{"id":1135,"date":"2019-08-16T10:04:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T17:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/?p=1135"},"modified":"2019-08-16T13:17:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T20:17:06","slug":"blood-drops-and-email-swaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/blog\/blood-drops-and-email-swaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood Drops and Email Swaps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Justice for Chris Smith and the Conviction of Edward Shin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 4, 2010, early Friday evening, in a quaint town known for the\nOld Mission and horse trails, Christopher Ryan Smith was murdered. Surrounding\nbusiness offices were empty as workers had already left for the weekend. At the\ntime, nobody knew of his passing, not his family, friends or longtime girlfriend.\nNo reports of a disturbance or yelling or a fight were reported to the police.\nAt that same time, only one person knew who the killer was. That person today\ncontinues to hold his secrets close. Though 12 jurors convicted him of murder,\nhe has had the luxury of three squares and a bed, as well as a team of defense\nattorneys working hard to exonerate him. He has continued to breathe for nine\nyears and 22 days, though probably not in the place he would have ever imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Younghoon Shin, an educated businessman from Irvine, California,\nis now 41 years old. He has spent his last eight years locked up for that\ncold-blooded killing. Until today, his fate was not yet known, though his\ndefense team tried to throw that last Hail-Mary motion to continue the\nsentencing hearing. Friends and supporters of Chris, newspaper reporters and\nmedia teams, as well as Ed Shin’s parents sat waiting for the judge to rule on\nthe motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling a sense of relief when the judge denied Shin’s motion today,\nJuly 26, 2019, those of us who have worked the case and now friends in a\ntwisted way, along with Chris’s family, finally have some semblance of closure\nto this saga. Though Shin still guards the truth as to where Chris’s remains\nlay, we know he will spend his life behind bars. Convicted on December 7, 2018,\nof murder with special circumstances, Shin has been sentenced to life without\nthe possibility of parole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greed and entitlement are the nexus to this saga. The story is as old\nas Cain and Abel’s; I want what you have and am willing to kill for it<\/em>.\nThe thing is, greed doesn\u2019t discriminate against race, economic status or\ngender. Shin was raised in a Christian home, was married and the father of\nthree young children, with his wife pregnant with their fourth. To the\nuntrained eye, he was your average SoCal husband, dad, and business associate.\nWhat has been uncovered post investigation tells a story of a different color.\nShin is the personification of the portrait of Dorian Gray hidden in the attic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn’t know Chris during his lifetime, but memories his family has\nshared over dinners, late-night telephone calls, and during the course of this\npainfully long eight-year trial process, has painted a picture of a\nkind-hearted and generous spirit. Chris was a man who embraced life and was on\nthe verge of taking his next steps. At the time of his death, he was coming\ninto his own as a serial entrepreneur and enjoying his Southern California\nsurfing lifestyle, happily living in Laguna Beach. When Chris’s family and\nfriends speak of him, they always smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody but Shin really knows how Chris died. Supposition is that Shin\neither bludgeoned or stabbed Chris to death. Without the remains for the\ncoroner to determine cause of death, we\u2019ll never know.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Influences on the Investigative\nProcess<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What came to fruition at today’s court hearing, as I sat and waited for\nthe judge to declare Shin’s sentence, was the realization that I was part of a\ndivine plan. There were too many “coincidences” to not notice\nworkings in the spiritual realm that guided my actions to help bring this case\nto a close. Through twists of fate or divine intervention, I happen to believe\nin the latter, our lives have become forever entangled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This case, unlike any other I have worked as an investigator, has been\nconstantly tugging on my soul. During the many years of this investigation, while\nmy three children graduated high school and eventually college, finding the\nevidence to convict Shin of murder became my mission. Eight years of\ninvestigative work cannot be condensed into a 1,000-word blog, so bear with me\nas I work through these series of writings. Intimate times shared with Chris’s\nmom and dad and meetings with his brother gave me insight into the heart of the\nman. My goal is to serve Chris’s memory in the recounting of steps taken to\nbring justice to the Smith family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, my methodology will always be influenced by my former career as a\npolice officer. When it comes to solving crimes or helping people through\nproblems, I’m good at uncovering the facts. There is hard evidence and circumstantial\nevidence. There are bad guys (criminals) and good guys (innocent victims). This\ntype of thinking is what I bring to my investigative practice and what helped\nme discover that one thing that changed the trajectory of this case from missing\nperson to murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning and Ending of a Business Relationship<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 2009 to June of 2010, Shin and Smith were partners in a joint\nventure generating business leads for clients in the debt-consolidation industry.\nThey were on the precipice of Internet marketing and called their company 800xchange,\nrunning their business from a small office in San Juan Capistrano. At this\nnascent stage of online sales, they were making a lot of money. But what Chris\ndidn’t know about his partner was that Shin came into their partnership with a\nlot of baggage. At that time, Shin had been convicted of embezzling more than\n$700,000 from a previous employer, and there was an agreement that he had to\npay restitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the time nearing and pressure mounting for Shin, I can surmise\nthat Chris began to suspect something was amiss and began to question Shin. An\nimportant thing to know about the personality disorder of narcissism, is that\nonce their protective and defensive veneer is cracked, they will expose the\ndark, selfish, and sociopathic behavior. Perhaps Chris got a glimpse into Ed’s\ndark side and shady dealings, and Ed was now pulling him deeper and deeper into\nhis past problems. I also believe Ed was mishandling the company books, and it\nwas at this point that Chris wanted out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two eventually negotiated a buyout, with Chris selling Ed his\nportion of the business. What Chris didn’t know was that Shin never intended to\nhonor the agreement. Instead, on the night of June 4, 2010, while meeting to\ndiscuss final arrangements for the split, Ed killed Chris. This we know as Ed\nadmitted during the trial that it was a “fight gone bad.” Actually,\nthis was a premeditated and senseless act motivated by pure greed. When Ed\naddressed the Court on July 26th, he admitted to his selfishness, stating his\nmoral compass was set askew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office Neighbors Happen to be Investigators<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May of 2011, approximately one year after Chris was murdered, my senior\ninvestigator, Chris Heuberger, and I were operating Premier Group International\n(PGI) in an office suite in San Juan Capistrano, California.  Coincidentally, our office was just a few\nsuites down from where Shin and Smith had operated 800xchange. Shortly after\nmoving in, we were solicited by the building\u2019s property manager, who asked us to\nlocate a former tenant named Edward Shin of 800xchange. Shin had apparently closed\nthe business and disappeared. If we were able to locate Shin, the manager\nrequested we serve him with a complaint for skipping out on his lease, with\nseveral months remaining on the contract, and leaving a balance due of\n$40,000.00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heuberger and I got to work on locating Shin for the purpose of Service\nof Process, and this is when we started noticing the twists and turns; this was\nnot a simple skip trace. We learned that several months prior to Shin skipping\nout on his lease, he allegedly bought out his business partner, Chris Smith of\nhis shares to their company, 800xchange. What we eventually uncovered was this\nwas the time that Shin went to work on mangled attempts to cover up his crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To better understand the sociopathic nature of Ed Shin, one need look\nno further than the email below. At first glance, this looks to be an email\nfrom Chris Smith to a business colleague, John, copying Shin and his brother,\nPaul Smith. This was simply an informational email indicating a minor change in\nbusiness responsibilities between Shin and Smith. There are two important facts\nto consider when reviewing the email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This telltale email later became the beginning of our \u201cTimeline\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\nin our investigation into the disappearance of Chris Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n \n \n \n from<\/strong>\n \n \n Chris\n Smith<\/strong> chris.smith@800xchange.com\n \n  \n \n \n \n to\n \n \n “Gebert,\n John” <jgebert@senecaone.com>\n \n \n \n \n cc\n \n \n Paul Smith <paul.smith@800xchange.com>,
\n Edward Shin <edward@800xchange.com<\/a>>\n \n \n \n \n date\n \n \n Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 12:43 PM\n \n \n \n \n subject\n \n \n Re: FW: 800X -Seneca redline\n \n \n \n \n mailed-by\n \n \n 800xchange.com<\/a>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

John,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My partner Ed is in\ncharge of legal matters. I am copying him on this email to take over this part.\nI did send the spot already, so if you can listen to it and make sure that it’s\nto your liking, I will have Ed also buy the media.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks, Ed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, you may not notice the “mistake.”<\/em> To\nbe honest, I didn’t catch it the first time either. Take a close look at the\nsignature. This is what happens when human nature and muscle memory fall into\nplace. I’d classify this as a Freudian slip in its most glaring appearance.\nWhat is said in police work is \u201cWe don\u2019t catch the smart ones.\u201d<\/em> The\nabove email was allegedly written by Chris Smith. Ed “apparently”<\/em>\nhad a lapse of memory of who he was and signed it \u201cThanks, Ed\u201d<\/strong>. The\nemail was dated just four days after Shin and Smith allegedly finalized their\nseparation agreement on June 4, 2010, which also happened to be the night Chris\nwas murdered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The email became a heralding piece of information, just one example in\nthe mounds of evidence, both real and circumstantial, that we discovered. Subsequently,\nthis prompted us to search the vacant office of 800xchange where we discovered the\nblood drops that lead us to believe something far more sinister happened. No\nlonger searching for a missing person, this became a homicide investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On June 4, 2010, early Friday evening, in a quaint town known for the Old Mission and horse trails, Christopher Ryan Smith was murdered. Surrounding business offices were empty as workers had already left for the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[169,155,160,156,164,170,172,167,165,159,166,154,153,162,163,158,26,171,168],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgiexecutives.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}