OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- A suspect was arrested Wednesday evening in the slaying of a teenage Kansas girl believed abducted from the parking lot of an Overland Park discount store.
District Attorney Phill Kline said Edwin R. Hall, 26, of Olathe, Kan., would be charged Thursday with pre-meditated first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Kelsey Smith, 18, whose body was found near a shallow creek bed in a wooded area near Longview Lake in south Kansas City Wednesday, Fox 4 News in Kansas City reported.
Edwin R. Hall - photo from myspace.com
Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said Hall was picked up and questioned after police received a tip. He said he had no information why Smith was targeted, or if Hall was believed to have acted alone.
Smith graduated from Shawnee Mission West just days earlier. She planned to attend Kansas State University and study veterinary medicine.
Smith was last seen leaving a Target store Saturday evening. Store surveillance video showed a man near her who left without making any purchases, police said. It wasn't clear whether he was the same man seen in another video apparently forcing her into her car.
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