[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- That was basically my home.
My parents had all the knickknacks
From, like, games to movies.
It was basically a playground.
I absolutely loved it.
♪ ♪
I hear four loud shots.
[tape whirring]
- I remember it coming over the radio,
Kind of in disbelief.
- Michael got along with everybody.
He was on the good side of everybody.
- He had a large sum of money.
Really, anybody could have followed him
And figured out where he was going to be and when.
- Maybe everyone else in there
Was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
[upbeat acoustic music]
- September 20, 2013, danville, kentucky.
As dawn breaks, michael and angie hockensmith arrive
At the pawn shop they manage-- abc gold, games and more--
Their baby daughter, naomi,
And 9-year-old son, andrew, in tow.
♪ ♪
- The pawn shop-- that was basically my home.
We had all the knickknacks of a pawn shop
From, like, games to movies to all sorts of junk.
It was basically a playground.
Yeah, I absolutely loved it.
It was simply amazing.
♪ ♪
- The hockensmiths are always together, even on school days.
- My mom was determined to educate me in a home setting.
- When they first started to homeschool andrew,
They put homeschool in the middle of everything.
So when michael worked at the pawn shop,
Angie would help him with things at the pawn shop.
So andrew would go in there, he would sit and study.
He had his own little desk and everything.
And they were always trying to spend time together.
[melancholy music]
- The hockensmith family's story starts a decade earlier
When michael, working as a youth pastor
In central kentucky, meets a young woman
As dedicated to her faith as he is.
- He met angie. [laughs]
And I think they got stuck together
And they stayed that way.
♪ ♪
It's kind of like you didn't see one without the other.
- Before long, michael and angie marry,
And the family doubles in size.
- Michael was on cloud nine.
And he just loved the idea that they would
Have a boy and a girl,
And that their life would be complete.
[gentle music]
- My dad-- he made things look so easy,
And...
He was truly an amazing person.
He would have a crowd of people,
And he'd just be talking to somebody about something,
And then he would just pick me up by the leg
And throw me up in the air,
And everybody would be like, oh, don't drop him.
But he never dropped me.
He always caught me by the leg and just put me down.
Whee. [laughs]
My mom?
Of course, she was the pastor's wife.
And so that's a big role to take.
She was also a very sociable person,
Lovable person.
She would always make friends with anyone and everyone.
[upbeat music]
- He'd go preaching.
Angie, she would sing.
She'd constantly sing.
- We went from church to church to church.
It was simply amazing.
♪ ♪
- The family's journey eventually leads them
To danville, kentucky in 2013.
♪ ♪
- They found a church here in danville that they wanted
To attend or get involved in.
And when it come to his--
Him in church, him being a parent,
Or anything he did,
It was his whole heart or nothing.
- Michael puts that same level of dedication
Into the part time job he takes at a pawn shop
To support the family while he preaches.
Steve devine, the owner of the pawn shop,
Quickly makes michael a partner
And lets him take over running the business.
- He'd been working there for maybe a year, year and a half
Before they opened the store that morning.
[tense music]
- The morning of September 20, 2013,
Starts out like any typical day.
By 9:00 a.M., the pawn shop is open for business.
- Once my dad got started, I did my own thing.
I grabbed me a game system of some sort and started playing.
- Within 15 minutes of opening,
A regular customer enters the store.
- The gold man, dan smith, came in.
- Dan smith, like michael hockensmith,
Is a part-time pastor.
He makes his money buying and selling gold at pawn shops
And jewelry stores.
♪ ♪
- They was both at the desk conversating,
Dealing with money and whatnot.
♪ ♪
- Michael and dan are haggling.
Angie is rocking baby naomi near the register.
Andrew is testing out a video game.
It's a routine morning.
None of them are aware that these will be
Their final moments together.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Shortly after, this guy-- he came in as well.
And I was like, hm, he's kind of weird looking.
He starts to pull out a gun
And kind of raises his voice a little bit
And says, "get on the ground."
♪ ♪
And we all did, because we was petrified.
Me, mom, and my sister
All huddled up to a corner.
- Andrew hears strange high-pitched sounds
As he watches the unthinkable--
A man shooting at his mother,
Father, and dan.
- To me, it sounded like a dart gun.
Dad was like, "please stop."
So that happened, and he started
Rolling around until he wasn't.
He stopped, but then dan smith was next.
And then he was going to go after us.
♪ ♪
And my mom-- she told me, like,
To go in the back with my sister.
So I do.
I crawl all the way back to the office
And I sit my sister on the couch.
I'm sitting right beside her.
♪ ♪
Of course, shaken up,
And don't even know what's going on.
♪ ♪
I hear four loud shots.
[gunshots banging]
And I remember...
Crawling over to the doorway
And seeing that my mom was just laying there
With a puddle of blood, big puddle of blood.
♪ ♪
And so I picked up the phone and called on it.
[beeping]
[dramatic music]
- Investigators catch haunting glimpses
Of a calculating killer.
- We were starting to get these little clips
Of the silver minivan circling the area.
- You can tell the van is kind of waiting.
The way the whole crime played out,
I think that it could be something professional.
- And hear the voice of the man
Who may be responsible for a triple murder.
♪ ♪
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Nine-year-old andrew hockensmith makes
A desperate 911 call as he hides with his baby sister
In the back of his family's pawn shop
After an armed robber opened fire
On his parents and their customer.
♪ ♪
- I was just sitting there with my sister
And hoping to god that these police come.
- Danville police detective a.J. Mullins
Is one of the first to respond.
- I remember it coming over the radio,
Kind of in disbelief.
Is that what I really heard?
And that's when everybody just dropped whatever we were doing
And we got down there.
- It takes police less than six minutes
To arrive at the pawn shop.
♪ ♪
- They came very quickly,
And I had walked to the door
With phone in hand and sister in the other
And walking by these dead bodies
Of people that I loved.
♪ ♪
I was petrified.
I didn't know what I was looking at.
And out I walk with my sister.
- When I arrived at the parking lot
Of the pawn shop up front,
Our captain at the time had come to my window and said,
"we need you to get these kids
"out of here as soon as possible.
We've got bodies inside."
[somber music]
And they put them in my vehicle.
And andrew held naomi on the way there
To the police department.
- At danville pd, we actually only have
Four full-time detectives.
And we take anything from a theft to a murder.
So--it was a huge case, so we needed all hands on deck.
- I don't care how many times you've done it or seen it,
There's nothing that truly prepares you for this.
- After taking the hockensmith children safely
Away from the crime scene, detective mullins rushes
Back to the pawn shop to join the investigation.
- When you first walk into the door,
There's a counter, glass counter.
Angela's body was kind of in the corner,
Near the register.
♪ ♪
And michael was on the other side,
Where it looked like had been gold,
Some jewelry kind of laid out,
As if he was the one speaking to dan at the time
All this went down.
And dan--you could tell where dan fell initially,
And then someone had drug him
Back where it would be harder to see him.
- You could see clearly the drag marks of blood
Leading in that direction.
- And his briefcase was open on top of one of the tables.
♪ ♪
- Of course, we see tons of shell casings.
But they, of course, also have a lot of guns that they're
Trying to sell that are within the pawn shop,
Ammunition that they're selling.
So it really adds to the whole chaos of everything
And not knowing at that point,
When you initially walk in, what's going to be evidence.
- When we go through the store,
We're having to step around the blood...
The shell casings,
'cause we didn't want to step on anything like that.
We had never seen anything like this.
- There was so much evidence to collect
And to process and to go through.
- The victims had been shot multiple times,
Possibly after they were down.
The only thing at that time that we could determine
Was that the spent casings
Appeared to be from a .22-caliber weapon.
♪ ♪
- An autopsy will later determine that
Michael was shot eight times
In the legs, chest, and head.
Angie was shot three times in the head.
Dan was shot five times in the head.
- Initially, you know, you're thinking, okay,
It's some kind of a robbery.
We look at the register.
There was still cash in the register.
- One would speculate that the register would have
Been gone through for whatever money it had.
So it did not appear that the motive was
To rob the actual pawn shop.
So that was definitely a red flag.
- You know, obviously, as a police officer,
We tried to do the best we could to get it
Solved as quickly as we could.
- We're like, okay, what's going on?
Is this more of a personal type issue going on?
We're like, you know, what do we have here?
Is this something that-- it was a hit?
Was it on dan smith?
Was it for the hockensmiths?
Was it all of them?
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Police in danville, kentucky, investigating
A triple murder need to talk to their only eyewitness,
Nine-year-old andrew hockensmith.
The frightened child and his baby sister, naomi,
Have been taken to the police station
While officers try to locate their next of kin.
- They had sat me down and was like,
Do you have anyone that we could contact
So that way they can take you home?
And I was like, "I don't know,"
Because I didn't know phone numbers.
I remember being very shooken up
Because I was like, where am I going to go?
♪ ♪
- And I went back to the police station
And interviewed andrew.
[somber music]
♪ ♪
Andrew was able to give us a good description
Of the bad guy.
♪ ♪
- He looked like a heavyset dude
And, like, a beard that didn't really
Look like an authentic beard.
- He said, "you know how at Halloween
"when people wear fake beards?
There's little tabs."
- And he had sunglasses and a cap.
- And the suspect-- he wore black latex gloves
And camouflage, camouflage coat.
[tense music]
- Andrew also provides crucial details
About the weapons used in the attack.
- Andrew went in the back office.
And as he's running,
He could hear shots being fired.
♪ ♪
And he says they sounded different.
- I remember making a sound like--
[imitating muffled gunshots]
- And one of our officers got his silencer
And we showed it to andrew.
And said, did it look like this?
And he said, "yes, that's exactly what it was."
[somber music]
- The use of a silencer raises frightening concerns
For detectives.
- The way that just the whole crime played out,
I think that it definitely could be a possibility
That it could be something professional.
♪ ♪
- As detectives consider whether they are hunting
For a professional hitman,
Word of the shooting reaches michael hockensmith's mother
At her home across town.
♪ ♪
She rushes to the pawn shop.
♪ ♪
- When...
When I got there, I knew--
I knew it was not good.
[somber music]
I got out of the car, and...
Some of the officers met me halfway up the alley.
And I said, "I want to see my son."
Okay, you need to go to the police station
And see your grandbabies.
♪ ♪
There's nothing, no worse in this world
Than to lose a child.
♪ ♪
But if it hadn't been for andrew and naomi,
I don't think I would have survived it.
♪ ♪
- Police locate the family of the third victim,
Dan smith,
And break the awful news to them that same day.
- I was in college,
And I get this call from my stepmom,
And I could tell from her voice
That something was going on.
And I couldn't believe what she was saying.
And I said, "what?"
Like, "what?"
And I just froze.
I just couldn't believe he was gone.
- I just couldn't understand,
You know, what I was being told.
I just couldn't comprehend.
- He was such a giver, financially a giver.
He was a giver of his time, his energy,
His kind words.
[tense music]
- As the victims' families try to cope
With the devastating news,
Investigators back at the crime scene are
Continuing to dig for clues.
They canvass the area around the pawn shop
And find a promising lead.
- We found a witness.
He saw a heavyset, tall, white male
Coming out of the pawn shop.
Described him as having a beard,
And he went around to the little alleyway,
And there was a van that pulled out of the alleyway
And turned right.
- The description given was a silver minivan.
[suspenseful music]
- The pawn shop doesn't have a security camera,
But many other businesses in the area do.
- So we reviewed camera footage in the area,
And we actually spotted a silver van
Matching that exact description
Pass by where the pawn shop is located.
We are able to track the silver van basically
Through town with that video.
You can just catch it drive right by,
And it matches the description perfect.
And then right after that,
We see a sliver of it pass there,
So you can tell the van is circling
This area and kind of waiting.
♪ ♪
- The detectives cannot make out the van's license plates,
But the footage convinces them that
The unidentified driver was staking out the pawn shop
Or someone inside.
Investigators focus on who might have been the target
And why.
- Well, we started looking at the hockensmiths,
Who they might have had dealings with.
- Of course, you find that they're just
A loving, good family--
No criminal history and no reason for anybody
To want to harm the hockensmiths.
♪ ♪
- Detectives also take a closer look
At the hockensmiths' business.
- Steve devine was a "co-owner" of the actual pawn shop
In partnership with the hockensmiths.
[suspenseful music]
- So we go and talk to him, and turns out he was actually
Supposed to be there that day.
♪ ♪
- The detectives learned that steve devine knew
The hockensmiths were scheduled to do a gold deal
With dan smith that morning.
- He said that he woke up because of something
With his allergies, and he called them,
And he told them that he wasn't going to make the meeting.
So we're like, well, you know-- [laughs]
That's what we call a flag.
- The detectives must now consider whether steve devine
Purposely avoided the pawn shop that morning
Because he knew what was going to happen.
- It was definitely concerning that the owner of the business,
Who was supposed to be there,
Ironically just didn't show up because of allergies.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Detectives investigating
A triple murder in danville, kentucky,
Are looking into steve devine, the business partner
Of victim michael hockensmith.
- He was supposed to be there and wasn't.
And so we're like, you know, what's going on here?
♪ ♪
- Steve tells police he was sick
And with his wife all morning.
- We are checking him out and confirmed that
He's telling us the truth.
- His alibi clears him, but their interview with steve
Provides detectives with a new direction
For the investigation.
- He was able to fill the little holes
As to what was going on in the pawn shop.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Dan smith was a gold buyer.
So he carries a briefcase with him
With a large amount of cash.
- Dan smith's wife was able to tell us that
He would do a certain route on certain days of the week.
So he goes to his bank, he gets the money,
And then he had a lot of pawn shops that he went to.
- He'd have anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000.
And he went to known businesses on known days.
So really, anybody could have followed him
And figured out where he was going to be and when.
- I was thinking, maybe he was the actual target,
And everyone else in there was just
In the wrong place at the wrong time.
♪ ♪
- Investigators visit the other pawn shops
Where dan did business and ask to see footage
From their security cameras.
- And then once we started following dan smith,
We were able to say, you know, boom,
He was here at this time on this date, like clockwork.
- So this is dan smith.
This is a pawn shop in lexington he goes to.
- You're trying to look for anything,
Any odd vehicles that may be following,
Anyone within the store that may be paying him
Any particular attention, anything like that.
- As they review the tapes, detectives find video
From the last pawn shop dan smith visited
Before heading to the hockensmiths.
- This is where dan smith arrives at lawson's jewelers
In harrodsburg, kentucky.
[tense music]
At around 8:00, 8:15, 8:20.
- He walks in with that same briefcase...
♪ ♪
And then talks to the lady behind the counter,
And just appears very relaxed, laughing,
Has no idea, obviously, where he's headed.
♪ ♪
I don't even think it was a full hour after this
Dan smith was killed.
[somber music]
- It's kind of odd when you're watching this.
♪ ♪
This is the guy's, you know, last moments.
He doesn't know it.
Nobody knows what's getting ready to happen
Except for one person.
♪ ♪
- Investigators scour the footage
For any indication of who that one person might be.
- There was nobody that appeared
To be paying any particular attention to him.
Mind you, that the video was pretty narrowly-focused
Coming out of the one store,
So we couldn't see his full motions
Once he crossed the street.
But reviewing that video at the time,
There was nothing that stood out.
♪ ♪
- We really were kind of baffled at this point.
Who was even the target?
♪ ♪
- Four days into the investigation,
There's no clear target, no clear motive,
And nothing pointing to the identity
Of the gunman described
By nine-year-old andrew hockensmith.
- We were getting ready to figure out
What our next step was,
And this phone call came in to the police department
From michigan.
And we're like, michigan?
You know, now what do we have here?
- The caller from michigan identifies himself
As a pastor.
He tells police about someone in the kentucky area
Who knew the victims
And has been making suspicious comments.
- The pastor from michigan relayed that
He was friends with an individual
By the name of kenneth allen keith
And that he had communicated with kenneth allen keith
And got on the subject about
The murders in danville.
- The pastor explained that kenneth allen keith
Knew the hockensmiths.
And that kenneth allen said, you know,
Talking about the hockensmiths,
That they're not innocent either.
- This pastor had said mr. Keith
Just switched like a light switch,
That something set him off.
And he said that they had cost him a lot of money.
- And so I think that statement alone
Really stood out to him,
Because I mean, you look at who they are,
They are innocent people, right?
He's concerned that, potentially, his friend,
Kenneth allen keith, could be involved
In this triple homicide.
The call was what kind of turned
The whole investigation around.
When we realized that the--
It could be the hockensmiths that were actually targeted.
♪ ♪
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- Four days after the murders
Of michael and angie hockensmith
And dan smith,
Police learned that a man named kenneth allen keith
Has been making suspicious comments
About the hockensmiths.
- Once kenneth allen's name was mentioned,
We started looking-- okay, who is this guy?
♪ ♪
- He was involved in the pawn shop business.
He had one in somerset, kentucky.
And he was a pastor of a small-town church
In pulaski county, kentucky.
He appeared to be loved by his local congregation.
- That was kind of a common denominator
For everybody involved,
As they were all heavily into the church,
Either as pastors, ministers, leaders--
Just in a church.
- But the investigators quickly discover that
Kenneth allen keith appears to have a different style
Of preaching than the other pastors.
- We found one of his sermons that he had on youtube
Where he's on the pulpit, and he's got a rifle
With a sling on.
[tense music]
And he's talking about his past, what he's done.
And we're like, okay, you know, we have a sniper here.
And the further that we looked into kenneth allen,
The more we're like,
Oh, this is a good lead.
♪ ♪
- So when we start looking into kenneth allen keith,
We look into his financial history.
And we learn that...
He had recently been sued by steve devine.
And so he owed steve devine money.
♪ ♪
[suspenseful music]
- Police learn that steve devine,
The co-owner of the pawn shop with michael and angie,
Had been in business with kenneth allen keith
Before putting the hockensmiths in charge
Four months earlier.
Prior to that, the hockensmiths had actually been
Kenneth allen keith's employees.
♪ ♪
- Kenneth felt cheated.
He felt that that pawn shop should have been his
And that steve devine and the hockensmiths
Basically stole it right out underneath his feet.
♪ ♪
- So we felt that would be a good motive.
That would make someone upset.
Upset enough to kill someone?
We didn't really know the personality
Or what was really within kenneth allen keith
At that time.
♪ ♪
- But as they dig deeper into kenneth allen keith,
Detectives uncover what could be another crucial link
Between him and the murders.
- It ended up that there was a silver/gray minivan
That was registered and associated with him.
- The same kind of vehicle seen on surveillance video
Speeding away from the crime scene.
While all of the evidence is starting to align
Around kenneth allen keith,
Investigators know everything they have
Is only circumstantial.
To help them build a more solid case,
They reach out to the pastor in michigan
Who initially tipped them off to kenneth
And recruit him to help their investigation.
- At this point, we want to take that a step further.
So arrangements are made to actually record phone calls.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- On October 9, 2013, the michigan pastor calls
Kenneth allen keith while the police listen in
To see if he says anything incriminating.
♪ ♪
[suspenseful music]
- And during that phone call,
He was able to kind of go over what he was doing that day,
What his location was, how he wasn't involved.
♪ ♪
- We took that information
And looked at the video surveillance.
And we found that,
Moments after the 911 call,
Kenneth allen keith was entering
The pharmacy in danville.
♪ ♪
The timestamps from video
Gave us the indications on when it occurred.
And from the pawn shop to the pharmacy,
That was a doable time.
- He was actually here at a local pharmacy
Just within minutes of the time of the murder,
Which we thought was unusual to travel
Basically an hour to pick up a prescription
When you have local pharmacies in your local community.
- The detectives have no doubt--
They are watching kenneth allen keith
Just moments after committing a triple homicide.
- Watching him
And knowing that he had just killed three people...
It's hard to fathom how somebody can just
You know, take somebody's life
And then act like it was nothing.
♪ ♪
- Ten days after the murders,
Police believe they finally have enough
To arrest kenneth allen keith.
Now they need to track him down.
[suspenseful music]
- We tracked his phone, and we were able
To actually see that he had went to florida.
- And when we knew he was on his way back,
We were setting up our game plan,
What we were going to do,
That we were going to have a search warrant at the church,
A search warrant at the home
Where he lived with his family,
And a search warrant at the pawn shop
In somerset, kentucky.
And that's when we make our move.
♪ ♪
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- October 9, 2013.
Danville, kentucky police are waiting
As kenneth allen keith, the prime suspect
In the murder of michael and angie hockensmith
And dan smith returns home from a trip to florida.
♪ ♪
- He gets up the next morning from coming home,
And he goes to his pawn shop.
And that's when we make our move.
An investigator went in as a potential customer
And made contact with mr. Allen.
We didn't go in with guns drawn or anything like that
Because pawn shops have guns in them,
And we don't know where what is.
And he came out from his office area,
And they were able to basically tell him
We've got a search warrant for your pawn shop.
♪ ♪
- As police search his business,
Kenneth allen keith is placed under arrest.
- During the search of the pawn shop,
We discovered a box for a threaded device
That can be purchased over the internet
That can be fashioned into a makeshift silencer.
- The discovery confirms detectives' suspicions
That a silencer was used in the killings
And explains andrew hockensmith's description
Of a high-pitched sound as his parents were shot.
- And then also outside of the business,
We found spent .22 shell casings.
And then a target that had been shot.
So we believed that he was practicing
Prior to the shooting.
♪ ♪
- The .22 casings found in kenneth keith's pawn shop
Matched all the expended
Shell casings from the murder scene
In danville, kentucky.
They were shot from the identical weapon.
♪ ♪
- There was evidence, obviously, that tied him
To this case to make it a strong case.
♪ ♪
- Detectives confront kenneth allen keith
With the overwhelming evidence.
- We are always trying to get an outright confession,
But that did not happen.
- We got the opinion that mr. Allen thought that
He was just so intelligent
That he was going to beat all this.
But he didn't know what we had found.
♪ ♪
- News of the arrest shocks dan smith's family.
They know kenneth allen keith
And believed he was a good pastor and a friend.
- Dad had a previous relationship
With kenneth allen keith.
He would come in, and he would buy and sell.
They did business.
You're kind of-- you're going, wait a minute,
That's not-- that's not a real pastor.
But to be able to
Commit murders on Friday
And then get up on the pulpit Sunday morning and preach,
Especially in front of two children.
[somber music]
- For andrew hockensmith, who hid for his life
With his baby sister during the murders of his parents,
The news comes as a relief.
- I remember it was like, hey, andrew, look at this.
Look at the news.
And they show me the newscast where they finally caught him.
And I was like, all right.
♪ ♪
- Prosecutor richie bottoms believes he has
All he needs to convict kenneth allen keith
On three counts of first-degree homicide.
- I think the evidence spoke for itself.
We felt very confident that we could convince
The jury that he did this.
♪ ♪
- After initially announcing they would seek
The death penalty, prosecutors decide
To spare andrew and his baby sister naomi
And dan smith's family the pain of a long trial.
Instead, they offer kenneth allen keith
Life without parole in exchange for a guilty plea.
♪ ♪
- We all come out on the short end of the stick,
But that's okay.
I don't have to answer for what he did.
The man's going to have his own demons
He's going to have to live with.
- I want people to remember who our dad was.
I want him to be remembered by the good things
That he did for people.
He was a very kind man, and he wanted to help.
He wanted to help people, and he did.
♪ ♪
- I've been told, you're a spitting image of your dad
And you look just like him.
You act just like him.
And my mom--
I think naomi-- she looks just like my mom.
I'm very thankful for what I have.
And in a sense, it's like...
I am, like, living through my parents' life
Or kind of like a re-imagined one.
My parents will always live on within me.
♪ ♪