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When successful California entrepreneur Chris Smith mysteriously disappeared in June 2010, those close to him believed he was traveling the world. He kept his family, friends, and girlfriend updated about his travels via emails. But nobody had seen him in about a year, and there was no sign of him except for the occasional emails.
His family eventually grew suspicious and filed a missing persons report in early 2011. Soon, disturbing information surfaced, suggesting that Smith may have been murdered, which was later corroborated by forensics after tests detected significant amounts of blood in his office, where his brother once noticed a sizeable stain. At the time, all signs pointed at his business partner, Ed Shin.
Once Shin was arrested in connection with an unrelated embezzlement case, he confessed that he bludgeoned the missing man to death in June 2010. He also admitted to sending his family and friends emails posing as the victim.
Ed Shin was convicted of felony murder with special circumstances and sentenced to life without parole. He is currently serving time at Pleasant Valley State Prison.
An all-new NBC Dateline episode will chronicle Chris Smith's strange disappearance this Friday. The two-hour episode, titled In a Lonely Place, airs on May 26 at 9 pm ET.
The synopsis states:
"After California entrepreneur Chris Smith abruptly leaves his business, his family initially believes he is traveling the world until the shocking truth comes to light. Keith Morrison reports."
Ed Shin was convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances in Chris Smith's murder case
According to the Laguna Beach Independent, Ed Shin was found guilty of beating his business partner, 33-year-old Chris Smith, to death in June 2010 in their San Juan Capistrano office to take over the latter's stake in their business, a debt-consolidating company called 800XChange.
Shin was convicted of one felony count of murder with a sentencing enhancement for murder for financial gain in December 2018. The following July, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Daily Mail further reported that Shin murdered Smith over a $1.2 million unpaid debt and later claimed that he also took the fall for an unidentified accomplice who helped him conceal the victim's remains.
The report mentions that Shin hijacked the victim's identity for months, sending emails to his partner's family pretending to be traveling in Africa in an attempt to mislead them.
According to the California Department of Corrections, Ed Shin is currently serving his sentence at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, Fresno County.
Ed Shin was allegedly motivated to murder Chris Smith by his desire to settle expensive lawsuits filed against him by former employers
Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy declared during the opening statements of Ed Shin's 2018 trial that the murder was motivated by Shin's desire to settle expensive lawsuits filed against him by former employers who alleged fraud and embezzlement. Murphy further added that Chris Smith refused to approve any settlement amount until he had protection against embezzlement.
Moreover, Smith warned his lawyer against further wrongdoing on the day he mysteriously disappeared. Smith's lawyer received an email from his account the same night, claiming to have accepted a buyout from Shin and informing him about his plans to leave the country and travel the world.
A People Magazine report states that prosecutors believed Shin sent the email after fatally beating or stabbing Smith at their office and then giving his employees a week off while he attempted to clean up the crime scene.
Suspicious emails and blood evidence found at the office were used to implicate Ed Shin in Chris Smith's murder
Authorities claimed that when Chris Smith's family didn't suspect anything, believing it was normal, they began getting emails informing them that he had planned to go on an adventurous trip to Africa. His emails mentioned details about all the fun he was having and the places that he had visited while on the tour.
Subsequently, Smith's family, concerned about his whereabouts and the authenticity of the emails, hired an investigator to dig into the matter and discovered that the emails were sent from within the United States. The private investigators then discovered what they thought was blood at 800Xchange's office.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department ultimately took over the investigation, and the forensics team found blood on the office carpet and ceiling.
Chris Smith's disappearance and murder is set to feature on Friday's Dateline episode on NBC.
