Kelsey Smith's Body Found in Missouri

(High traffic has knocked CrimeBlog.US down for the moment. This entry is identical to the one posted there earlier today.)

SCROLL DOWN FOR UDPATES.

Less than a week after she was abducted from a Target parking lot in Overland Park, KS, it appears that Kelsey Ann Smith, age 18, has been found deceased in Missouri.

This entry had been updated today with news about a search that was ongoing around Longview Lake south of Kansas City, MO. More than 200 searchers, all connected to a law enforcement entity, were combing the area looking for some sign of Kelsey. Two pings from her cell phone had come from a tower in the area 45 minutes to an hour after Kelsey was kidnapped on Saturday.

Reports from Fox News and the Texas Equusearch people who came in to assist in the search for the young woman indicate that Kelsey was found 20 miles east of the search area, in a shallow creek. As happens far too often in cases like this, a missing person has officially become the victim of a homicide.

I received a tip last night that there was a suspect in custody, only to find this morning that he was not the man being sought -- the 6'0" twenty-something white male seen on Target surveillance videos around the same time as Kelsey was seen shopping in the store.

Whoever took Kelsey first took her in her own vehicle, but he may have not gone very far. That vehicle, an 80's model Buick Regal, was found by Kelsey's grandparents at the Oak Park Mall Macy's two hours or so after Kelsey vanished.

Based on all the surveillance videos released during the search for Kelsey Smith, it seems that the person who took her was on a troll, possibly for Kelsey herself. A sexual predator whose m.o. was to abduct, most likely assault, and then murder teen girls. Perhaps a predator with a preference for girls fitting Kelsey's general age and description.

Girls like Kara Kopetsky. Kara disappeared more than a month ago. This is her MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/melonmouth08.

Kara vanished from Belton, MO, which isn't all that far from where Kelsey was abducted. A MySpace has been set up for Kara's disappearance, as well:

http://www.myspace.com/karakopetsky.

Just as FindKelsey.com was set up in the effort to bring Kelsey Smith home, this site has been created for Kara's disappearance. Take note of the suspect sketch found here:

http://www.findkarakopetsky.com/.

Compare it with the images of Kelsey Smith's likely abductor, seen here.

This entry was posted in part to permit further discussion. Here, also, are links posted in the past in relation to Kelsey Smith:

http://www.myspace.com/bandbaby2007 (Kelsey's MySpace.)

http://www.xanga.com/bandbaby2007 (Kelsey's Xanga Journal.)

http://www.findkelsey.com/ (The site created to help find Kelsey. May be taken down now that she has been found, depending on the family's wishes.)

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/ (Has had some of the quickest updates in this case.)

Fox News is reporting (at 3:37 p.m. ET) that they have new information in about the suspect in Kelsey's abduction and murder. Updates will be posted below.

UPDATE 1, 3:43 p.m. ET

Kelsey's remains were discovered about 40 minutes ago. Fox News has reported that police know the suspect they are seeking. He lives near the location where Kelsey's remains were found. Police are seeking to make an arrest soon. He apparently has a long criminal history.

I'd take bets on whether or not that criminal history is mostly sex crimes, if I were a betting man.

At least he crossed state lines. That makes this a federal case, and may make the death penalty a done deal.

UPDATE 2, 5:00 p.m. ET

Today at 1:30 p.m. Central Time, Kelsey Smith was indeed found by searchers in Missouri. This comes from a news conference held in Overland Park, KS at 5 p.m. ET today.

Kelsey's abduction and murder is indeed now a "multi-jurisdictional" case, crossing state lines. Investigators are still working to gather evidence in the case.

Also in the news conference, a message from Kelsey's family was read, thanking everyone who became involved. There is a meeting being held with the family and Kelsey's friends at Hillcrest Covenant Church later this evening.

Kelsey's body was discovered after the FBI initiated a search in the area yesterday. It wasn't clear from the press conference whether or not a law enforcement or Equusearch volunteer found Kelsey's remains.

Police think only one person is responsible for Kelsey's abduction and murder. They have a number of people they are interviewing at the moment, but they don't have the suspect they've identified, who lives 2 miles from the location, in custody.

Authorities cannot discount a connection between the disappearance of Kara Kopetsky and Kelsey Smith. Belton police are working with Kansas City and Overland Park police as well as the FBI to see if Kara and Kelsey have more in common than their disappearing under mysterious circumstances.

The chief of Overland Park police, John Douglas(s) would not confirm or deny the suspect's proximity to the location where Kelsey Smith's body was found.

Gleaning from the Chief's words -- Kelsey may have been dead since Saturday night.

Additionally, this was not clear to me before, but Kelsey's body was indeed found as part of the major search conducted today in the Grandview area near Kansas City.

Also -- if you post someone's address info in the comments and they have not been named in connection with either Kara or Kelsey, do not expect me to publish that comment. One comment remains in moderation at the moment because it has street address info. I will not publish it unless that person becomes a named suspect.

**NOTE**

I make mention of this because it is a fascinating story, and because it is the flip-side of a tragedy like the abduction and murder of Kelsey Smith: Danielle Cramer, age 15, vanished from her home in West Hartford, CT in June of 2006. Today, she was found alive, hidden in a room under a stairwell like a female Harry Potter, in the home of Adam Gault, a man in his early 40s, and his "common-law wife," Ann Murphy, a woman in her late 30s.

According to USA Today and the AP, Gault has been "charged with second-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree custodial interference, interfering with an officer, risk of injury to a minor and second-degree forgery."

There may be more of Danielle's story blogged about here at CrimeBlog.US later.

She may have been under the stairwell like J. K. Rowling's boy wizard, but I'm afraid Danielle Cramer's story will be far darker and more unsettling than Harry Potter's could ever be.

A side note about Kelsey Smith -- I cannot possibly blog about every missing persons case I learn of, even with multiple contributors to this site. I read Kelsey's blogs, her pursuits in music and theater, and I felt a personal connection. I was a music and theater kid in high school. I dated and was friends with girls who were a lot like Kelsey Smith. It is about my personal response as a blogger, as a writer, as a man -- a husband, father, and brother.

UPDATE 3, 12:34 a.m. ET, 6/07/07

Edwin R. Hall, of Olathe, KS has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and murder in connection with the abduction of Kelsey Smith.

One reader has left a comment on this (True Crime Blog) entry that indicates that this locked profile may be Edwin's:

http://www.myspace.com/.... (link broken. May not have been Hall's page.)

Additionally, a friend of the blog, Lauren, let me know about the following court records. Links:

http://www.jococourts.org/civroa.aspx?which=04LA10221
http://www.jococourts.org/civroa.aspx?which=06LA04263

Lauren also made me aware of a MySpace profile for a woman with a name similar to the woman mentioned with Hall in the records linked above who may (or may not) be Edwin's current or ex-wife. As she has a young son, I am not linking the profile. (NOTE: After both reader comments and my own review of the profile, I believe the woman in question has nothing to do with Edwin Hall. Her husband of 7 years appears to have a different name.)

UPDATE 4, 4:09 p.m. ET

This is a quick update because I'm still catching up after getting some serious rest.

-- You are looking at the True Crime Blog at the moment because high traffic yesterday knocked CrimeBlog.US offline. Simple as that. Rather than have readers be unable to reach the entry they found in search results, I re-directed the page to this blog and copied the entry here. I am able to access the raw html to my blog entries when CrimeBlog.US goes down and able to re-direct URLs, but not able to bring it back online myself. My hosting service for that blog seems to presume that blogs will never receive more than 20,000 readers a day, and the moment my site tops that kind of traffic, the server goes down. I am within an inch of permanently redirecting that URL here and dropping the service altogether. The cost for a higher bandwidth account is at the outer limit of what I can afford.

-- It does appear, as is discussed in comments on this entry, that "Jack" is Edwin Hall. Last I'd checked, I had only grainy surveillance videos to compare to "Jack's" photo. Today, Hall's mugshot is available. Compare it with this photo (for instance) of Jack. Both men also have wives named Aletha, as Edwin Hall's wife is named here. The resemblance, if it isn't the same guy, is astonishing. I am still not linking Aletha's MySpace from this blog entry, and anyone who does make the woman's profile public should remember that she hasn't been arrested for anything. I am frequently appalled at the way the public will attempt to take down the family of a suspected criminal, when often the criminal clearly acted on his own. I believe Edwin Hall may have been living a secret life for some time. Think about Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer. His family had no idea what he was for more than 30 years. Don't turn into a lynch mob and harass this woman just because she married an alleged psycho. Unless Aletha Hall herself is arrested and charged with a crime, I won't write about her or any webpage she might have, except indirectly.

-- I'm going to attempt to put CrimeBlog.US back online shortly. I did not move all recent entries over yet, and some readers are missing posts and comments they made about other cases. Wish me luck.

In Cold Blog

(High traffic has knocked CrimeBlog.US down for the moment. This entry is identical to the one posted there on June 6, 2007.)

One of the newest true crime blogs on the web-based true crime "scene" is Corey Mitchell's In Cold Blog. With a roster of more than 30 contributors, including me and Laura James, a CrimeBlog.US contributor and the blogmistress of CLEWS, Corey has set up a weblog dedicated in part to the spirit of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, considered by many to be the book that gave birth to the true crime genre, not to mention the broader literary genre sometimes called "creative non-fiction."

Published authors set to contribute to In Cold Blog include CrimeBlog.US friends Gregg Olsen and M. William Phelps, who run their own show at CrimeRant.com. Other authors posting at ICB include:

• Kathryn Casey, author of A Warrant to Kill, She Wanted it All, and most recently, Die My Love;


• Fred Rosen, who has written a number of true crime books, such as Lobster Boy, Body Dump, and upcoming in July, There But For the Grace of God: Survivors of the 20th Century's Infamous Serial Killers and;


• Carlton Stowers, who authored Scream at the Sky, Innocence Lost, and To the Last Breath, just to name a few.
  

Corey Mitchell answered a few questions from CrimeBlog.US about this new group endeavor.

How did you, yourself, get into writing true crime?

When I graduated from law school I moved to Los Angeles to further my music career in artist management. After a year-and-a-half of no pay and high stress, I decided to leave the business I had been involved in for ten years and start fresh. Even though I had a law degree, I had no interest in practicing law. Six months after I quit the music biz I spent the weekend at UCLA for the 2nd annual L.A. Times Book Festival. I went to see Clive Barker and Ray Bradbury speak, but I was mainly interested in meeting Dennis McDougal, a true crime author and Hollywood biographer, who was signing in a tent. We met, I had him sign his books that I owned, and I asked him if he was in need of a research assistant. He took my card and called me two weeks later to tell me he just signed a contract with Ballantine to write the story of the Yosemite National Park murderer, who at that time, was still unknown. Dennis asked if I would be willing to help and I jumped at the chance. While we were researching the case in the park another victim, Joie Armstrong, was beheaded by the killer. That was quite the eye-opener for me. Eventually, serial killer Cary Stayner was captured. I was fortunate to interview several people for Dennis including Stayner's mother and one of the lead FBI agents. Dennis's book, THE YOSEMITE MURDERS, came out in early 2000 and I was hooked.

Simultaneously, I had been hard at work on a non-fiction book proposal for my own idea which would become my first book, HOLLYWOOD DEATH SCENES. Dennis loved the idea, agreed to write an introduction for me, and also agreed to introduce me to his literary agent. She was not as enthusiastic as Dennis and rejected my proposal.

Another writer friend of mine, Poppy Z. Brite (whom I also met at a book signing in Austin, Texas several years earlier), also agreed to pen a Foreword for my book and she introduced me to her agent, Richard Curtis, one of the top agents in the business. One week later he called me up, we agreed on a representation deal, and one week after that I had a contract with a publishing house for HOLLYWOOD DEATH SCENES.

My obsession with true crime started at the age of nine when my mind was warped by Vincent Bugliosi's tome on the Manson Murders, HELTER SKELTER. Later in life I learned that Bugliosi's book was highly prejudicial and failed to really dig into the psyche of Charles Manson and his Family members. Additional books on the case such as Ed Sander's THE FAMILY, George Bishop's WITNESS TO EVIL, and 5 TO DIE by Jerry LeBlanc helped me understand that there are so many more sides to a case than what was presented in HELTER SKELTER. It was a valuable lesson that I apply to each one of my books.

How did you come up with the idea for In Cold Blog?

The genesis of In Cold Blog came from a very small private online group of true crime authors last summer. One of the members, Ellen Count, suggested we should create a group blog. Everyone agreed, thought it sounded great, and then proceeded not to pursue the idea. Several months later, I got the itch to get it started (I had been blogging on MySpace for over a year-and-a-half) and got everything in place. Unfortunately, some of the other authors were slow to come on board and I was the main person blogging. Since I take care of my 18-month-old daughter during the day and was working on my sixth book, PURE MURDER, in addition to preparing for the release of my fifth book, STRANGLER, I was too busy to keep up the posting. No one else stepped up at the time so I scrapped the entire idea. That's when I decided that a mass blog would be the way to go. Bottom line is, I was very selfish. I enjoy blogging, however, I could not make the time to post every day. Furthermore, I now get to read a wonderful new post from some of my favorite authors and people every day.

Was it difficult to round up a group of authors willing to contribute?

Not at all. I have been lucky to make and maintain several friendships with other writers over the years. Dennis McDougal, of course, is a fellow In Cold Blogger, as is Aphrodite Jones, who helped give me my big break with Kensington Publishing. I have met several other authors through the years online and have now met some people I never knew before. I was looking for a mixture of established authors like Dennis, Aphrodite, Gregg Olsen, and Carlton Stowers as well as newer faces on the scene such as Simon Read, Sam Adams, and Ron Franscell. That is my music experience coming into play. Most of the bigger bands I worked with made it a point to bring out young, up-and-coming bands to give them exposure, just like they had been treated early in their careers. That is my intent at In Cold Blog, as well. Plus, I hope some aspiring writers will look up to these guys as examples of people who have successfully made it into the business of writing true crime books.

We also have several fascinating people who are not published authors, but are highly important in their respective fields. From crime victims' advocate Andy Kahan to death metal musician Mike Stinski to Joseph Foy, a witness who helped put America's most notorious serial killer behind bars, In Cold Blog runs the gamut of true crime. Not to mention two prominent true crime bloggers, an executive editor of a true crime publishing house, a forensic artist, two criminal profilers, two surviving members of a victim of a serial killer, and a producer of 48 Hours Mystery.

The True Crime blogosphere is a tight-knit bunch, moreso, I think, than other bloggers who focus on a particular subject. How do you view ICB's relationship with the rest of the true crime blogosphere? What would you like for that relationship to be?

Again, my philosophy is inclusion. it is important to me that we all work together to raise the level of true crime reporting and the dissemination of true crime information. That is why I asked blogger extraordinaire Laura James to come on board. She conducted an interview with me last year about my book EVIL EYES and serial killer Coral Eugene Watts. She then told me about you (Steve) and suggested you would be a great addition. Things worked out so that you could be a part of the team and I am honored to have you with us. I am sure I will benefit greatly from your wealth of blogging experience.

I get very bored with false competition, so I will aim to work with as many of the other blogs that are willing to have us. I am thankful to several other true crime bloggers who have contacted me on their own accord to offer me advice on how to make our ship sail smoothly including imahologram, LiLo, The Cellar, Trench, Laura, and you.

I don't think In Cold Blog should be viewed as the behemoth splashing about in the tiny pond. Hopefully, the name value of many of the people involved will draw even more attention to our genre of blogging and lend even more credibility to our field as a whole.

My own true crime blogs tend to focus somewhat on breaking news, stories that are unfolding -- essentially investigative reporting. Other true crime blogs discuss and dissect cases that have already been adjudicated, or sometimes are still unsolved. What direction do you want to take with ICB?

That is the beauty of In Cold Blog. I have no idea which direction it will turn. The only guideline I gave to the contributors was that each story has to be about true crime. I don't won't it to be limited to a specific area within the genre. I hope to see an all-encompassing portal where the readers can come in every day, see fresh content every day, and be surprised by what they read. I do not expect this to be a place where only one viewpoint exists, because I would much rather read varying voices every day. That is not to slight any other blog that maintains a narrower focus -- In Cold Blog simply promises to bring lots of differing and fascinating topics each and every day.

There is no agenda. There are no rules about what slants can be taken. It is up to each contributor to bring their voice to the forum. I have no interest in being an editor of these talented people. I am simply the cat herder whose job it is to keep every one focused on new stories and having fun.

In our first five days we've already tackled topics as diverse as JFK, Billy the Kid, the Virginia Tech massacre, what causes a person to murder, excessive British media, the human cost of convicting murderers, and a Texas death row inmate who has solicited jokes on MySpace that he can tell at his execution. The exciting part for me was that I had no idea each morning what story was going to pop up and I have yet to be disappointed. I hope the readers of In Cold Blog will feel the same way each day.

Until now, the true crime blogosphere has mostly been a grassroots thing, done by average folks who have a fascination with and love for the genre. There might be some skepticism towards ICB from crime bloggers in particular, with so many established authors on board -- that it's just for them to further promote new books. How would you respond to that?

A lot of this question is answered in my previous response. I would add that sure, we are all here to promote ourselves and our work, be it writing books or playing drums or fighting with the State legislature on various crime bills or keeping serial killers behind bars. The diversity of the roster makes In Cold Blog more than just a promotional site for a bunch of authors. We intend to provide an educational bent, humor, access to information on breaking cases, insights into long forgotten stories, looks into the working of a state assistant attorney general, and also provide access to several charitable organizations involved with crime victims or crime prevention.

Sure, we all want to sell books. But with more than 100 published books between us, countless writing awards, and numerous humanitarian citations, there is a ton to be gleaned from the contributors to In Cold Blog, not just marketing.

Besides, all of the writers here were considered grassroots average folks as well. We all had a passion to tell a particular true crime story, worked our butts off to get someone to listen to that story, and made sure the readers out there got their hands on that story. I think most of us are still grassroots average folks trying to get the word out on our beloved genre.

Right now you've got ICB hosted on blogger, a pretty well-known and reliable blog host that can handle a lot of traffic. Do you think you'll ever move to your own domain?

If we eventually are lucky enough to attain the success of CrimeBlog.US, I am sure we will make the leap to our own unique domain. For now, one step at a time. We mainly want to get the word out so readers can find us and enjoy what we have to offer.

Do you think there's a difference in the audience for your books -- STRANGLER, EVIL EYES, for example -- and folks who might read ICB?

I have always been very interactive with my readers since the beginning of my writing career (actually, before that in my music career - I've been online since 1994) whether through e-mail, newsgroups, MySpace and more. In Cold Blog is simply the natural progression for me personally. Many of my readers are internet savvy and avid blog readers. At the same time, I have several readers who think that a blog is some kind of communicable disease.

Also, I am sure I will benefit from someone who comes to the blog to read a post by Dr. Katherine Ramsland, happens to glance at a piece I've written or clicked on my website and hopefully, will like what they see. It can only be a positive.

I believe true crime readers are a lot like fans of heavy metal music. They love their genre. They are passionate about the people who work within the genre. They will support you to the ends of the Earth. And they will support several others who work within the genre. Many are lifers, too. If they like your work, they will continue to buy your books, read your blogs, watch your television show or movie, and trumpet your work to the masses. In Cold Blog will just give them something more to feast on. I know this because I was one of them before I started my writing career and am still to this day.

Do you plan to have "guest bloggers" -- people who may not be on ICB's regular list of contributors?

Absolutely. I have put the call out to several other friends and peers who were unable to participate at this time and welcome their contributions. Furthermore, if I don't know you and you have something that needs to be published please e-mail me at truecrimewriter@aol.com and I will be happy to take a look at your idea and more than likely, publish it for you.

Thanks for answering some questions, Corey, I know your time is at a premium -- if there's anything else you want to add, fire away!

I hope every one of you stops by at In Cold Blog and finds something you enjoy.

Thank you, Steve, for your kindness and generosity. I look forward to your involvement with ICB.

Go Spurs! Lebron who?

*************************

Thanks again to Corey Mitchell, both for inviting me to be a part of In Cold Blog, and for giving some background both on himself and the creation of ICB. In Cold Blog is on the True Crime Blogroll, as well. Bookmark it today.

**NOTE**

To read my first post at In Cold Blog, go here. The entry will be published in my other blogs in a few days. My "featured author" day at ICB is the 10th of the month.

Press Conference in Kelsey Smith Disappearance

***UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF THE ENTRY***

In "Kelsey Smith is Missing," I wrote about the disappearance of the 18-year-old Overland Park, KS resident from a Target department store on Saturday, June 2, 2007.

Kelsey can be seen in this YouTube video entering and exiting the story around 7 p.m. that night. In a video posted at AMW.com (America's Most Wanted), a young man in his twenties can be seen exiting the same store -- he has been considered the main person of interest in Kelsey's disappearance.

Another video was broadcast on cable news networks tonight (June 5). It apparently showed someone pushing Kelsey into her 80's model Buick Regal in the Target parking lot that night. The vehicle then exited the Target lot and turned in the opposite direction Kelsey would have headed to go home.

A news conference about Kelsey's disappearance will be held at 10 p.m. Central Time, according to KSHB-TV.

This is an unusual time of day to hold a news conference, is my only comment at the moment.

This entry will be updated as needed.

UPDATE 1, 12:25 p.m. EDT, 6/06/07

Based on cell phone technology, authorities have deployed a large number of resources in South Kansas City, MO. The "resources" include law enforcement and police academy cadets.

A release from the Overland Park PD, given to major media outlets, indicated as many as 200 people were involved in the latest effort.

Kelsey last spoke to her mother on her phone between 7:10 and 7:15 p.m. on Saturday night. About an hour after Kelsey vanished, her phone did ping a tower in that area of Kansas City. Speaking to Fox News, an FBI agent related the preceding and indicated that the area where the search is occurring is heavily wooded in spots.

Also mentioned in the Fox alert -- no civilian volunteers are participating in the new search. The federal agent who was interviewed stated that this was because evidence might be found in this effort, and law enforcement would be needed to process that evidence.

A press conference is expected to occur at 1 p.m. ET, 12 Central Time.

UPDATE 2, 1:00 p.m. ET

In the news conference held at noon (CT), broadcast locally in the Overland Park/Kansas City area, investigators gave out some new information about the search for Kelsey Ann Smith.

The search includes members of the FBI, DEA, and police academy students, as well as more than 50 detectives from municipalities including Lenexa and Olathe, KS.

Apparently the ping from the cell tower could have come from Kelsey's family attempting to contact her after she disappeared on Saturday. Pings come from calls in to a number or calls out from that phone. The officer giving out info in the presser wasn't sure as to whether a ping on a cell tower could be distinguished by the source -- the person with the phone or calls coming into the cell.

The last ping from Kelsey's cell was actually at 7:56 p.m. on June 2, 2007. The area currently being searched -- the Longview Lake Park area -- was near the only tower that received two pings related to Kelsey's cell number. The pings occurred about 12 minutes apart, according to police.

In the news conference they also directed those with an interest in Kelsey's case to the website created to aid in finding the young woman:
(High traffic has knocked CrimeBlog.US down for the moment. This entry is identical to the one posted there earlier this week.)

http://www.findkelsey.com.

Police also announced a new tipline number: 913-327-5638.

NBC Action news has the text of the officer's prepared statement from the press conference here. Thanks to Tim for posting the link in the comments.

UPDATE 3, 3:02 p.m. ET

Tim Miller of Texas Equusearch has told a Fox News producer that Kelsey Smith's remains have been found 20 miles east of the search area around Longview Lake.

An Australian 'Zodiac Killer'? Is a serial killer stalking a crime blog, sparking a media frenzy?

(This entry was authored by Michael Warren, and first posted at CrimeBlog.US.)

In eerie and catch-me-if-you-can fashion, a serial killer may be blogging about his crimes on an Australian crime blogging website.

Since 1994, Claremont, a wealthy upperclass suburb in Perth has been gripped in fear by an uncatchable serial killer. The 'Claremont serial killer' as dubbed by media, is believed responsible for at least two confirmed murders and the disapperance of three others.

On January 27th 1996, 18 year old, blonde-haired Sarah Spiers went missing from Bayview nightclub on St Quentin Ave in Claremont.

With friends that night, Sarah left on her own and was last seen at about 2.10am near a telephone box on the Stirling highway. She is thought to have been murdered and has never been seen since.

On June 9th 1996, 23-year-old Jane Rimmer vanished from the Continental hotel after she and some friends returned there after dancing at Club Bayview -- the same club from which Spiers disappeared months earlier.

Jane's friends left the pub in a taxi and she did not join them. She was last seen at about 12.15am.

On Saturday August 3rd, her decomposing body was found in bushes in the south Perth suburb of Wellard.

Jane was naked and hidden under bushes. A family out walking found her. Her body was in a bad state of decomposition - indicating that she had been dead for some time.

On March 14, 1997, Ciara Glennon, a 27 year old lawyer, also went missing from the Continental hotel around midnight on St Pat's day.

Her decomposed semi-clad body was found beside a bush walking track in Eglington in Perth's north surburbs on April 3rd the same year. Ciara's body had been covered with branches and bushes.

After that discovery police confirmed to media and the Perth public that they were now hunting a serial killer.

On Wednesday November 8th, 2000, 20 year old Sarah McMahon disappeared on her way to work.

Nearly two weeks later, her white Ford meteor sedan was found in the car park of Swans district hospital.

Sarah's personal items were found in a bag on the passenger side seat. Her empty wallet was found in the boot, (or trunk), of the car and Sarah's mobile or cell phone on the ground near her car.

To send Perth into a further state of fear, a television journalist in Perth wrote at the time that detectives working the serial killings told the father of missing 22 year old Fremantle student Julie Cutler that she may have been the serial killer's first victim.

She went missing in 1988 after leaving a work function at 9PM from the Sheraton hotel. Her car was found in the surf, near Perth's famous Cottlesloe beach two days after she went missing.Her body has never been found.

Now, nearly 20 years after Cutler's disapperance and in a stunning twist in Australia's most extensively investigated serial killing case, an almost 'Zodiac Killer' like contact, possibly from the killer himself.

Since October last year a blogger calling himself ''Dr Phibes'', has been contributing his thoughts about the Claremont serial killer to an Australian leading crime blog.

To read about the latest developments regarding ''Dr Phibes'' click here:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21853031-2,00.html

His responses and descriptions about the case have indicated he has unusually informed and detailed knowledge about the case, that other people following the case wouldn't or shouldn't know.

''Dr Phibes'' on Gary Hughes' 'Gotcha' blogsite contributed his most recent post as late as today.

To see his June 4th post on the blog, click the link:

http://tinyurl.com/2mk2co

On the disapperance of Sarah McMahon for instance "Dr Phibes'' says, "I met Sarah McMahon in early nov 2000. She came to my place for a visit with 2 friends on a Friday''.

''I saw her on the Sunday afterwards. She disappeared on the day after Melbourne Cup ( a famous Australian horse race) in Nov 2000. The Police flew their chopper (Polair 61) over my 1/2 acre place near the Swan Valley, as cause I had met her.They bugged my phone for a while," he says.

In seriously creepy fashion ''Dr Phibes'' said on October 9th, 2006, of the disapperance of 18 year old missing Perth woman Sarah Spiers and 20 year old Sarah McMahon:

I believe Sarah Spiers is in water either in Ankatel (south) or north of Wanneroo. And Sarah McMahon is near Mundaring Wier.Just a feeling i get.

To read ''Dr Phibes's'' premonition about his ''feeling'' click here:

http://tinyurl.com/2rcqvg

How could someone have a ''feeling'' about the location of missing or dead bodies unless they were involved or associated with the crime?

''Dr Phibes's" comments are spooky at the very least. Unlike the 'Zodiac killer' who sent letters and items to taunt police and newspapers, ''Dr Phibes'' seems happy to correspond with Hughes's blogs on a regular basis.

After the huge interest in Dr Phibes's comments, and the consequent suspicion aimed at him today, this suspicious blogger responded with a 13 point list. The list can be seen in the above link relating to the June 4th post.

One point on this list says '' sorry i cannot admit to being the CSK (Claremont serial killer) why on earth would I?''.

He ends his ramblings with ''kind regards: Dr Phibes. Be still and know that I am.....''

Does Australia have its own version of the ''Zodiac''? or are Dr Phibes's comments on Hughes's blogs just those of a wacko?

Robin Napper, a former police detective and a lecturer at Perth's centre for forensic science, believes the correspondence from Dr Phibes has been ''seriously spooky''.

"Whoever this blogger is, he has more than a passing interest in the subject (the serial killings) and is teasing us with his knowledge of all three victims," he told crime author Debi Marshall in her latest book The Devil's Garden - The Claremont Serial Killings.

Gary Hughes told www.news.com.au he had not yet tried to contact ''Dr Phibes'' because of police reaction to Debi Marshall's book and the claim that her book had been "cashing in" on an infamous Western Australian tragedy.

Today Hughes and Dr Phibes did share contact when Phibes was confirming that he did send blogging content from the same email address in October last year and in the past two days to "Gotcha".

Many sceptical bloggers believe that ''Dr Phibes'' is nothing more than a looney trying to gain some notoriety, while others are hellbent that this is indeed the man that has eluded Perth authorities for nearly 20 years.

It is confirmed ''Dr Phibes'' has shared emails with an author who wrote a book about the Claremont serial killings.

Debi Marshall, according to comments from Gary Hughes on www.news.com.au, has yet to meet Phibes in person, to Hughes's knowledge.

If "Dr. Phibes" wasn't a potentially strange twist in the Claremont case, the following is.

At the time ''Dr Phibes'' starting posting on Hughes' crime sites, a 35 year old British man was charged with the murder of an 18 year old girl in England.

Why would a murder in England, so far away from Australia, be relevant to the Claremont serial killings?

Because police say the same man lived in Western Australia, at the same time of the unsolved Claremont murders and his MO used in the murder of the young British girl has ''intriguing similarities''.

Perth police have already ordered the man's DNA records and would have, by now, flown to London to question him in regards to the Claremont serial killings.

Mark Dixie, according to the 'Australian' newspaper, is a pub chef and was arrested in June last year with the murder of model Sally Anne Bowman in Croydon, London.

To read more about Dixie and the murder and to read comments from Debi about the case click here:

http://tinyurl.com/2yrnwt

He was caught for the murder after a DNA swab he provided to police after a fight in 2006 matched the DNA identified from Bowman's body. If that link wasn't enough, Dixie's DNA was left on the ground in another case after he allegedly masturbated in front of a woman who made a call in a public phone box.

To read about the Dixie twist to the case click here:

http://tinyurl.com/ypplfr

Gary Hughes made the conclusion in his blog on Monday October 2nd, 2006 that Bowman fits the profile of three of the girls killed in Perth.

''All were attractive young blondes. And all were killed on their way home after being out at nightspots with friends,'' he says.

Hughes says Bowman was stabbed to death and sexually assaulted.Bite marks were found on her body.

Perth police have never said publicly if they removed any DNA from the found dead girls' bodies. It seems they must have, however, in order to have been able to eliminate suspects during their past investigations.

One final note, according to Perth Sunday Times, Dixie used the alias Shane Turner while he worked in Australia as a chef in Perth in the 1990s.

Dixie was deported out of Australia after he overstayed his visa and became an illegal immigrant six years ago.

Since his return to the UK, no more murders linked to the Claremont serial killer have occurred.

Coincidence? Police have yet to say whether Dixie's DNA has been linked to the murders in Perth. In more recent years, the Claremont serial killings case has sadly been put in to the ''cold case'' files until the recent developments regarding Mr Dixie.

Added to that the strange ''Dr Phibes'' and it seems Australia's longest-running and most expensive unsolved serial killing case is a long way from solved yet.

Or is it?

Kelsey Smith is Missing

** PLEASE SEE UPDATES AT BOTTOM OF THE ENTRY **

Kelsey Ann Smith, age 18, has been missing since the evening of Saturday, June 2, 2007.

According to the Kansas City Star, the recent graduate from Shawnee Mission West High School was last seen leaving a Target department store south of Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas. Kelsey was supposed to be on her way home.

She never made it. Kelsey's car, an '87 Buick Regal, was found in the parking lot outside the Macy's at the mall, 2 hours after Kelsey left the Target. Kelsey, 5'6" with long brown hair and brown eyes, was last seen wearing a pink top, black shorts, and sandals.

Kelsey phoned her mother at a quarter past 7 p.m. Saturday night to let her know she was on her way. Kelsey was to attend a graduation party that night. Kelsey was known to be a responsible young woman and it was this combined with the fact that there was a party she planned to attend that raised the alarm early.

A person familiar with the situation e-mailed me and said that Kelsey's family is, understandably, "beside themselves."

The same person was able to confirm that this is Kelsey Smith's MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/bandbaby2007.

Kelsey didn't really seem to use her MySpace profile all that much. She did list some of her interests, and they included, "marching band, choir, theater, " and books like The Lovely Bones and Pride and Prejudice.

Kelsey listed her place of employment as AMC Theaters, but my e-mail contact said that they believed that she worked for a veterinarian.

Kelsey Smith also apparently had a Xanga journal that she began in 2003:

http://www.xanga.com/BandBaby2007

A little more about Kelsey could be found there -- an entry made in June of 2006 showed that she was no dummy, and a young woman who held herself to some pretty high standards. A portion of that entry:

I wanted to get a 26 on the ACT I got a 25 and I did better in Math than I did in Science. What the crap? That's stupid! I want a recount! Oh well I'm disappointed in myself and now I'm gonna have to retake the stupid ACT GOSH!

As senior year began, Kelsey's excitement was palpable: "I am officially a FRICKIN SENIOR!!! HECK YES!"

After August, 2006, she didn't use her Xanga much. Most likely the demands of senior year and planning for college got in the way.

Where could a girl like Kelsey be? There was no sign of anything untoward, any unusual instability in her blog entries. The way Kelsey wrote about it, mostly she dealt with the kind of drama familiar to generations of teens in their last year of high school. She often seemed to laugh such things off, if her blog entries from 2005 and mid-2006 are any indication.

Seeing that Kelsey listed The Lovely Bones as a book she liked on her MySpace page, I recalled that the novel by Alice Sebold was about a girl who was kidnapped, brutalized, and murdered by a serial killer. The story was told from the deceased girl's vantage point in heaven, as she watched those still alive cope with losing her.

I hope there will be no dark and terrible irony later in Kelsey having liked that particular book.

The search is ongoing in the Kansas City (MO) area for Kelsey Smith. Any updates will be posted below.

UPDATE 1, 6/04/07

A website has been created to help find Kelsey Smith:

http://findkelsey.com/.

UPDATE 2, 11:50 p.m. EDT, 6/04/07

The surveillance video of Kelsey Smith at Target, found here, is now available via Youtube.

Thanks to folks posting in the Websleuths thread about Kelsey's disappearance for this and other information.

KSHB-TV is reporting that there may be a "person of interest" in Kelsey's disappearance.

UPDATE 3, 7:13 p.m. EDT, 6/05/07

America's Most Wanted has a video posted here of the man police would like to question in relation to Kelsey Ann Smith's disappearance last Saturday.

He appears to be a male in his twenties, at the least, with short brown hair and a goatee. Video of a man resembling this description pushing Kelsey into her Buick Regal in the Target parking lot may soon be released, as well.

Please take care when you post a link in the comments. Not every young white male who fits that man's description can be the man police seek. If you are unsure, do not post the link.