Missing Kansas Teen

[Karried]

Take a look... we are close to Kansas.. you never know.. I always think if it were one of my children.. I'd want people to be on the lookout.

FOXNews.com - Reward Offered in Search for Missing Kansas Teenager - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News



OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Police were working leads Monday looking for a break that would lead to information regarding the fate of a Kansas teen missing since Saturday.

Meanwhile, the family of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith offered a $5,000 reward for information about her whereabouts.

Police have gotten tips from people who might have seen Smith, who disappeared Saturday night near a shopping mall, said Overland Park Police Capt. Tom Fredrickson. Other tips about a car like hers or a suspicious incident have also come in, but a lot of the leads haven't panned out, he said.

"Please call the Overland Park police or the TIPS Hotline and let us know where she is at," Greg Smith, Kelsey's father, told KMBC-TV. "We just want our baby back, that's all."

Officials are trying to establish Smith's whereabouts between 7:10 p.m., when she left a Target store, and 9:15 p.m., when her vehicle was found parked outside the Macy's at Oak Park Mall.

Smith had run an errand that her family said should have taken 30 minutes. Her cell phone and ATM card were missing from her purse.

Smith recently graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School and had planned to meet her boyfriend at home after the errand to attend a graduation party and go out to dinner.
Smith is 5 feet 6 inches tall and 120 pounds with long brown hair and brown eyes, KMBC-TV reported. Smith last was seen wearing a pink tank top and black shorts, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 816-474-TIPS.

[OkieKAS]

This is just so sad and scary, I saw her parents on tonight's news.


Latest on Missing Teen Kelsey Smith

Overland Park Police are searching for 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, last seen Saturday night. She was to attend a graduation party but never showed up.



OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Police were asking for the public's help on Tuesday night in identifying a truck from the Target where Kelsey Smith was abducted. The dark, older model mid-1970s Chevy truck with no license plate information was seen entering the same parking aisle as Smith's car on Saturday.

Enhanced surveillance video shows the same truck later seen leaving the Target parking lot at 9:29 p.m., ten minutes after Smith's car was left in the Macy's parking lot across the street.

Overland Park police said that at 6:54 p.m., the truck pulled into the same parking lot aisle as Smith's car. At 6:55, Smith entered the store and at 6:56, a male was seen entering the store that matches the description as a person of interest in this case.

The person of interest's description was described as "close" to the description of the man leaving the truck. He's a white man, about 6 feet, 175 pounds, and in his 20's. He was wearing a white T-shirt, black shorts, and black converse tennis shoes. He has short dark hair and a goatee.

Police said that the person of interest remains just that, and has not been declared a suspect.

Unlike most Target customers, the man police want to talk to walked out of the store without buying a thing.

"We noticed that, he walked out with nothing, yeah, we noticed that, yeah, we noticed that he came out empty handed and that is kind of unusual," said Missy Smith, Kelsey's mother.

Smith's family was asking for more volunteers at the command post at 10 a.m, 2 p.m and 6 p.m on Wednesday as the search continued for their daughter.

There are now 50 detectives working the case including agents from the FBI, following 300 leads in this case.

Kelsey's parents came back to the Target where their daughter was last seen. It's now a staging area for volunteers. The high school choir that Kelsey sang with was meeting at that Target at 9 a.m. on Wednesday to sing "Amazing Grace" for the family.

"It's been great, it's been great, I think everybody realizes it could be their child," said Missy Smith.

The reward is up to $20,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of Kelsey Smith. There are also "Find Kelsey" t-shirts available and half the proceeds go to the Kelsey Fund

Kelsey Smith disappeared Saturday night as she headed home from the Target store near Oak Park Mall. It was the last place she was seen, wearing a pink tank top and black shorts. She went to Target to buy something for a graduation party but never made it back to her parents' house where she was supposed to meet her boyfriend at 7:20 Saturday night.

Whatever has happened to Kelsey has police worried and her family frantic.

"If something happened, she would call, she always does, she always has and for her not to call means that something's happened," Greg Smith, Kelsey's dad, said.

"I just want to thank everybody that took the time out of their day to help us find our daughter," Greg Smith said, fighting back tears.

Her car was towed to the Johnson County Crime Lab. Detectives will check it for fingerprints, hair and DNA, but to find Kelsey they believe their best clue will come from an eyewitness who saw something.

"I mean if somebody does have her, I love my girl, please let her come home," Greg Smith said.

Kelsey Smith graduated from Shawnee Mission West just a few days ago. She plans to attend Kansas State University and study vet medicine.

If you have any information concerning Kelsey Smith, please contact the Overland Park Police Department at (913) 895-6300 or the TIPS Hotline at 474-TIPS.

You can also visit findkelsey.com

A fund has been set up to find Kelsey:
Kelsey Smith Fund
First State Bank
P.O. Box 5188
Kansas City, Kansas 66199-0188

[Karried]

Thank you for posting her picture.

It is just so strange that this happened in broad daylight at a Target parking lot!

I can't believe no one heard or saw a thing.

So very sad.

I just hope they find her soon or she escapes and finds her way home.

[Midtowner]

I don't watch tv news... but I'm assuming that Fox has a 24/7 "Kelsey-Watch" going right now?

[Karried]

I'm watching Live MSNBC - they found a body.

They haven't identified her yet but it's not looking good.

How horribly tragic.

[OkieKAS]

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- (Updated: 3:38 p.m.) - Police have confirmed a body has been found in the Kelsey Smith search near a shallow creek bed near Longview Lake in south Kansas City in a heavily wooded area. Members of the Hillcrest Covenant Church said they have received a call that the body is that of Kelsey Smith. They still plan to hold a prayer vigil at the church located at 8801 Nall Ave., in Overland Park, Kansas tonight at 7 p.m.

[OkieKAS]

Overland Park police have a suspect in custody in the Kelsey Smith death.

Edwin R. Hall, age 26, Olathe, KS

[PUGalicious]

This whole thing really scares me. I have two daughters and now I don't what to let them go anywhere by themselves... EVER! I can't imagine the horror of finding out your daughter has been abducted and then murdered. I would absolutely die — literally — if that was my little girl. I don't think my heart could take it.

[Karried]

I'm with you all the way. My greatest fear in life is having my children abucted or hurt.

They just don't understand why I'm so strict in not allowing them to go alone anywhere or ride their bikes all over the place....... I couldn't bear it if anything were to happen to them.

My thoughts are with this poor family. I imagine they are in incredible, unbelievable pain. I know their life has been changed forever. I don't think I could ever feel happiness again if I were in their situation.. every holiday, every future event is going to be tainted with sadness.

I don't know how people go on and live a fulfilled life after something like this. I couldn't bear it .

[OkieKAS]

They are all together numb from all of the emotions. Losing a child is the hardest thing I ever had to do. My daughter was 15, and the loss of her human touch is tremendous.

You don't just go on, you change, you adapt, just like you did when they came into this world.

You wish you could just crawl into a deep black hole and remain there. In fact, you do, some never emerge. You can not breathe, eat, drink or do anything. Just think of the pain one experiences, the fear, the shock the numbness when you or your child comes close to a near fatal or injurious moment.

That immediate feeling that you get. Everything stops. That is likened to the feeling one has when the child is injured or killed. Everything stops. Then the world goes slowly, very, very slowly by and you remain in a haze, a severe daze.

People often say that times heals...(it doesn't) and that life goes on (of course it does, but it is drastically altered and it is never the same).

Dreams die with your child. Your heritage is severed.

You feel guilty when you eat, sleep.....even when you can eat or sleep.

But throughout all of the fog comes a moment when your child's spirit continues to shine through and you are torn between grief and honor.

To remain in absolute grief makes you feel like your child never meant what you felt before their death. You begin to come out of the numbness to return to a world that now does not include your child.

You can never change and remain the same, neither can your spouse or your other children. Anger and resentment sets in, you are required to be the same Mom and yet, everything has been altered.

How can you be the same Mom or Dad? You can't. Being torn by all the emotions is horrible, so you may choose to remain numb.

You have to make horrible decisions, immediately. This is your child, the baby that you carried and held, the child that laughed, and now you are being forced to make decisions that you would never have opted to ever think about, let alone, have to do.

You are thrown into a system, the business of funeral homes, medical examiners, ones that you never wanted to know about, let alone experience in such a personal way.

You have strangers that take your child away, immediately. You must deal with all the thoughts and circumstances that you are aware of but never thought you would be subjecting your child to. Strangers unrobing them, touching them, and you know that they are having to endure the most horrific of examinations possible.

You are subjected to each and every millisecond of each and every moment in time. The nightmares, you are fully aware of, shall never end. There is no resolution. No time. No reason.

You are empty and nothing will ever be fulfilling again.

You are expected to move on and all the while there is no path to move on to. There are no roads, nothing but darkness.

For each and every moment that your child is away from you, it is torture. All that you are and all that you ever hoped to be is gone.

Yet, you must still be the person that you are. You are lost. You are in a box, in the dark and everyone keeps wanting you to come out, yet there is no door, no way to get out and you just wish everyone would go away and leave you alone.

You will never breathe again, because your child can't. You will be angry at every mundane thing that does. A bug, a mouse, a flower....you can not tolerate the fact that they do and your child doesn't.

A simple box of Macaroni & Cheese will bring you to your knees. Your mind is in turmoil and you must deal with everything that they were that they aren't any more.

Every glass, fork, plate that you have, you will recall it in their hands.....

Everything around you comes into scope and youhave to deal with the reality of every material possession you see before you that has suddenly been altered.

Every voice, every sound, every noise you hear will be them. Words, signs, colors, smells, everything within your existence becomes severely vivid and you must deal with that. Darkness, then bright luminosity, back and forth, again and again.

You never look at the sun, the moon, the stars again in the same way. Where is your child? Your mind and your body craves the child, the touch, the sight......

Seconds become minutes become hours become weeks become months become years. Time goes on and you must rapidly alter for every second that ticks by.

The empty chair at the table.

The empty bed.
Back to the box.

The empty arms.

The fingerprints on the car dash, the windows, the smells of them....their voices, all of them is gone.

Then your mind begins to defend itself from you......you misplace a memory, you go back to the box.....you become wild with fear that the sounds, the smells, the traces, the remainders of your child will fade.

Your life ceases at the moment that your child dies. A part of you goes with them.

And you must rebuild a life that doesn't include them. Back to the box. More grief.

Good meaning friends will tell you anything that they are lead by society to say. Nothing they say can help you. This is a long road that you must walk all by yourself. And if you have children then you must help them even when you can not help yourself.

I recall that my son, who was 17 at the time his sister died, came to me and said Mom, what am I supposed to do, think...feel....?.........I told him that anything that he did would be all right, as long as he never dishonored the memory of his sister. He said to me how can it be that you do not know, you lost a sister and a brother, before. I said, Yes, that is true, but this is the first time I ever lost a child. I am the same as you, now. I do not know what to do, either. If I cry I feel guilty, if I should happen to laugh, I feel guilty. The pain is unimaginable. Your mind bends, this way and that, it twists and revolves, turns upside down, your heart is dead. Yet, you must continue on. Guilt.

I think I often asked myself just how it was that God could possibly need her more than I.

And the God thing......

He wasn't.

He no longer existed.

How could he do this?

My sons were 17 and and 22 when their sister died of sudden cardiac death. One moment she was there, laughing, breathing, (there was no box) .....the next she wasn't. (the box opened up and swallowed me)

The only solace that I could offer my sons was that as long as they remembered her, she lived.
For every time they thought of her she moved closer to the peace, the warmth and the love.

They woke up many times to find their Mom going through her room, smelling, touching, seeking, crying, ranting, raving.....I would toss my self down and wail. Cuss, scream, stomp, beg, bargain....I did all of that.

They often watched as their Mom went insane and then returned, only to climb back into the box.

They would stand and mutely watch as I hugged her ashes to me and rocked her back and forth.

They watched as I ripped up every new blade of grass, every new blossom that appeared.

They watched as I smashed every piece of glass in the house. They handed me the ones that I didn't find.

They allowed me to return to the box.

They stood by me as we went to her classroom and picked up her last chapter of school. 9th grade. Every pen and pencil a knife in my heart.

They came home to find every loose photo of her taped all over the walls. A wall-to-wall collage of photos that would never go on. No more pictures.

They chose her casket, her flowers, her music. I wanted absolutely nothing to do with that.

The day of her funeral we were late getting to the church.....a saleslady didn't remove a tag from a dress and they tried to pry it off emitting ink dye all over it.
The funeral home tried to push her casket up the disAbility ramp at the school and actually got her stuck on a corner. The fire department had to come help get her unstuck.

Whe we walked into the auditorium, we were smiling. Just like her to create all of this stuff so that she could see us smile. When the door came open and a butterfly flew around the room, we smiled.

When Ozzy Osbourne singing See You On the Other Side came on the school's speakers, we smiled. Other people looked shocked! That really caused us to smile.

When they tried to close the casket during her service, her Mom wouldn't let them. Nothing About Me Without Me, that is how our Leslie was. She was the STAR, the princess. This was going to be her finest hour. This was really HER DAY.

The Men's Ninnekah HS Basketball Team carried her to her final place, each and every one placing a white rose bud in her casket. They lit candles and sang The Rose.

We never cried, not in there, in front of Leslie. Her life was being revealed, no sadness should exist there. Shelves all around her were adorned with the smallest of remembrances to her from her friends, a package of Skittle, a bottle of Sunkist orange pop......they left whatever they wished in remembrance of this girl.
It was for Leslie and for them. Her kids and she.

We piled eveyone into the limos and as the brilliant white hearst left amidst the doves and the white balloons and rose petals to take her back to Oklahoma City for cremation, we headed back home, and as we passed McDonald's, all the limos pulled in and everyone ordered Leslie's favorite meal. A Happy Meal with an Orange drink.

A few days later, we drove to OKC to pick her up. They brought her out to us in a black plastic box. Just like on the day she came into our world for the very first time, we, each held her and hugged her. Amazed that she was here.

On the way home our convoy stopped at Garden Ridge Pottery and her brothers located beautiful little girl in a garden, holding her dress up, statue and that evening they placed their little sister inside of it.

My 17 year old took her ashes out of the plastic container and there she was, in a plastic bag. He asked me if he could take her out of the box and I said sure....as he removed the plastic bag witht he cremains enclosed inside, some of them poofed out and fell onto my forearm, his girlfriend screamed and fainted....and he just stood there, in front of me, eyes wide, with a shocked look upon his face and I just began to move my arm up and down singing....ride a pony...ride a pony....ride a pony to tooooown.......
............and he and I laughed.

My oldest son took his sister's ashes and placed them in the statue, and sealed the girl that we loved most upon the face of this earth in her own little box.

And here she sits. 10 feet from where I am, surrounded by little gifts we buy her from time to time. Cards, balloons....

Time and time again, I return to the box. Nothing much makes any sense. We walked through the fire. We are still alive, but for each and every day that she isn't we alter ourselves.

7 years in 2007, the beginning of every new year we are reminded of the girl who lived at our house. In July we send her balloons for every year. It will be 23 this year. On the day of her death, we celebrate her life, with Happy faced balloons, for every year that she has been away.

It doesn't take much to send me back to that box. My family knows it is the only place I can go to remain sane.

We each have our own boxes, whatever we must do to overcome the tremendous loss of her heavenly - human touch is all right, as long as no one dishonors her memories.

Meaning, that the bond we had when Leslie lived here is still there and no one can harm themselves. Slap someone if you hafta, just don't disregard Leslie with harm to yourself or failure to thrive.

There is not a day that her name is not spoken. People who don't like it, don't need to come to our home. Leslie lives on, here, with her family.

If we move, she goes with us. When we laugh or have the need to cry we do it in front of her.

Once I woke up and my son's friend was making out int he living room with some chick (in fron of Leslie!) and I just got a belt and commenced to busting their asses, both of them, and as they ran down the street, tugging clothes back into place.......I was right behind them! (They were over 21).

DO NOT dishoner Leslie. She is perpetually 15.

They laugh about it, now. They better, I still have a belt.

Seasons come and seasons go. We don't do Holidays at home. We altered all of that. We just fly to Vegas and blow money on useless things. We don't need lights or tinsel, we have the stars and the milky way.

The butterflies, lady bugs, birds, stars, the moon assures us that Leslie still "is".

Not only did she grace us with her life but she actually showed us the true face of God. The God that allows us to mourn so that He can comfort us.

I have written her severalmany hundreds of journals, to relate my thoughts to her. I write to her every night.

I still cry, scream, kick, stomp and cuss, especially after another child dies and all of those immediate feelings return. My box is still here for me.

Now it is shaped like a heart. Heart-shaped Box (Nirvana)

I have severalmany programs on my computer that allows me to manipulate her photos, so that I can age her or add her to our photos. I would have gone insane without those.

I go ballistic if a computer goes down, so we have 4 others on standby.

You don't move on, life, simply, moves on around you. Time does not heal....it just allows you the courtesy to alter yourself and your life. You are constantly on a roller-coaster.

For me, I fulfill my dreams for my daughter. I do it every day. I paste on all of the outfits on paperdolls I made of her on my computer. Graduation gown, she got hers. She prolly wouldn't have opted to marry a boy-head....HA! (she called guys boy-heads) BUT if she impresses it upon me to make her a wedding dress, I will.
NOT! teehee

My world might sound hokey...but it is my world and it is the way in which I can cope with her being gone. I let the grass and the flowers grow, now. They are Blessings from Leslie.

As long as I live and breathe, so does my daughter. It may not be exactly what I dreamed of for us, but it is what we were handed.

She tells me she is not an angel.....Angels toil for man-kind, she is at Peace and she Rests. I tell her she sits around on clouds eating cheetoes.

She tells me not to be angry with God, He didn't take her from me, he only was there to receive her home. She says, Mom, He only held my hand throughout my journey, so that I would not be afraid.

I have written severalmany letters to Mary, Jesus' Mother, telling her that her Son has my daughter and it is way past her curfew, so she needs to tell Him to send her home, please.....she says he doesn't listen to her.

Upon this 7th year, I would like to think that in Leslie leaving me to go Home.....God, simply, had her table ready.

I can no more imagine 7 years as I did 7 seconds.

There are no rules. Just a lot of emptiness and a whole lot of gone.

I can have no regrets, Leslie lived life far more fuller than most people, and I know that Leslie Lived. She loved laughter and people, she was innocent and pure, full of grace and goodness......And for now, that is enough.

May God keep each and every one of you in the palm of His hand. Allow Him to comfort you. It is ok if you come to him mad, just as long as you come to Him.

Do not fear a life that holds death, fear only a death that holds no life.

Love your children and do well with them. Love yourself and all of the opportunities that you are granted.

And...always know, that life lived within the box, is perfectly all right.

Love, Kathy













Don't even mention the holidays. They just aren't any more.

[PUGalicious]

Kathy, your story broke my heart. I literally wept as I read your words, thinking about what I would do if I faced a similar tragedy with my own daughters. Thank you for sharing your painful, innermost feelings.

I have a good friend who lost her daughter in a car accident several years ago. I've watched how the grief turned her world upside down. She's never been the same. Your words have helped me understand a little bit more.

Thanks, Kathy, from the bottom of my heart.

[Easy180]

No kids as of yet so I certainly can't even get close to grasping what that would do to a parent


It is actually one of the reasons I am still hesitant to become a parent....Heck I can't even fathom losing one of my furry sons

[MadMonk]

Well, I was finally able to finish reading that (who needs dry eyes anyway?). Sometimes, in the busy rush of everyday life we take our kids for granted and need a good slap across the jaw to remind us to appreciate every moment we have with them. Thanks for that reminder Kathy.

[Karried]

Kathy, .. your story moved me so much. I am literally sitting here with tears streaming down my face.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your story.

It was so beautiful.

It's summer time, kids are out of school and already driving me crazy with their relentless demands.

Your story reminded me that none of that is important.. a wake up call if you will.. to appreciate and cherish every second we have on this earth.

[OkieKAS]

Every life is given a purpose.

Don't live in fear, just be watchful of your babies. Their fate is pre-destined, as is yours.

The only thing you, or anyone one of us, has control over, is how we choose to live that life.

The furry babies count, too. Losing a beloved pet, or anyone that you adore is traumatic.

Never allow the drama of this world seperate you from the joys.

For every moment that you spend enjoying life, nuturing your pet or your child, spending quality time with those that you love, is the one thing that will sustain you in the wee hours of any darkness.

And take lots of photos!

Today is my lil Zoi's 4th birthday. She is my beloved lil chihuahua, that without a doubt, my precious Leslie gifted to me. It was through her tiny little patter of paws that assisted me in remaining out of the box. The tiny little ball of fluff needed me and I needed her.

Even on those days when I dive headlong into the box....she insists on going in there with me.

It is quite difficult to let the tears stream down your face when a little hand or paw is wiping them away.....

Happy Birthday to Zoi!