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Cell Track Law Aims To Thwart Deadlier Crimes

Dan Verbeck
/
KCUR
Kelsey Smith's parents after guilty plea of her kidnapper-killer. New Missouri law would help faster tracking of victims by cell phone signal.

Missouri has a fresh law designed to help track crime victims from their cell phones.

A bi-state abduction and murder helped drive the legislation.

It took time to get permission to ping cell transmissions when Kelsey Smith went missing from the parking lot of an Overland Park, Kansas store five years ago.

 The 18 year old woman was dead in a Missouri field when her body was found days after her kidnapping.

The woman’s loss was remembered by Missouri State Representative Jeanie Lauer who moved along the tracking legislation. It was signed into law today by Governor Jay Nixon.

The law requires phone companies to work with police in tracking cell signals from 911 callers or otherwise tracking them  if there is danger of death or great harm.

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