYING] STEVIE MCLEOD: Ever since she was a kid,
she always loved the color blue. My mom nicknamed her Blueberry, and she found this blue dress.
And it's-- I-- it's beautiful on her. She found it at a thrift store because that's how she was.
She loved a bargain like that. MISSEY SMITH: As Kelsey grew up, she was very inquisitive.
She did theater and dance and choir and band. I think band was probably her favorite activity.
GREG SMITH: Kelsey had to try everything that there was. She was always out there exploring,
just like she had been when she was a little kid. [SIRENS WAILING] I don't remember exactly what meal I was making.
But when Kelsey didn't get back on time, and we couldn't get a hold of her on the phone,
it was an immediate sign that something was wrong. BOB MILLER: I got called to advise.
Patrol needed some assistance with a possible missing persons case. CANDACE BRIDGES: Her family had been searching
for her for a few hours and had located her vehicle abandoned. STEVIE MCLEOD: I remembered my dad
telling me, as soon as we saw the car, he said, don't touch anything. MISSEY SMITH: This was a crime of opportunity.
And we don't know if she had left the house 10 minutes later if it would have happened.
STEVIE MCLEOD: I saw that footage, and all I see is just a quick dash of something
run across the screen. We all knew that someone had taken her. BOB MILLER: We see this, and we froze.
The room got deathly quiet. STEVIE MCLEOD: I was fearful of exactly what happened.
I just didn't realize how it was going to completely change our entire family's lives.
[MUSIC PLAYING] MISSEY SMITH: Don't you even. - [GASPS] - What do you mean? I have no idea what you're talking about.
WOMAN: You're in trouble-- - --silly string. - We got silly string, Dad. You better sleep with your eyes open.
MISSEY SMITH: It's Christmas. She looks very happy about Christmas. - She does. - I wonder where she got that year.
STEVIE MCLEOD: When we went to the Alamo, there's these steps. And Mom decided she wanted to get a picture of all of us
in order. So I'm sitting at the top, and then it goes Lindsey, Kelsey, Codie and Zach.
Kelsey has just got the cheesiest, biggest smile out of all of us in that picture.
Just super happy. It's one of my favorite photos of all of us. Little did we know would only have a few more years left.
MISSEY SMITH: When I met Greg, I had already had my oldest daughter, Stevie, from my previous marriage.
And then we had our daughter Lindsey just shortly after we got married. And now we have five kids.
GREG SMITH: Kelsey was the only one that we planned. All the others were you know, miracles of God.
They just came along. MISSEY SMITH: We ended up in Overland Park because my husband is from here.
After he got out of the navy, Greg became a Kansas City, Missouri police officer.
I think Kelsey was about nine. GREG SMITH: Coming back home for me was a big deal.
Overland Park, growing up, I always had fun. I always thought it was a nice place to live.
STEVIE MCLEOD: I never felt unsafe in Overland Park. It feels like a place where you can just leave your doors
unlocked, and you're gonna be OK. MISSEY SMITH: Kelsey had a lot of friends. All of her friends would always come
to our house for everything. GREG SMITH: They'd go down in the basement and play games
or sit around and watch television. Just seemed like our house was the house to come to for some reason.
I don't know why. STEVIE MCLEOD: I do remember Kelsey having a couple boyfriends, but John was--
God, they were just so in love. It was one of those where it was annoying, and it was cute.
He meant so much to her and vice-versa. He loved to make her smile. Her nose would scrunch up like crazy
because of how he would crack her up. GREG SMITH: John was definitely different.
I mean, watching them, I think probably that eventually they'd ended up being married.
June 2 is a Saturday. Missey had gone to Iowa to a wedding for a friend of hers.
So I took the kids to Old Shawnee Days. They had a parade earlier in the day. It's kind of like a carnival type atmosphere.
So we did that, rode the rides, did all the fun stuff, and I came home to make dinner.
STEVIE MCLEOD: I knew that they said that she had gone to Target to get a gift for John.
GREG SMITH: Kelsey came back within just a few minutes because she forgot a CD that she wanted
to take with her in the car. So she came in and got that, and she said-- she says, love you, Dad.
See you later. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] MISSEY SMITH: Kelsey had called me because she was trying to find an item in Target,
this box for John to put cards and letters and stuff that she had gotten him. And then as we were getting ready to hang up,
I told her, bye, baby. See you when I get home. And that was the last time I got to talk to her.
STEVIE MCLEOD: I was hanging out with my friend at my apartment. We were watching the movie about a serial killer going
around killing young girls. And we were all like, wow, that was an intense movie.
And the credits pop up. And that's when I got a phone call from my sister Lindsey,
saying, have you heard from Kels? And she told me that they haven't heard from Kels.
And we all know the rules. You leave a spot, you call and let Mom and Dad know. MISSEY SMITH: That whole trip home,
I just keep calling and texting and communicating with Greg and Lindsey and everyone.
And there was no sign of Kelsey anywhere. So as soon as Lindsey told me Kelsey wasn't answering her phone, I told her to tell
her dad to call the police. GREG SMITH: I worked for campus police, so I was still a law enforcement officer,
but it was on a college campus rather than a city. So I started calling other police departments around here,
just trying to see if maybe she'd been in an accident, see if she'd had a traffic stop, something.
And we weren't getting any kind of information. It was pretty obvious, pretty quick,
that something had gone wrong. STEVIE MCLEOD: I looked at my best friend in a panic.
I said, we got to go find Kels. So my best friend drove me. And we knew she had been at Target.
And there was a road that goes around the mall. And Target and the mall are across the street
from Macy's parking lot. And I remember my grandparents' coming in from one angle,
and my friend driving from the other. And then we just see her car and pull in at the same time.
GREG SMITH: I remember Missey getting here when my parents found the car. So we headed out to the mall, and
we called the police at the same time and said, hey, her car has been located. Meet us out there.
[SIREN WAILING] There was something hanging out of the trunk of Kelsey's car. It was like a piece of paper or a--
a bag or something, which told me that somebody else had been in the trunk. They opened the car.
And she-- she wasn't there. She wasn't in the trunk. It was just very strange. I mean, her car's there.
Her purse is there. The stuff she bought for John is there in the car, but she's not there.
And her phone's not there. Those-- those things are missing. MISSEY SMITH: We started looking around
all of the bushes and in all of the dumpsters, because there was no sign of Kelsey anywhere.
STEVIE MCLEOD: I had this gut feeling that her not being in the trunk, I already knew what the results were gonna be from it.
I fell to my knees. And I told my best friend, this isn't gonna end the way we want it to.
BOB MILLER: June 2, 2007 was a typical early summer day. Great weather. No rain.
Just nice and sunny. I was actually sleeping when I got the phone call. CANDACE BRIDGES: The information that
I got was a family reported their 18-year-old daughter missing. Kelsey's car had been taken into evidence
and was being processed by our evidence techs. BOB MILLER: I called the sergeant on scene
and asked him to escort everybody to the headquarters, so I could do the interviews in private.
GREG SMITH: I am a police officer, so I knew what questions were coming. And I knew what to expect.
And I also knew we didn't do it. So it was just a matter of saying, let's do this.
Let's get it over with, so they can go look for the right person. CANDACE BRIDGES: So while the family was being interviewed,
Kelsey's car was being processed by our evidence technicians, gathering fingerprints and DNA and
anything inside the vehicle. We found the Target bag that was in there. It still had the photo album in it.
We found the roll of wrapping paper in the car that she had purchased in the Target.
So there was a lot of evidence to go through in the vehicle. BOB MILLER: I interviewed the parents and the
boyfriend separately. At that point, we had no idea what our interview would garner with John.
BRYANNA FOX: Kelsey's mother and father were immediately disregarded as a possibility, so that led police
to look to the next person closest to Kelsey, which would be her boyfriend. Being teenagers, where emotions and impulses tend to run high,
it would potentially explain why Kelsey went missing, even if she just decided to run
away with her boyfriend. CANDACE BRIDGES: A tactic police use when they're interviewing a potential suspect
is to ask the same questions in various different ways. John appeared genuinely upset and confused by the situation.
His story remained consistent, which is indicative of someone who's telling the truth.
And we knew fairly early on that John probably was not involved. GREG SMITH: After the interview,
John says, you can ping her phone. You can locate a cell phone. And since Kelsey's cell phone wasn't there
and Kelsey wasn't there, the assumption was that the phone was with her. MISSEY SMITH: I started contacting
our cell phone provider. And we just could not get them to understand. I even said to one person, my child is missing.
I need you to help me find her. GREG SMITH: Technically, the phone was in Missey's name,
but because Kelsey was 18 and in possession of the phone, the cell phone provider wouldn't
release that information. And they don't have a legal obligation to do that. BOB MILLER: The next morning on Sunday
when Kelsey still had not been found, it was very concerning to us. We still didn't know if she was missing
or just didn't want to be found. MISSEY SMITH: Her siblings and friends immediately started making a poster about a missing person.
And I remember giving them, like, my last $30 to go get copies made so that they
could start distributing it. And Stevie and Lindsey were doing what they could with meeting with the press or talking to reporters.
LINDSEY SMITH: Kelsey, if you're out there watching us, we're coming. We're not gonna stop until you're home.
Nothing is gonna stop us from bringing her back with us. BRYANNA FOX: Kelsey's father was a police officer,
meaning that it was even worse that her car was found, but Kelsey was not. Unfortunately, I think he probably
knew that given the circumstances, this looked very, very bad for his daughter. GREG SMITH: I kind of started operating in what
my family calls cop mode. I just looked at it from an evidentiary point of view,
more as a police officer than as Kelsey's dad, because the longer this went on, the more scared and nervous Kelsey's dad got.
But the cop could kind of keep it together. [MUSIC PLAYING] MISSEY SMITH: Here, let's turn it sideways.
That way when we're watching the video-- I do still have that outfit. It's a sailor one.
It's pink sailor. GREG SMITH: My name is Nono. MISSEY SMITH: That's exact-- we still have that shirt.
Surprise. We actually got her a shirt that said, "My Name is Nono" because she was very curious.
Got into everything. Wrote on the walls. The lipstick. Remember those blinds you got me,
and she wrote on them with lipstick? GREG SMITH: Yep. STEVIE MCLEOD: Oh, man. Kelsey loved to push mom's buttons.
She knew what mom's pet peeves were and burping was one of them. So yeah, she would chug a soda.
And then she would purposely just do the biggest belch. And then the same smile she's got on her face in this picture
is how she would be after she burped. Just like, haha, what are you gonna do about it?
You love me. CANDACE BRIDGES: We gathered a lot of information from a lot of people, but nothing added up to a reason
for Kelsey's disappearance. Kelsey was not a runaway risk. She had never done anything like that before.
BOB MILLER: Kelsey's parents advised she was last seen shopping at Target. So the next morning on Sunday, we went to the store
at 10:00 AM when they opened to give us the footage we needed. CANDACE BRIDGES: When we viewed the video,
it was on a very small screen, and the quality was poor. Looking at the video, we didn't see anyone approach her.
We didn't see her speak to anyone inside the store. And we set that video aside.
And in the essence of timing and speed to try and find her, it was now time to ask the public for their help.
ANCHOR: 12 days ago, video captured Kelsey Smith as she walked the stage to graduate high school.
Saturday night, surveillance cameras show the 18-year-old walking out of a local Target store
and into apparent trouble. Her car was found hours later by the teen's grandparents
at a mall across the street. Hundreds of volunteers will set out again today, passing
out fliers looking for Kelsey. BOB MILLER: After the first 48 hours, my boss initiated a metro squad which
reaches out to all the metropolitan area agencies. CANDACE BRIDGES: We moved to the Overland Park Command
Center, which was larger. And what we had at the command center was walls that acted as projection screens.
We projected the video on the wall. - We watched 47 different angles of video. And each one of those angles that we
caught an image of Kelsey in, several seconds later, you would see this gentleman in the white shirt and
the brown shorts walking nearby. CANDACE BRIDGES: This is Kelsey walking into the Target,
wearing her pink tank top and black shorts. Kelsey's walking through the store. She's selecting her items and making
her way to the cash register. Shortly after Kelsey walks by the jewelry counter,
you can see someone following close behind her. And he's looking around, making sure
that he sees what Kelsey is doing and where she's going. BOB MILLER: And the whole time as we're
sitting there watching that, it made us feel like we're watching a lion hunt his prey.
And it was clear to me that this wasn't his first time. She's oblivious. She wrote a check for purchase.
She exits here. And by this time, he is pretty much back to his truck, if not close to it.
You see Kelsey. She's here at her car. Places her items in the passenger side. Walks around the back side.
You'll see quick flash. That's what started it for us was that quick flash. - At that moment, we knew that Kelsey had
been taken against her will. BOB MILLER: Once we started walking backwards through the video, we were able to see
his blue 1979 pickup truck driving around the back side of the store. In the last frame of that is basically
the picture of the pickup truck that we sent the media. ANCHOR: Police in Kansas are still trying
to find 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, who was abducted over the weekend. On Tuesday, police released surveillance tape
that, from a distance, shows her being forced into her car outside a Target store
in Overland Park and then a pickup truck that may have been driven by a man involved in her disappearance.
MISSEY SMITH: The police had brought Greg and I to their command center. When we saw the footage of Kelsey being taken,
we just knew that it wasn't good and prayed that we would at least get to bring her home.
STEVIE MCLEOD: When I saw that footage, you can see clearly that he was stalking her,
that he was preying on her. It's an image that I will never get out of my head. Just her walking in so happy, so carefree, having no idea
what's about to happen to her. BOB MILLER: We knew we were looking for a stranger at this point.
We had a vague description of a white male, dark hair, a white t-shirt and dark colored shorts,
which is probably a description of 30% of the people out there shopping that day.
CANDACE BRIDGES: We were able to get a very good facial shot of him. Once that image went out into the media,
the tips hotline started getting overwhelmed with calls. BOB MILLER: Overall, we had 1,700 leads and
we followed up on 1,100 them. BRYANNA FOX: This was somebody that looked like they were probably from the area,
because he had either Kansas or Missouri plates. This suggests that this was somebody who was
familiar with this location. BOB MILLER: The footage was provided to America's Most Wanted.
And information that we gave to the local media gave us three leads, two from a neighbor
and one from a friend of his. [SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC] We hadn't received any information yet
from the cell phone company, but the FBI and the DEA were able to give us the last known location
for Kelsey's cell phone. So there was a couple of communications at Oak Park Mall, a couple communications
along 435 highway. And as they made their way at the park near Longview Lake, the phone was pinging and giving us locations.
CANDACE BRIDGES: Her last known location was less than two hours after she left the Target.
So I was not optimistic that we were going to find her alive. BOB MILLER: The information we got was, like, at 8 o'clock.
Too late to start a search because the daylight was going away. So at 7:00 AM the next morning, we started the search
at the cell site tower. When the officers arrived at the cell site tower, they had information that Kelsey's last known location
was 1350 feet east by northeast of the cell phone tower. So the officers walked directly, almost to her body
down here in the ravine. CANDACE BRIDGES: It was obvious that it was her. We found her same pink tank top and
shorts that she was seen in the Target video were laying not far from the body. BOB MILLER: It was clear that she had been lured here or
brought here against her will. There was signs of a struggle. The ground around her body was disturbed
And it was clear that she had struggled for a long time due to the injuries on her hands
and around her neck. Obviously, with time, evidence deteriorates. So the detectives and the crime scene investigators
were working against the clock and make sure they got everything they needed. CANDACE BRIDGES: I felt like we had failed.
But on the other hand, I knew that we needed as much evidence and information as we could gather in order
to get justice for Kelsey. STEVIE MCLEOD: On June 6, we were at the Target command center.
The detectives and the chief of police came up to me and asked me if I knew where my parents were.
And I said, I think they're at home. And why? And they said, it's important. We need to talk to them.
- And we got a call from Captain Frederickson. And he said to Greg, I need to talk to you.
GREG SMITH: And I said, is this news that we need to brace for? And-- he said, yeah, you better brace.
MISSEY SMITH: We were waiting at the end of our driveway for him to come and tell us that they had found Kelsey
and she wasn't alive. And I just lost it and started screaming, not my Kels. Because I knew that, yeah, it was my Kels.
STEVIE MCLEOD: We pull up to my parents' house, and Mom and Dad are sitting on the back of Dad's truck.
And they're both so broken. Dad's face. I've never seen my dad cry like that. I remember seeing him take a deep breath,
because now they've got to tell us what they've just found out. And I just remember screaming, no, no.
I don't want to hear it. No. GREG SMITH: Stevie kind of folded up out here in the lawn.
I think I may have even picked her up and carried her inside. I don't remember for sure.
Lindsey, I know her boyfriend picked her up and carried her inside because she was so upset.
And then Codie saw it on television. STEVIE MCLEOD: I love the media for what they can do when people are missing,
but I hate the media for not giving the authorities enough time to let the family know first.
Because while my parents are being told that their daughter is killed, my little sister and brother are inside the house
watching it on TV. That's how they found out that their older sister was killed because of the helicopters above.
CANDACE BRIDGES: When we received the name Edwin Hall, we set about trying to locate him as quickly as possible
because if the public is seeing these images on the news, then the suspects are seeing those images as well.
BOB MILLER: At that point, we got a call from an attorney advising he had a young man by the name
of Edwin Hall, who was the person in the video that had been on the news. The suspect was 24 and married with a five-year-old child.
- We were told by his co-workers at his place of employment that he saw his image on the news,
and he left work to go contact an attorney. BOB MILLER: Once Edwin was at the station,
his attorney arrived a short time later. We started the interview, introduced ourselves.
He did good handshake. Looked you directly in the eye. And he basically asked for our information.
What do you guys have? And that's not the way-- that's not the way these interviews go.
STEVIE MCLEOD: After we found her body, and we had a little time to grieve as a family, Mom,
Dad and I did another conference to let everyone know that she had been found and to thank them for helping us.
No, it's not the outcome we wanted, but we still wanted everyone to know how grateful we
were that they helped us look for our loved one when they didn't have to. - She could walk into a room of strangers
and walk out with a room full 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. STEVIE MCLEOD: It was later on that evening
that the police released the identity of her killer. His name and everything. ANCHOR: Police in Kansas have arrested
a suspect in the murder of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith. Edwin Hall, police say, appears to be
the person of interest identified on the store surveillance video. BOB MILLER: I got a phone call from Wichita lieutenant
who advised he had dealt with Edwin several times as a juvenile. CANDACE BRIDGES: He had tried to stab his adopted sister
with a knife during a fight, and he had attacked a another man with a baseball bat.
BOB MILLER: The detectives told me that Edwin always had that demeanor of catch me
if you can, and that was the same demeanor he brought to the interview. GREG SMITH: The initial interview was about four hours.
That's what Bob told me. And he said he acted like he was the smartest guy in the room.
BOB MILLER: I decided I was going to put some photos of Kelsey in front of Hall because we were basically getting nowhere.
So I pushed some photos in front of him. He said, oh, I did see her. She's got nice legs.
And that gave us kind of a hook. And that was at the point his attorney said, we're done.
No more questions. He had completely stonewalled his attorney into believing he was innocent.
CANDACE BRIDGES: When he first came in with his attorney, he voluntarily submitted his DNA and his fingerprints.
So while Edwin is there being interviewed with his attorney, we get a call from the crime lab.
BOB MILLER: And on his way out the door, he laughed at us and said, is that all you got?
And at that point, I got a text message from my boss saying that Edwin's thumbprint had been mashed in the seat
belt buckle of Kelsey's car. And I told Edwin, we are charging you with homicide and kidnapping.
And he screamed something inaudible. And I just turned turn around and walked away.
I knew right away I was gonna give Kelsey's family some closure. CANDACE BRIDGES: During the autopsy,
they discovered that Kelsey had been strangled. The autopsy also revealed that Kelsey
had been sexually assaulted. And the presence of bleach was found on her body. It had been poured on her intentionally
the next day to try and wipe away any DNA evidence. BOB MILLER: We saw the scratch marks on his legs
during the interview. And he had a couple on his hands too. Tried to play it off, but everything
collected at the crime scene had his DNA on it or hers. STEVIE MCLEOD: I know Kelsey fought off her attacker.
His DNA in her fingernails. I know my sister fought for her life. She absolutely would have.
GREG SMITH: To kind of get away from people and to cope with what was happening,
I took this guy's mug shot and I went to the shooting range. And you're not supposed to do rapid fire, but I was.
And the range master came out and said, hey, you need to slow down. I said, I'm sorry, I'm Kelsey Smith's dad.
And he looked downrange and saw what I was shooting at. And he says, yeah, go ahead.
- OK, Kelsey-- - It's a list. And it's a box. How cute. STEVIE MCLEOD: Oh, shut up and open it.
- Show everybody. - It's a box with me on top. - This is the box for your birthday
celebration, everybody. In this box are several symbols to help Kelsey-- Kelsey.
KELSEY SMITH: Kelsey. GREG SMITH: Kelsey celebrate her 16th birthday. That was the letter that I wrote--
- --get to read. - --that I wrote to your future husband. - Did you cry? - That he gets on-- on your wedding day.
STEVIE MCLEOD: It's probably a blank piece of paper. It's probably just a blank piece of paper,
and then he'll just switch it-- LINDSEY SMITH: At the bottom, it's signed, good luck.
[LAUGHTER] That's it. - Yours just says, God help you. - I know. - No, actually, yours says, look out.
[LAUGHTER] - You're mean. GREG SMITH: After Kelsey was killed, I gave the letter to John.
The letter to the future husband because I thought he should have it. John, he used to come around, and then over the years,
he stopped. And I-- I think it hurts too much for him to come over here. I think Kelsey was the one for him,
and John was the one for Kelsey. We were kind of at a loss as to what to do for a funeral
for an 18-year-old girl. And John told us. He said, I know what she wants. MISSEY SMITH: We said, how did you know?
And he said, because she talked to me about her funeral before she talked to me about her wedding.
STEVIE MCLEOD: I remember her funeral just being massive, huge. People waiting in line for hours
just to come in to pay their respects to us. MISSEY SMITH: It went on until way past midnight.
There were so many people. And if they came out to honor our daughter, we were going to say thank you for them coming out.
STEVIE MCLEOD: She said she didn't want people to grieve and be sad. She wanted people to be happy and celebrate who she was.
Obviously, she had no idea it would be so soon, but her wishes were met as much as we could.
GREG SMITH: Kelsey, like Belle from "Beauty and the Beast," she said that when she went to prom,
she was going to wear a dress like Belle, and she actually did. That's the dress that we ended up burying her in.
The Belle dress. [MUSIC PLAYING] CANDACE BRIDGES: Hall was being charged with first degree homicide, still claiming innocence.
He had entered a plea of not guilty. BOB MILLER: The district attorney was pushing for the death penalty.
We knew his narcissism would take over. And we knew at some point, in order to avoid the death penalty, he and his team
would probably be willing to give some concessions. CANDACE BRIDGES: He asked for a plea deal
and asked that the death penalty will be removed. So that information was taken to Greg and Missey
to see if they would agree with it. GREG SMITH: But a friend of ours told us that this is the best deal for us,
because if it's a death penalty case, it's gonna keep coming up and coming up and coming up.
So we got to where we were OK with that. BOB MILLER: During Hall's confession, he basically lined out his entire day.
He said he had spent the morning on adultfriendfinder and couldn't find anybody to hook up with,
so he decided he was gonna go to Oak Park Mall, trying to engage with random females,
sometimes making lewd comments. Later on, he decided he was gonna drive over to the Target store.
CANDACE BRIDGES: Edwin confessed that he had a handgun when he approached Kelsey
in the Target parking lot. He shoved her into the driver's seat of her vehicle, and he climbed into the back seat behind her.
BOB MILLER: Once they got out to the park, she was pleading to let her go. And he goes, well.
I'll tell you what, if you have sex with me, I'll let you go. CANDACE BRIDGES: He took her belt out of the car
and used that to strangle her. BOB MILLER: He covered her up with the sticks, and he left the area and drove her car back to the mall.
And then he walked back across the mall to his truck. So we were able to connect him completely
from start to finish. BRYANNA FOX: Edwin Hall could not identify with the pain that Kelsey went through, or the immense amount of trauma
her family was experiencing. MISSEY SMITH: I was angry and upset that my child had been taken.
And just-- I had this overwhelming emotion because it just wasn't fair. BRYANNA FOX: On September 16, 2008,
Edwin Hall was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the sexual assault and murder of Kelsey Smith.
GREG SMITH: He looked at us and said he was sorry. My personal feeling was that the only thing he's
sorry for is he got caught. MISSEY SMITH: The Kelsey Smith Foundation is the foundation
that Greg and I started after Kelsey was murdered, because we wanted to make a difference.
STEVIE MCLEOD: My parents go around educating, like, high schoolers and young people
on how to be aware of your surroundings. The foundation also helps to try to get Kelsey's law passed.
GREG SMITH: The Kelsey Smith Act says that a cell phone provider shall provide location
information on a phone in an emergency situation at the request of law enforcement.
And we know that it works because we hear stories from law enforcement agencies all over the United States that
have used it. CANDACE BRIDGES: Greg and Missey took a tragedy that happened to their family
and turned it into something good. And I can't even begin to know or understand how many lives
that that has probably saved. I think that is the gift that Kelsey gave to all of us
is helping other people. MISSEY SMITH: We talk about her constantly. She is still a member of our family.
She's still my daughter. I just parent her differently now. STEVIE MCLEOD: You just hold on to every memory
you can because you don't want to forget her. I don't want to forget her laugh. She wouldn't want us, any of us, to give up.
We need to keep moving on as a family and sticking together and staying close. I just miss my sister.
- I wish I could hear her laugh again or just sit and talk. She was always happy.
She was always outgoing. She was always looking to have fun. And that's the way I choose to remember.
[MUSIC PLAYING]

A frantic search for teen Kelsey Smith is underway after she disappears following a visit to the local Target.

Murdered At First Sight is a true crime documentary series that tells the first-hand stories of the most complex and hard-to-solve homicide cases: murders committed by strangers.

Brief Summary

Kelsey Smith was abducted and murdered in 2007; her family advocates for safety laws in her memory.

Key points

Kelsey's Last Day. Kelsey was last seen shopping at Target, a normal day that turned tragic.
The Discovery of Kelsey's Car. Kelsey's abandoned vehicle was found, raising alarms about her safety.
The Search Begins. Family and friends mobilize to find Kelsey after she goes missing.
The Heartbreaking News. The family receives devastating news about Kelsey’s fate.
Kelsey Smith's Tragic Story. Kelsey Smith was murdered, leading to a family's heart-wrenching journey for justice.
The Kelsey Smith Foundation. In the wake of tragedy, Kelsey's parents established a foundation to promote safety and awareness.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Don't you even.

A moment of tension and surprise.

2:43WatchSep 12, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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