Edwin Hall - Murderer, Creep

In June of 2007, a girl named Kelsey Smith disappeared from a local Target store. Her body was found 4 days later. It didn't take too long for a suspect to be apprehended: Edwin Hall. He was promptly indicted and work began on a trial. Today he was to have had a change of venue hearing. Instead, he entered a guilty plea, admitting that he did, in fact, kill Kelsey. One thing many had been curious about was if he and Kelsey had known each other before he took her from the store. In his allocution today he answered that question:

...Hall told authorities that he first saw Smith at the Target store, that he thought she was 12 years old and had "nice legs."

Smith was actually 18.
Kelsey Smith's murder was horrific, but somehow hearing that her killer picked her because he thought she was 12 makes it even worse to me. (Obviously, for Kelsey and her family, that part doesn't matter - they lost their daughter, that she was mistaken for a 12 year old isn't going to add to or take away from that in any way.) Had he not admitted to this, I don't think anyone would have assumed he was actually a predatory paedophile. I think it's also bothersome because it's a reminder that paedophiles can be anywhere around us, and that some of the worst of them may be checking out children while they're out shopping or something else generally considered to be pretty safe.

Tags: edwin hall, kelsey smith, paedophiles, pedophiles