This is so sad. I've been keeping up with this. She went in to Target during the daylight hours to get a gift for her boyfriend. A guy (who they've shown on camera) followed her in and then left right behind her. The parking lot camera shows a scuffle at her car and her car left. This was Saturday and they think they've now found her body. What is happening that a woman can't even go to the mall during the day without worrying about being kipnapped and murdered?

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Police on Wednesday found a body they believe is that of a teenager who disappeared four days ago after she was apparently abducted from a department store parking lot.

Police Chief John Douglass said the body was found across the state line at a Grandview, Mo., lake. Positive identification was pending, but authorities believed it was 18-year-old Kelsey Smith.

Officers had been searching woods at the lake since Tuesday after investigators isolated two signals from Smith’s cell phone to an area about 15 miles east of the Target store in suburban Kansas City.

Police have not identified a suspect or a motive in the slaying, Douglass said.

This is so sad. I worry all the time about my kids. I tell them about things like this and they think it could never happen to them. What is going on in our society that this stuff is happening so frequently and they think that it is ok. I am sick about this. I wish that somehow this world would get straightened out. I am scared what it will be like for my kids' kids.

We have a girl here that has been missing for a little over a week. I just saw on the news they arrested someone for her murder. It didn't say much, but they have not found a body. And this 18 year old too. I can't believe it. I feel so sorry for the families.

I was just reading about this on AOL...very sad news. I was hoping that she'd be found alive. She was a very pretty girl...what a waste of a beautiful life. It's scary to think that there are killers among us just walking around who have never been caught. ~Lisa

This is right here. We go to that mall a lot. But, that day, we went to a different Target. Maybe unfortunately.... if we'd gone there maybe we'd of seen something. Who knows. This truly was the saddest thing. There was a lot of TV coverage today. Everybody gathered together preparing to go out searching (you wouldn't believe how many volunteers there were). And then the news came that a body was found in the area where her last cell phone ping was from. Then eventually the news that it was her. So much sadness on all those faces. There was a memorial service at a local church tonight. I'm sure it was filled. The man they were looking for was very clearly on camera. And, as they were showing the parking lot where the volunteers were gathered, they were showing a truck that looked like the one he was seen driving. If that's true, he had the nerve to return to the scene of the crime. It's just eerie.

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I hadn't heard about this story-- what an awful thing to happen. I'm so sorry for the family and friends of this girl. I hope they catch the guy and fry him.

Holly

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I've been following this story, and praying for her safe return. This is heartbreaking.

The guy they arrested is supposed to have a criminal history, of course. He's obviously a sexual predator, so heaven only knows how many unreported victims there have been. There is another missing teen from nearby this area, and they are looking to see if he is connected.

There is also a lot of chatter that this guy may have "known" her from her Facebook page. Since it seems she was specifically targeted, it is certainly possible.

You would think that Target, of all places, would have better security cameras in their parking lots! (she was abducted from Target, for those that don't know).

She was beautiful.

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SPJRNTGADL!

I was so hoping this would end up differently. so sad.

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The family of the other missing teen is trying to get the authorities to see that these two things might be related. The two girls were similar looking teens with dark hair. The girl whose body was found yesterday, was found only 7 minutes from the home of the other missing girl. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from the Target where she was taken.

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Target's security cameras are actually responsible for the arrest of the suspect. From the camera facing the exit, you can see he left the store right before her with no purchases in his hands, and can be seen scanning the parking lot with his eyes before walking in the direction of her car. On the camera that was pointed towards the parking lot, you see her put her purchases in the back seat, and then as she is about to get in, you see someone dressed like the man exiting on the other tape run up behind her. They make physical contact and never seperate, and you see what appears to be the two of them getting in the vehicle on the drivers side. The car leaves.

There is also video of a pick-up that he had arrived in. It is sitting there in the lot the entire time her car is gone. He returns for the pick-up later.

If you are looking for these things they are there to be seen. They aren't things you'd notice or find suspicious unless you realized it was a kidnapping taking place. The victim's grandparents went looking for her a couple of hours after she didn't show up to meet her boyfriend at her house, and found her car in the parking lot. Her purchases were on the seat, as was her purse. Her ATM card and cell phone were not found in the car.

Cell phone pings led them to find her body.

I wonder how many kidnappings happen that aren't reported at malls.

Here in our area on the day of the Tech shootings, April 16th, it was reported about a month later that a woman was abducted from the local mall (Valley View) in broad daylight in the JC Penney parking lot. The kidnapper grabbed her at gunpoint after she put some packages in her trunk and made her drive her car to a bank drive-thru where he made her withdraw a large sum of money. He then made her drive to another location, had her put her head down on the steering wheel and got out of the car. She was fortunate she wasn't killed.

She reported it later and because the media was covering the Tech shootings, it wasn't on the news until much later. This happened while the shootings were taking place (during the day) because she said had talked to her husband on her cellphone about the number of victims that had been reported murdered so far that day.

I go to that mall all the time and always park at JC Penney. It's getting to where woman can't even go out in the daylight anymore. What will we have to do -- start carrying concealed weapons??

I live very close to this Target/Mall. It's very somber around here right now. I have out of state company right now, but had planned to go help with the search after they left. It's sick. I don't get why people feel the need to abduct and kill an innocent person. What's wrong with people?

Lisa

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I guess my point was that I wish Target had security actually watching the parking lots...and reacting on the spot...like they do at Meijers here in Michigan.

Every entrance and exit has tvs set up for guests to scan the parking lot before they attempt to walk to their vehicles--and they have undercover security working all the entrances plus the parking lots.

It also helps that Meijers has an all glass front--whereas Target is almost all brick.

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SPJRNTGADL!

In this case, I really am not confident those things would've helped. The event takes all of about five seconds from when you see him come from behind her car and they are in the car itself. Her car was, from what I could tell, probably in about the closest possible slot you could have without being in the handicapped spaces, and it was broad daylight. There were other people in the parking lot, but not right near where the kidnapping took place. They were walking in and out of the building, but not in her "aisle" so to speak.

What you see on the video really doesn't look like a scuffle. While it may've been, seeing it at the angle you do, you just can't tell that it is a kidnapping. In retrospect, obviously, it is, but I can't say that to anyone watching, it would necessarily look problematic from a distance. One could easily assume she and her boyfriend had gone there separately but were going to run get a Coke together in her car or something... kwim? It just doesn't *look* like a kidnapping unless you're looking at it during those split seconds and *know* they're not acquainted.