Suspect is former Emporian
Adoptive family remembers ‘defiant’ child
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Friday, June 8, 2007
The suspect: Edwin Roy Hall, formerly of Emporia, was charged Thursday with premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Kelsey Smith. Hall, who was raised in Emporia, is being held in Johnson County. His bond is set at $5 million.
Long before Edwin R. Hall, 26, stood accused of murdering an Overland Park teenager, an Emporia couple adopted him into their family circle. They had hoped that love and attention would help heal the hurts that had gone before in his young life.
Hall, who made a first appearance Thursday afternoon in Judge Peter B. Ruddick’s courtroom in Johnson County District Court, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kelsey Smith and aggravated kidnapping in connection with her abduction Saturday evening from a Target store parking lot in Overland Park. Hall’s bond was set at $5 million.
Hall reportedly now has a wife and a 4-year-old son of his own.
In 1988, Hall was a child in the custody of what is now the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.
About that time, Emporian Carol Hall read a newspaper article about children who were eligible for adoption and were available through SRS.
Hall and her husband, Don, had a good life together, she said. They already were parents of three daughters, whom they loved dearly, and they were ready and willing to bring in another child to love. The child they chose was 7-year-old Edwin Hall.
“I felt like we could make a difference, help someone out,” she said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon. “I love kids. ... We took him into our home with the intention of adopting him.”
The Hall family asked to keep the specifics of Edwin Hall’s personal problems private, but agreed to talk in general terms about his time with the family.
Edwin, at 7, had behavior problems that easily could be attributed to the turmoil he had experienced in his short lifetime; some of those problems were evident during the short time he lived in their home prior to the adoption.
And the Halls carried through with the adoption plan.
“You think you can give them love and all those things they didn’t get, like support ...,” she said. “It works with some, but with him, it didn’t.”
Edwin seemed to care for his new family, but even with their love and support, the behavior problems could not be overcome. He continued to act out at home and at school.
“Basically, it was he was just real defiant,” Carol Hall said.
The victim: Kelsey Smith, 18, of Overland Park went missing on June 2. Her body was found Wednesday in a wooded area in Missouri.
Behavior problems escalated instead of diminishing and by the time Edwin was 15, he initiated an incident that made it impossible for him to stay with his adopted family. Carol Hall did not want to reveal details of the episode. After the incident, she said, Edwin did not remember it happening.
The Halls realized that the teenager had become a potential danger to other members of the family. They had exhausted all of their options, and decided they would have to give him up for the safety of all concerned.
“That was the last time he was in our home,” Carol Hall said. The Halls hoped then that someone would be able “to get him the help that he needed.” At that time, all of the help available to them had not made a difference for Edwin.
“Everything that was ever suggested, our family tried,” said Sheila Garza, one of Carol and Don’s daughters. Edwin’s experiences in his early years may have been too much to overcome. “So much damage is done, there’s nothing you can do.”
The Halls had no contact with Edwin after he was returned to SRS custody, until three or four years ago, Carol Hall said.
Edwin Hall called the family and Carol Hall made arrangements to meet with him. She wanted to talk with him and see how he was doing. After the meeting, she felt satisfied that the young man had gotten control of his life. He seemed calm and in control of his life.
“I really felt real good,” she said. “I would have had no fear of him.”
When she saw a news broadcast with a video of a “person of interest,” she did not recognize him. Later, seeing a photograph after his arrest, she realized that the suspect in the Overland Park murder was her former adopted son.
“I’m just so sick for that family,” Carol Hall said of victim Kelsey Smith’s family. “We’re just sick and in shock.”
The Hall children gathered this week in Emporia in support of their parents and each other. The family is close and loving, Garza said, and even now they still do not understand why Edwin R. Hall could not allow himself to be part of that caring circle. They grieve for what was lost in Edwin, but even more they grieve for the loss Edwin may have caused the Smith family in Overland Park.
“Our hearts and prayers are with the family in Kansas City that lost their daughter and their sister,” Garza said. “We would never have dreamed in a million years that this would happen.”
• More on this story can be read in The Gazette's Weekend Edition.