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>> by his own admission otto was the last known person to see shamia alive when he picked her up at her home on the day she disappeared. otto allowed police to conduct an initial search of his property but asked them to leave when he realized they brought cadaver dogs. in order to perform a more detailed search, detectives needed both a warrant and lots of heavy equipment and manpower. >> there were two jurisdictions involved in this. there was a substantial rainstorm that came during that week that hampered the efforts and they all came together causing an eight-day delay. >> not only could the rain storm washed away any evidence but eight days gave otto plenty of time to clean up a possible crime scene. >> all of our fears are realized when the police go on the
full-sized tractor attempting to bury the frame of his 30-foot trailer that was demolished and burned. >> mr. otto's property looked like manmade hell, a person that was in the process of destroying everything, trees, digging holes, destroying the dirt road that goes into the property. >> but the one thing that otto hadn't yet destroyed was the fire pit. >> i was very happy to see that the fire pit hadn't been disrupted all that much. >> almost immediately detectives got a break. in the embers they found a house key. >> i took the key, cleaned it up, placed it in the door lock of shamia smith's home and it unlocked and opened the house. so it was shamia smith's house key. >> but this doesn't prove otto killed her. in the fire pit police also found a spent bullet and three shell casings from a .40 caliber
in the search for shamia smith, investigators collected dozens of what appeared to be bone chips from the fire pit on ken otto's property and sent them to the forensics lab. >> this skeleton was burned so significantly that it was nearly destroyed as if it would have been in a commercial cremation. the fragmentation was so severe that you had pieces that were the size of a fingernail. it really is like a needle in a hay stack. it was an anthropologist's nightmare. >> after close examination, forensic anthropologists concluded that the majority of the bones were human, but that didn't mean the police were any closer to knowing if the bone
to some surgery, a condition that he had. >> he has erectile dysfunction. it was not very successful. >> investigators checked shamia's cell phone records and discovered that five days before her disappearance she made two cell phone calls that bounced off a tower directly across the street from a 75-acre piece of land owned by ken otto. >> we thought maybe there was a possibility that she might be there being held against her will. i had officers on the ground and i directed that they go on to the property and confirm that there was no one there in needs of assistance. >> police asked ken otto if they could search the property. >> he agreed to consent search of his property on easter sunday. >> when police arrived they noticed construction equipment, a trailer, some vehicles and a fire pit. >> there was heavy burning in
>> once again ken otto had an explanation. >> he might find a beaver there. >> excuse me? >> a beaver. i shot one a while back and burned it in the pit. >> okay. >> there was no obvious evidence of a beaver being in the fire pit. ken otto explained that he would like to kill animals and chop them up and spread them in the sand. it was disappointing that mr. otto revoked his consent, but we knew we would be back. nineteen years ago, we thought, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list
the fire pit. there was the smell of fuel. >> but something else bothered investigators. >> apparently otto didn't mind the police looking around but the cadaver dogs were another story. >> he became very upset when the dogs arrived. it appeared to me he was worried that we were going to find something. there is a woodchiper on the property. there's history of cases in the past where people would use wood chippers to dispose of human bodies. >> at this point convinced he cooperated as much as he needed to, otto asked police to leave. >> you know what? i need you to wrap this up. >> all right -- >> now. >> when someone grants a right to search their property, they are entitled to revoke that, but by this time the cadaver dogs had already picked up a scent in the fire pit. >> one of the dogs found a chunk of flesh that we -- it appeared to be animal flesh.
someone had left a message on shamia's cell phone at 11:55 a.m., before shamia left for work. >> first saved message. >> hey, i'm back in town. give me a call. let me know if you want to get together. okay. bye. >> the significance of this message was enormous. it gave the police and investigators another avenue to go down. >> the number was traced to a wealthy local businessman, 56-year-old kenneth otto. >> we found out that mr. otto was an outstanding person. he had a family, a wife and kids. >> had was a somewhat successful industrial business owner, had no prior criminal record and liked to hang around the strip clubs. >> ken otto was a regular at the kahoots club where shamia worked
the last known person to see shamia alive when he picked her up at her home on the day she disappeared. otto allowed police to conduct an initial search of his property but asked them to leave when he realized they brought cadaver dogs. in order to perform a more detailed search, detectives needed both a warrant and lots of heavy equipment and manpower. >> there were two jurisdictions involved in this. there was a substantial rainstorm that came during that week that hampered the efforts and they all came together causing an eight-day delay. >> not only could the rain storm wash away any evidence, but eight days gave otto plenty of time to clean up a possible crime scene. >> all of our fears are realized when the police go on the property, ken otto is in a
scent in the fire pit, otto asked police to leave. and he had eight days to carry out the most extensive cover-up investigators had ever seen. but he couldn't destroy everything. investigators found shell casings, a spent bullet, shamia's house key. hundreds of bone fragments and even part of her foot, which all told the gruesome tale of a needless murder. >> i think she was very naive about everyone she knew. like she put her trust in everyone, and you cannot do that. >> ken otto was tried and convicted of shamia's murder and tampering with evidence. >> at the end of the day, he's a cold-blooded killer. whatever you say, mr. otto, you