Kansas Police Anxious to Locate Suspect in Teen Girl's Murder (VIDEO)

Police agencies including the FBI are looking for the suspect or suspects in the tragic kidnapping and murder of 18-year old Kelsey Smith of Overland Park.

Video clips: Overland Park, Kansas and Youtube

(OVERLAND PARK, Kansas) - Investigators on the Kansas/Missouri border discovered a body at approximately 1:30 PM Wednesday, in an area that was part of an intense search for a missing teenager who had been abducted from a Target store Saturday.

Kelsey Smith had just graduated from high school

Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass shared the bad news with the family this afternoon, "Pending completion of forensics examination, we believe we have found Kelsey Smith."

He says it was a heart wrenching event and it is the last news that a police officer wants to share with parents and loved ones. Kelsey had just graduated from high school two weeks earlier.

"I want to express my sincere condolences to Kelsey’s family and friends for their loss. I promise them that we will continue to exert every effort to solve this case and bring those involved in her abduction and death to justice."

Officer Matt Bregel their agency deployed more than 200 sworn police officers to an area in south Kansas City to follow what turned out to be a successful lead, that was related to cell phone signals.

He says that through a detailed analysis of cell phone data, they were able to determine where Kelsey’s cell phone was generally located on the evening of June 2nd.

The investigator says the search of the area began Tuesday afternoon, and was expanded Wednesday to include a larger area. The initial area that investigators had identified where they thought they would locate Kelsey Smith is approximately one-half-mile square.

Bregel explained that the analysis showed investigators that the phone passed through certain telephone cells located on I-35 to I-435, then east to south 71 highway, and from there to an area in the vicinity of Longview Lake park.

Cell phone signals, known as “pings,” occur when a phone is in use, either receiving a call or message, or sending a call or message. Family and friends were attempting to contact Kelsey Saturday night.

Chief Douglass says law enforcement groups worked together to bring the search for Kelsey to a close as soon as possible.

"I also want to express my appreciation and thanks to all of the law enforcement officers from multiple agencies who have worked so long and so hard on this case – and who continue to work on this case. They are a credit to the profession."

Douglass says that because the killer or killers transported Kelsey across the state line, they inadvertently expanded the list of law enforcement agencies that will join in the hunt.

"The discovery of what we believe to be Kelsey’s body in Missouri makes this now a multi-jurisdictional case. Law enforcement and prosecuting authorities from Kansas, Missouri and the federal government are working closely and cooperatively to advance and complete this investigation."

Agencies involved in the search include the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; police departments from Overland Park, Kansas City, Mo., Grandview, and Lenexa; and police academy students from Johnson County Regional Police Academy, Kansas City, Kan. and Kansas City, Mo.

Douglass says they have received more than 200 leads, "which is an extraordinarily high number for a case such as this." He says that amounts to more than 50 detectives and officers from Overland Park Lenexa, Leawood, Olathe, Merriam, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI are pursuing each every lead that we receive.

Additional surveillance video was obtained by the police from Saturday. They released that video, which depicts some kind of activity taking place at the driver’s door of Kelsey’s car. The chief says he wants to emphasize that this video is of poor quality, and they are currently having it enhanced at a forensics lab.

"Until we receive better images, we are waiting to draw any conclusions."

In the video clip above, the store's video cameras capture a while male who appears to be in his early 20's follow the victim into and then back out of the store.

The chief says this case is not over. "We still need the public’s cooperation to close this case and bring those responsible for Kelsey’s death to justice. Again, we ask those with any information pertinent to this case to contact investigators by calling 913/327-5638 or the TIPS hotline at 816/474-TIPS."

Examination of the scene will continue, and detectives say they will continue to seek evidence until they resolve this case and bring the persons responsible to justice.

This is one of several angles we continue to explore on this case. Police say they are still are seeking a “person of interest” who was seen on Target surveillance video; and the dark-colored Chevrolet pickup truck seen in the store’s parking lot that evening.

Investigators in the Kelsey Smith abduction case say they have identified a vehicle that appears to be connected to the case. They are asking the public for assistance in finding what is described as a dark-colored, older-model Chevrolet pick-up truck. No license number is available.

This information comes from newly-enhanced surveillance video.

Douglass says this video is important to their case. * 6:54 PM: the dark colored pickup truck pulls into the same parking aisle as Kelsey’s car, shown in the video clip on the right. * At 6:55 PM, Kelsey is seen walking into the store. * At 6:56 PM, a male is seen walking into the store. He is wearing clothes that appear to be similar to those worn by the person of interest in the previously released video. * Shortly after 7:00 PM, as we previously showed on video, Kelsey was approached by someone near her car. * Later video, time clocked at 9:29 PM, shows the black pickup truck pulling out of the Target lot and turning east on 97th Street. This was shortly after Kelsey’s car was found by her family (9:17 PM)

Police in this town say they think there is a connection and they need to know more. Anyone with information about a vehicle that matches the description and who may have seen it in the vicinity of 95th and Quivira on Saturday evening, to contact them immediately at 816/474-TIPS or 913/895-6300. A reward for useful information has been announced by the Kansas City Crime Commission, according to Douglass.