Original subtitles

In this episode of American Greed, Ed Shin is a family man, a churchgoer,

a tech entrepreneur, and an all -American type living the California

I could tell that Ed was driven.

But when his business partner suddenly vanishes, a P .I. takes a closer look

finds a liar, a thief, and maybe even a killer.

The blood tells a story.

Tonight, for the first time, the full story of Ed Shin's dark past, straight

from the victims themselves.

He was such a scary guy.

For too long, their warnings go unheeded.

They just keep getting away with it, and they keep getting more bold.

But when detectives find evidence of bloodshed... Blood is getting flung onto

the ceiling.

The real Ed Shin is finally revealed.

I mean, when does the insanity end?

In Orange County, California, in June 2011, private investigator Joe DeLue is

what seems like just another routine case.

He's tracking a small business owner who moved out of his office without paying

rent, left the place a mess, and is now in the wind.

DeLue's client is the landlord of this building right along Interstate 5.

They advised us that one of their tenants, Ed Shin,

skipped out on their lease early and was in the rears about $40 ,000.

So we helped them try to locate Ed Shin.

We want to find out as much as possible who we're looking for.

And that might be just through database searches.

You check out any property they may own, social media.

Ed Shin, it appears, is a fairly typical Orange County striver. He has a wife,

three kids, and a fourth on the way. He plays golf.

And speaking of irons, he's got a lot of them in the fire.

What we learned is there is a lot to Ed's portfolio regarding property,

regarding vehicles, businesses, shell corporations.

DeLue learns that Ed Shin is one of the owners of 800 Exchange, a lead

generation business.

The type of TV commercial they create may be familiar.

Are you drowning in debt?

Do you owe the IRS more than $10 ,000?

Call 1 -800 -555 -1212. Every down on their luck consumer who picks up the

is money in Ed Shin's pocket as 800 Exchange sells the contact list to class

action attorneys and debt consolidators.

They were making hand over fist money just coming in left and right.

DeLue is about two weeks into tracking Ed Shin when he learns something

shocking. Shin's business partner in 800 Exchange, Chris Smith, hasn't been seen

in nearly a year.

It definitely raises the flag a little bit. Absolutely.

Just because someone's missing, it's not a crime to go missing, but it's

definitely going to raise some questions. Yes.

Chris was very spirited.

He was a surfer, very close to his family.

DeLue learns that last summer, Chris Smith emails friends and family with

news. He's cashed out of 800 Exchange for a cool million, and he's finally

what he wants, sailing around the world on a 40 -foot yacht.

That free spirit, the way surfers are, they just get up and go.

It wasn't uncommon for him just to be off on a new adventure.

But what was uncommon was the phone calls or the lack of phone calls.

Instead of calls home, there are emails, lots of them, to his mom, dad, and

brother. And at first, Chris's tone is upbeat.

I finally found what I love, moving around and seeing the whole world.

I can't believe I almost trapped myself.

Chris writes that he's sailing to South America around Cape Horn and then north

to the Caribbean.

That fall, Chris leaves the boat and flies to Europe. And it's here that his

email's home turned darker.

Chris writes his dad, this last year has been the worst year of my life. I even

contemplated suicide.

Chris's last email to his family is December 26, 2010.

He says he's in South Africa, and he's planning to sell a large amount of

Krugerrands, gold coins that he's purchased.

He writes, just realized it's Christmas. It's summer down here. I'm headed back

up through the Congo. I found a dealer in Rwanda that will pay 30 % markup on

Krugs.

Rwanda? Gold deals?

Thinking that Chris has lost his mind or worse, the Smith family reports him

missing to the police department in Laguna Beach, where Chris lived in this

waterfront apartment building.

And that's how Ed Shin, Chris's former business partner, comes to sit in a

cramped interrogation room with two detectives. They tell Shin that Chris's

family is extremely concerned.

And then, you know, for me, I'm not as worried because I have a cousin who did

exactly what Chris did. Oh, really?

High -pressure pen.

Unlike the case of his cousin, Shin says it wasn't family but work that was

bothering Chris, and he wanted to step back.

Shin says that he bought his partner out, but they're still in touch by

And in fact, he's been sending Chris some of the installments of the buyout.

I wired some money to India, so I know if he was there

and he accessed it.

And he was there.

When I get the wire records, I'll give them to you.

When Joe DeLue first sees this interview, a year has passed since Chris

vanished. DeLue, who once worked as a cop for Laguna Beach before becoming a

says his former colleagues dropped the ball.

For example, they never verify Shin's claim of wiring money to Chris Smith.

So as she's taking this, she should be thinking, great, let's follow up on

But it's later on that there was no follow through. She had the right

intentions, but for whatever reason, she didn't follow through with that, which

would have been critical in his statement.

Laguna Beach PD declined to speak to American Greed.

This will be the last time they interview Ed Shin.

But I can't fly the boat.

I like to, but I don't think the budget is too bad.

But we try.

Yeah, we try. And we just can't be an open case until we hear something.

Chris's parents, frustrated by the lack of answers, hear about DeLue's

investigation into the deadbeat tenant, Ed Shin.

The family decides they'd like to hire DeLue, too, to crack Chris.

They believe that somewhere out there, he is still alive.

In their mind, and still clinging to hope, maybe he's sick. Maybe he's in

Maybe something happened.

Could be kidnapping. He's talking about going to some pretty dangerous places.

DeLue pours over hundreds of emails that Chris's dad, Steve, has shared with the

investigator.

When I asked Steve, well, are you sure it's Chris?

He says, well, yeah, he's using words that only Chris would use.

But at one point, Steve does harbor doubts and he challenges Chris to prove

identity. And he said, son, if this is you, tell me what boat pulled you skiing

and what lake you grew up on as a kid.

A few days later, the answer comes back.

Ha ha. If this is a test question, then I'll tell you about Kelly Lake.

I think.

Steve was satisfied with that one answer because he answered something that he

knew, Kelly Lake.

But he never answered the boat description.

And that immediately hit me.

DeLue's concern deepens when he reads that Chris is pumping his brother Paul

the same information.

Hey, bro, I think Ed got into my email.

Just to make sure it's you, what boat pulled this scheme?

Paul answered it.

And then I said right then and there, he needed to get the answer. So that was

the aha moment for me.

DeLue believes the trauma of Chris's disappearance has blinded the Smith

to what's obvious to him.

Something bad has happened to Chris.

And someone is pulling a con on his family by pretending to be him.

If so, who?

Ed Shin says he doesn't know anything.

So you had nothing to do with hurting him prior to leaving the country, did

Did you hurt him?

No. You never got in any physical fights with him or in the office?

Never.

Up next, the case heats up when this man comes forward with an alarming story

about Ed Shin's past.

You know, he was telling me that Ed's been kidnapped.

And later...

This man issues a prophetic warning inside a criminal courtroom.

I don't believe that can help himself and that he will hurt others.

When he does, I hope the statement will be referenced and be of some help to

those who would seek to hold him accountable for his actions.

A year after Chris Smith disappears from Laguna Beach, California, private

investigator Joe DeLue uncovers chilling stories about Smith's former business

partner, Ed Shin.

In 2003, James Moon is fresh out of college and new to Southern California,

having moved here from the East Coast.

I came out here not knowing anybody, so I was pretty outgoing and wanted to...

you know, meet new people, make friends, and Ed just, wow, he was, like,

perfect. About the same age, both Korean -American, both kind of starting our

careers, and, you know, single, like sports.

So we hit it off right from the start.

Moon says that Ed Shin tells him he wants to be a millionaire by age 30, and

appears to be well on his way. Just 23 years old, Shin drives a Mercedes AMG.

You know, I don't know where he got his money. I knew he grew up pretty wealthy.

You know, I lived with him and his parents for a while in their mansion.

Driving up and down the 5th Reway, if you look up at pretty much the highest

point, sitting up on top of kind of like a cliff. So, pretty huge mansion.

The only child of Korean immigrants, Shin graduates from UC San Diego and

at Merrill Lynch right out of college.

He says his father made his money in the heating and air conditioning business.

I remember going to a Lakers game at Staples Center that Ed took me to.

He pointed up at the rafters and he said, hey, look up there, you see all

air conditioning? My dad did that.

The two friends eventually move out of the Shin mansion and rent a two -bedroom

apartment in Irvine.

One day, Moon is at work when he says he gets an unexpected phone call from Ed

Shin's father.

He was very panicked and scared, and I was trying to make sense of what he was

telling me.

Ed's father says he has just received an email from someone aptly named Curtis

Ransom.

This morning, we have taken your son captive.

If you ever want to see your son alive again, you must deliver $1 million in

cash in a black nylon bag to the first trash can on the San Clemente Pier.

If you contact police, we will kill your son.

I was worried and concerned and scared for Ed, and, you know, I just wanted to

try to find him.

Moon leaves work immediately and heads straight to their apartment.

Irvine Police Department was already there, and they were processing the

apartment as a crime scene, and furniture was toppled over.

Your brain's just, you know, running circles, trying to come up with all

of ideas or try to figure out how to make sense of it.

For two days, there is no word from Ed Shin or the kidnappers.

The FBI steps in, and then a breakthrough from their computer

I ended up learning that the email was sent from the Shin mansion, Ed's family

home. It's an inside job.

And it was a time that I recall that, you know, I was at that house with Ed,

Ed had told me, Hey, I just got a swing by my mom and dad's house.

While Ed Sheeran's traumatized parents waited and worried, he went on a road

trip.

I just couldn't believe it, and I was shocked.

My kids go just to a concert, I stress.

And I can't imagine, as a parent, thinking, holy cow, someone just

kid.

I felt really bad for Mr. and Mrs. Shin. I mean, he's their only son, he's their

only child.

It's kind of like their pride and joy, and this just kind of shattered

everything for them.

Moon cuts ties with Ed Shin, who was never charged with any crime.

I firmly believe that Ed getting away scot -free.

that he just probably walked away with an aura or a sense that he can get away

with whatever and not be held accountable and that he'll land on his

Flash forward three years.

In Las Vegas, Sue Koppenberg and her late husband Joe own and publish a

magazine, Legends.

Very collectible. The artwork on the front is always original, done by famous

artists. In 2006, Joe is dying of cancer, and running the magazine has

too much for Sue.

Through mutual acquaintances, she meets Ed Shin.

By now, he's married.

He and his wife met when they were both summer camp counselors at a Bible camp.

They have a toddler and a newborn.

I met his wife. I met his children.

He seemed like a very normal human being.

Though he and his family live in Orange County, Shin says he often visits Vegas,

and he's a sports fanatic. He's interested in buying legends.

It sounded like a really good deal because I needed to move on. This was

time to sell.

The Coffinbergs sell legends to Ed Shin for $1 million to be paid in

installments, and he takes over as publisher.

Then the seemingly mild Shin flashes defiance. He never pays the first

installment.

One day when Joe is sick in the hospital, Sue has a showdown with Ed

kitchen table.

He proceeded to tell me that he didn't want to pay me because he didn't really

think he was getting his money's worth.

And I said, no, that's not what our contract says. That's not what our deal

So he proceeds to tell me in a very stern voice that he can make me

disappear.

He knows how to do it.

Well, he's talking to the wrong person.

I said, you know what, Ed?

You're in Vegas here, and I could probably make you disappear faster than

could get out the door. So don't give me a problem here.

Just pay me the money or give me the magazine back.

But Ed Shin does neither, Kauffenberg says.

So she and her husband sue him. And that's where things get weird.

After they file suit, she says a former employee of her husband stops by the

house with a confession to make.

He's been casing their house at night.

Ed Shin wanted him and another man to break into the Kauffenberg's house, tie

them up, and beat them if necessary to scare the old couple into dropping the

lawsuit.

Sue says the former employee's conscience scuttled the plan and saved

Ed Shin never pays up. But even worse than the lost money is the lost feeling

security.

I have an alarm system.

I have cameras all over.

And I went down to the shooting range and learned to shoot.

Because I was scared.

It was just such an unbelievable time.

And he was such a scary guy. He was like a split personality, I guess is what

you want to say.

For Joe DeLue, the experiences of James Moon and Sue Koffenberg hardened his

feeling that Ed Shin could be responsible for Chris Smith's

You take a look at the evidence, what his past history is.

That doesn't make somebody a killer.

But it shows you their moral compass.

Up next.

They just keep getting away with it and they keep getting more bold to the point

where they commit murder thinking they're going to get away with that.

I mean, when does the insanity end?

In the wake of Chris Smith's disappearance, private investigator Joe

looked into his former business partner, Ed Shin, and found disturbing behavior.

But nothing that has resulted in criminal charges until 2008.

That's when tech entrepreneur Joseph Gray meets Ed Shin through a men's Bible

study group at his church.

They quickly become friends, and their families hang out on weekends.

Shin confides in Gray, telling him he runs a sports magazine based in Las

and it's struggling, though he leaves out the part about stiffing the

former owners.

I remember loaning him money at one point and helping him in a variety of

different ways.

So I was sort of intimately familiar that he was struggling financially and

trying to make ends meet.

Eventually, Shin says the magazine is going belly up and Joseph Gray comes to

the rescue.

He offers Shin a job at the company he owns and operates, LG, short for Lead

Generation Technologies.

Gray says as a business owner, he believes he has an eye for talent and

nurturing it.

I could tell that Ed was driven.

And I've been in situations in my life where I've helped certain people and

have risen beyond my expectation. And I love it when that happens. That's such a

wonderful feeling.

At first, Ed Shin plays the role of another of Joseph Gray's success

But before long, there are warning signs.

The first time I met Ed Shin, oh man, I'm trying to, I think it was in Vegas.

Ian McCall goes by the stage name Uncle Creepy as a UFC fighter.

I was brought out to do security, to watch him.

You know, he was robbed by some woman recently around that time, and he needed

protection.

And I'm a highly dangerous individual.

Ed Shin needs a bodyguard, McCall says, because his play at high -stakes craps

and blackjack tables in Las Vegas makes him a target.

He gambled. He was a degenerate gambler.

Eventually, whispers of Shin's high -stakes gambling reached Joseph Gray.

One of Shin's co -workers spilled the beans about what he sees during a

convention trip to Vegas.

And saw Ed spending a little too much time with stacks of currency that were a

little large for someone in his position, which, again, I was loaning

He was having financial problems. So any sort of stack or gambling at all would

be considered.

Problematic. My initial thought was something's not right. Is Ed embezzling?

Gray dives deep in his company's books and discovers a skimming scheme.

When clients write checks to Gray's company, Shin takes a little piece for

himself and hides it in secret accounts.

And then this was a game that was played agnosium until there was quite a bit of

liability that had built up.

Gray says Shin skims more than $1 million this way.

He also says Shin steals clients and starts his own competing firm while

an employee of Gray.

That company is 800 Exchange, the one he owns with Chris Smith.

Gray sues Shin in civil court, but still, Gray says, Shin engages in fraud.

He sends cashier's checks to the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, totaling $220 ,000

cover gambling debts, and then tries to pass it off to the court as money he's

paying back to Joseph Gray.

Ed had removed the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. He had doctored the cashier's

check. He had written our company's name on it. He'd given that to a judge.

And here's the funny thing. So Ed commits perjury.

in front of an officer in civil court in Riverside County, California, and gets

that. Nothing.

Gray persuades the Riverside County District Attorney to press criminal

and Ed Shin is convicted of embezzlement.

The judge says Shin must pay Joseph Gray $700 ,000 of restitution, and if he

can't come up with the cash, he'll go to prison. But for now, Shin just gets

probation. No time behind bars.

That man didn't spend any time in jail for all the money and pain and

anguish that he caused.

My company, my employees, my family was infuriating.

At Shen's sentencing hearing, Joseph Gray plays the role of a Cassandra

a frightening warning.

Ed's going to be back into this courtroom again.

And I fear that next time someone's going to be hurt.

Certainly, Ed has to have some serious psychological issues to justify

a close personal friend who had done so much for him.

For this reason, I don't believe that can help himself and that he will hurt

others. Joseph Gray is right.

Up next.

The first tangible clue that Chris Smith didn't just disappear.

Three weeks into his investigation, PI Joe DeLue gets permission from the

landlord of the office space once occupied by Ed Shin and Chris Smith.

To have a look around, the space has been empty for a year.

I walked into the break room and I saw what I thought was a blood smear,

almost like a fingerprint, very small, about the size of a pea, on the light

switch.

And then there was this blood splatter, probably about a good inch and a half to

two inches, on the door jamb of Chris's office.

The next hurdle is, will the police investigate this now?

DeLue calls friends at the Orange County Sheriff's Office, and the brass nods in

approval. So DeLue, who has limited powers as a PI, passes the baton to

Detective Ray Wirt.

Your case file that you brought to us was pretty complete.

One of Detective Wirt's first steps?

Talking to former employees of 800 Exchange.

Revealed that there had been extensive cleaning and repainting of that office

for a week. The office had been closed by Ed Shin and all the employees told to

stay home.

But when the Orange County CSI team rolls up the carpets and takes down

tiles, Shin's cleaning spree fails the white glove test.

It was blood splatter on the ceiling by the ceiling panel.

what they determined was cast -off blood splatter.

So the only way that would be created is someone coming down, striking somebody,

and raising the instrument or hand back up, causing the blood to

splatter up.

There's also a large blood stain underneath the carpet. All the blood is

one person, and DNA testing says that person is Chris Smith.

That was the moment of the case to confirm this was a homicide and not a

persons case.

Based on Ed Shin's history of deceit, Detective Ward believes he's the number

one suspect. But why would Ed Shin want to kill Chris Smith?

The investigators believe it all goes back to Shin's criminal conviction for

embezzling from Joseph Gray.

Chris knows his partner has a felony conviction, an enormous restitution to

and a gambling habit.

In an email to his lawyer, Chris says he suspects Ed might steal from 800

Exchange, just like he did from Joseph Gray.

We need to make sure he doesn't have room for fraud, Chris writes.

He is itching to do it again.

Chris wants the passwords to 800 Exchange's bank accounts, which Ed

and he wants both men to co -sign every check above $10 ,000.

For Ed Shin, this poses a problem, because if he can't come up with $700

repay Joseph Gray, he's going to prison.

Chris even told his own attorney, be very wary of everything Ed is doing. I

don't trust Ed.

Chris's push for checks and balances is at an impasse.

Then suddenly, the day Chris disappears, a breakthrough.

Chris emails his attorney.

Here's our signatures. Here's a contract.

Everything's great.

And that was somewhat of a surprise to the attorney because they didn't seem to

be anywhere close to a settlement yet. But then it just came about very

suddenly.

So not only do you have a sudden change, but it's a drastic change than what his

attorney thought that Chris wanted.

Rather than reform the company, Chris wants out. He supposedly is taking a

buyout worth approximately $1 million.

But the down payment is a mere $30 ,000 and 10 gold coins, which are worth about

15 grand.

So that had definitely changed.

Why the change in heart?

Detective Wirt thinks it wasn't Chris agreeing to the new terms, any more than

it was Chris writing emails from around the world, or a Curtis writing ransom

letters to Ed Shin's parents.

No, Wirt thinks Shin is up to his old tricks of online impersonation, and he's

trying to cover up murder.

Up next, Detective Wirt gets an alert.

that he was at the airport getting ready to board a plane to go to Canada.

Can he stop Shin in time?

Just before takeoff, Ed Shin is pulled off a plane bound for Toronto and taken

to Orange County.

He thinks he's been arrested for trying to leave the country while on probation.

All right.

I'm investigator words.

So my strategy was to go in there and just really talk about Ed Shin, his

probation, his attempt to leave the state.

Eventually, Ed Shin brought up Chris Smith.

Apparently.

He's been missing for a while. His name is Chris.

It was a great transition.

Chris, C -H -R -I -S?

Yes. I could play the dumb role and, hey, well, tell me about this Chris

guy. That kind of sounds interesting.

Okay. Is he still missing?

I have not heard back from the Laguna Beach Police Department since then, so I

don't know. Okay.

After a solid hour of asking low -key questions, detective work casually moves

in for the kill.

The office.

That there was some big mess or something. What's up with that?

Shin says he had to shut down the office for cleaning and repainting because

Chris made a mess while on a drinking binge.

There's wine, there's broken bottles of glass with, you know, like three or four

bottles of wine. There's like wine sprayed all over the, over one of the

whiteboards from him chucking it. And then there was like, there was like wine

soaked all over the carpet.

But the DNA evidence is clear.

Those red stains are not wine.

All right.

Ed, I need you to be honest with me. This isn't really making sense. Okay.

There's blood in Chris's office, okay?

Mm -hmm.

We know that, and we know it's Chris's blood.

Okay. Okay. I need you to tell me the truth about what happened.

Did you fight him in the office?

Not physically.

I mean, we've had shouting matches. You have never physically touched him in a

fit of anger?

No. Ever? No.

So how is his blood on the walls?

On his door, door frame, ceiling, carpet. How is that?

I don't know.

I want an attorney.

Okay.

All right, Ed.

Wirt stops the interview, leaves Shin alone for a while, and then comes back

with tough news.

Hey, you're going to be booked for murder in Orange County Jail. Okay.

Shen reconsiders and sketches a tale of a strained partnership that spills over

into violence on Friday, June 4, 2010.

That's when he grabbed me, like, literally, like, right here.

And then before I knew it, we were throwing blows.

I let Ed kind of tell his story, and then I started asking him, well, what

the blood on the ceiling? How did the blood up on the ceiling get up there?

And that's when I...

You know, kind of got, I jumped up and he jumped up on the desk.

And we kind of like, almost like two rams collided on his desk.

And, you know, that's probably where the blood got on the ceiling. Because, you

know, like somehow I was throwing him up and he probably smeared.

Shin goes on to choreograph a scene that sounds like a fight sequence from a

martial arts movie.

The two of them, he says, run all over the office, fighting and lunging in

various rooms.

That's when I think his head hit the dash, at the corner of the dash.

His dash? Yeah.

And, um...

I'm sorry.

According to Shin, Chris slumps to the floor, motionless.

I freaked out. I completely panicked.

I didn't think to call 911.

I just was so scared.

Shin says he calls a fixer he knows, a man who goes by Johnny Vegas, and sounds

like a character from a Quentin Tarantino movie.

For $10 ,000 or $15 ,000, Shin can't remember which, Johnny Vegas or one of

crew members, takes Chris Smith's body from the office, and Shin figuratively

washes his hands.

Later, the detectives will find no evidence that Ed Shin ever hires a

Vegas, but they do know that one day after the scene Ed describes, his phone

signal places him in the Sonoran Desert near the U .S.-Mexico border.

Did you ever go down toward the Mexico border at all that week?

Did I go down to the Mexico border? Yeah. No. Because your phone shows that

went down Camp Pendleton Way, down to the border.

Oh, yes, I did. I did go.

You're right. I'm sorry.

Shin says he was thinking about running away from his family and going to

Mexico, a minor detail he forgot about.

Detectives think he had another reason to go to the desert.

Up next.

You didn't dial 911 because you knew that if he died, you got his money.

When the murder trial of Ed Shin begins in the

fall of 2018, the defendant has already admitted that he saw Chris Smith die.

The only question is what role he played.

Prosecutor Matt Murphy asks, if Chris's death was an accident, as Ed Shin

claims, why did he try to cover it up?

So you're communicating with this man's parents.

Shin freely admits to pretending to be Chris.

Did it occur to you that this is going to absolutely crush his mom and dad?

that their son is suicidal by himself in a foreign country and he's not coming

home. That didn't occur to you?

No.

You really have to put yourself in that situation.

How would I feel thinking I'm speaking to my son and it's the very person that

killed him?

Leading them on, keeping up that hope is really diabolical.

The prosecutor notes that Shin first masquerades as Chris in an email to

lawyer.

Shin negotiates favorable terms for himself as the two men supposedly

buyout. Of course, it's easy to negotiate when you're pretending to be

partner.

Shillingly, this act of make -believe is sent to the lawyer when Chris's body is

still warm.

And you can dial 911 and they can come see it.

You didn't dial 911 because you knew that if he died, you got his money.

Isn't that true?

No.

The motive, Murphy argues, all goes back to Shin's embezzlement from Joseph

Gray's company.

Shin owed $700 ,000 of restitution, but casinos were hounding him. He didn't

have the money.

And tell the jury what happened to you, Mr. Shin, if that restitution was not

paid on time.

Do you remember?

And at the same time, Chris Smith fears Ed Shin will pay his fine by stealing

from their company.

He demands access to the books.

Shin admits to feeling the squeeze.

but says Chris Smith died in a fistfight gone bad.

Did you ever plan or intend to get into a fight with Chris on June 4, 2010?

No. Did you ever have any sort of plan to kill Chris on that date? No.

But Prosecutor Murphy argues the blood evidence undermines that story.

When somebody is bludgeoned to death or stabbed to death, oftentimes the killer,

either hitting them with a blunt object, or stabbing them, and they're doing

this, blood is getting flung onto the ceiling.

If you're not hitting him repeatedly with a blunt object or stabbing him with

knife, based on the testimony we've heard in this case, how does that wind

where it is?

There are a lot of hazy details, but I do remember he jumped on that deck.

That will never, ever escape my memory.

Kind of like a WWF wrestler jumping up on ropes.

Yeah, I mean, almost.

I guess that is a perfect analogy.

Okay. Now, you also said that he, you didn't bleed anywhere.

Remember testifying to that?

Yeah, I did not bleed.

The blood tells a story.

There was a brutal attack without a scratch on him.

I think Ed attacked him viciously and quickly, and it was over in...

The state rests its case.

And after just one hour of deliberation, the jury returns.

We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Edward

Shin, guilty, murder in the first degree.

Victim, Christopher Smith.

So when it came down, it was a sense of relief. And thank God it's finally over,

you know.

The family could go on to their next step.

It was just kind of like this instant weight taken off their shoulders that

chapter of this horrible book was closed.

But there's still that void of where's Chris? Where's his body?

Shin rented a truck the day after the murder and drove south.

His cell phone pinged a tower in this desert area.

near the U .S.-Mexico border.

Despite a search, Chris Smith's body has never been found, and Ed Shin's not

talking.

Those who were heard by Ed Shin's previous misdeeds say their lives will

be the same.

It's still in my mind. I go to bed every night with my alarm system on. I have a

gun in my bedroom and a baseball bat.

I don't feel safe.

My prior company is a shell of what it used to be.

It was a humbling and humiliating experience, one that I wouldn't wish

anyone else.

He was empowered.

Every time you commit a crime or do a wrong to somebody and get away with it,

it empowers you.

Though Joe DeLue and others are highly critical of Shin's earlier lack of

punishment, in the final analysis, he gets more than a slap on the wrist.

Much more.

Ed Shin is now here at Pleasant Valley State Prison, serving life without

parole.