Suspect in Kan. teen's murder could face death

updated 1:49 p.m. ET July 10, 2007

OLATHE, Kan. - The man accused of abducting and killing a Kansas teenager was charged Tuesday with capital murder, making him eligible for the death penalty.

Edwin Hall, 26, of Olathe, was also charged with rape and sodomy — counts that were necessary under Kansas law for 18-year-old Kelsey Smith's slaying to be considered a capital crime. Hall already had been charged with kidnapping and killing Smith, but Kline changed the first-degree murder count to capital murder.

Johnson County prosecutor Phill Kline said he has not yet decided if he will seek the death penalty Hall, but the capital murder charge makes that possible.

"After consultation with the family and law enforcement involved in the investigation and further review of the evidence, I decided and have taken action today to file capital murder charges against Mr. Edwin Hall in the disappearance and death of Kelsey Smith," Kline said.

Kline also said Hall's $5 million bond has been revoked.

Hall's attorney, Paul Cramm, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

Kidnapped from parking lot on June 2
Smith was kidnapped June 2 from the parking lot of an Overland Park Target store. Surveillance video from the Target showed a man entering and leaving the store and showed Smith being forced into her car in the parking lot.

Her body was found four days later in a park on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, 20 miles east of the abduction site. Police were guided to the area by signals from her cell phone.

On Monday, Hall was charged with aggravated indecent liberties stemming from an alleged 2004 sexual relationship with a then-14-year-old girl. Johnson County authorities have not named the girl, but Kline has said she was not Smith.

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