The Disturbing Case of Ali Kemp | True Crime Documentary

this story happened in 2002 in Kansas U.S nineteen-year-old Alexandra Kemp or Ali as everyone called her worked at an outdoor swimming pool during the summer vacation her brother also worked there but they had different shifts one day when he came to work he could not find his sister so he called his father the guy couldn't even imagine that Ali was closer than he thought Alexandra Elizabeth Kemp was born on October 11 1982 in Leewood located on the border of Kansas and Missouri she was the eldest of three children and the only daughter of her parents Alexandra graduated from high school with honors and enrolled at the Kansas State University she had big life plans including going on a trip in 2002 having finished her first year of University she returned to Leawood for the summer vacation there was an outdoor swimming pool not far from her parents house her younger brother Tyler worked there Alexandra also decided to earn some money during the summer and got a part-time job there it wasn't a busy place the pool was mainly for the people who lived in the neighborhood by the way this pool is still functioning To This Day on June 18 2002 Alexandra was at work it was a cloudy day so there were fewer visitors than usual at about 5 PM Tyler came to the pool to start his shift but his sister wasn't there her mobile phone and purse were on the table where she usually sat confused Tyler called his parents and said that Alexandra disappeared their father Roger Kemp immediately arrived at the scene the first thing he did was look into the pool Roger exhaled with relief the pool was empty then Roger went to a small pump room by the pool that contained various items used for water purification a ladder and other things once inside the man looked around but did not see anything suspicious but then he noticed a leg sticking out from under the tarp running up and lifting the tarp Roger saw his brutally beaten daughter she was naked from the waist down and had many bruises on her face and body the man immediately called 9-1-1 talking to the operator he cried and begged Alexandra not to leave him when the ambulance arrived Roger was performing CPR on his daughter they took the girl to the hospital but unfortunately despite all their efforts Alexandra did not survive she was pronounced dead right after arriving at the hospital despite many severe injuries the cause of Alexander's death was strangulation although her body was partially naked experts found no signs of someone forcing her into intimacy before her death while waiting for the results of an analysis of the DNA samples taken from Alexandra's body the police cordoned off the pool searching for clues that would help identify the perpetrator there were clear signs of a struggle in the room where Roger found Alexandra's body her flip-flops were in two different places the police also found an open antiseptic gel and a cap from it a few days later while the police were desperately trying to find the perpetrator the family and hundreds of caring people said goodbye to Alexandra at a funeral ceremony the first person suspected was Phil Howes whom Alexandra had been dating since high school Phil also worked as a pool administrator on the day of Alexandra's death he was working the morning shift and Alexandra came at noon her shift was supposed to last five hours sometimes Phil stayed after work to spend extra time with his girlfriend Alexandra but this time he left right after his shift because they had planned a date for the evening as mentioned earlier when Alexandra's brother came to work she was already under a tarp in the pump room however Phil had a solid Alibi and the police quickly excluded him from the suspect list talking to detectives he said that Alexandra did not like being alone as lawnmowers often stared at her and tried to flirt with her the police interrogated the lawn mowers but all the men had an alibi however it wasn't a complete dead end several men said they had seen a strange man sitting in the bushes with a video camera presumably watching the girls in swimsuits they saw this man by the pool the day before Alexandra's death moreover someone said that he left in an old Ford pickup truck studying the activity of the girl's mobile phone experts found that she communicated with a friend named Laurel on the day of her death they even agreed to meet Laurel appeared at the police station for questioning she told investigators that Alexandra asked her to come and sit with her until her shift ended the weather that day wasn't that good so no one visited the pool which made Alexandra uncomfortable according to Laurel she arrived at the pool at about 2 30 pm and parked a couple of yards from the fence but Alexandra wasn't there Laurel started honking hoping Alexandra would come out to the sound but instead of her friend she saw a man coming out of the pool house the latter looked at her and waved with a smile Laurel didn't know this man she assumed it was Alexandra's boss and decided to leave so as not to create unnecessary problems for her friend at that moment she thought Alexandra would be in trouble if the boss found out that she was talking to friends during working hours but that man wasn't Alexandra's boss or co-worker the police were almost sure that Laurel had seen the criminal following Laurel's description a forensic artist sketched the suspect the police were looking for a white man about 30 years old of stocky build with short brown hair and driving a Ford pickup truck presumably of 1980. the authorities received a lot of Clues one person said the man named James Strader looked very similar to the sketch of the suspect Strader had an old Ford pickup truck and worked as a mechanic about 20 minutes from the pool when the police found the man and took him to the station they were shocked by his resemblance to the sketch compiled from Laurel's description James denied any involvement in Alexandra Kemp's death the man's employer confirmed his Alibi saying James was at work on the day of Alexandra's death as a result they let straighter go meanwhile the police received a report from the laboratory they discovered male DNA on a tube of antiseptic gel found at the crime scene and on Alexandra's body however it wasn't of much help because the police found no matches when checking these samples in the databases Alexandra's friends family members and boyfriend were officially excluded from the list of suspects since their DNA did not match the DNA samples found on her body the driving force in this investigation was Alexandra's father Roger Kemp losing his beloved daughter deprived him of the meaning of life but he regained it setting himself the goal of finding the one who took Alexandra's life in an interview Roger said you have two options you can stay in bed and pull the blanket over your head or go out and fight I chose to fight the police department was so impressed with Roger's perseverance and tenacity that he got his own place at the police station where he collected all the information he received and shared possible leads with the investigation after checking all the clues available at that time Roger together with the investigators contacted the producers of the television program America's Most Wanted and asked to make an episode about the death of Alexandra the creators agreed at one point it was the longest running program on television and consisted of 24 seasons after Alexandra's story aired the police started receiving hundreds of calls with information they checked all the clues none of which led to a breakthrough the investigation again reached a dead end in February 2003 eight months after Alexandra's death there was a new as it seemed solid clue as a result of the search activities the police arrested a man in Utah they received three statements about this person with a difference of several days two women and one 14 year old girl unrelated to each other reported to the police that some man forced them into intimacy the criminal went on the run but was tracked down and arrested in Utah this man turned out to be James Strader the same man whom the Kansas police interrogated earlier straighter had very similar facial features to the sketch of the suspect for some reason no one took his DNA sample at that time perhaps no one did this because his boss convinced the police that Strader was at work on the day of the crime and did not leave anywhere now everyone thought the Alexandra Kemp case was about to be solved but Strader again denied his involvement in her death he agreed that he looked very similar to the suspect's portrait but claimed he had not been by the pool that day he provided a DNA sample for the analysis however the results frustrated everyone his DNA did not match the DNA found on Alexandra's body and the antiseptic gel tube in the end Strader went to prison for unrelated charges and the investigation of the Alexandra Kemp case again reached a stalemate a year has passed since Alexandra's death but the police had no suspects Roger Kemp and Phil Howes the guy Alexandra was dating continued their fight for justice Phil the president of the student Community used email to distribute the portrait of the suspect among students of other universities he also asked the student communities of other educational institutions to watch America's Most Wanted episode about Alexandra Kemp but all the efforts made by her relatives and the police did not give results another year has passed Roger Kemp did not give up and continued his struggle for justice for his daughter he contacted the America's Most Wanted program again and asked to rerun the episode about Alexandra's death the creators asked Roger if there was any new information in the case to which he replied no such determination of a father who lost his daughter impressed the show's creators therefore the episode was shown again after that the police again received a large number of calls Roger offered a 25 000 reward for any information helpful to identify the one who took Alexandra's life the authorities of the City of Leewood increased it to fifty thousand dollars Roger also posted an image of his daughter the suspect's sketch and information about the reward in newspapers one day he was driving along the highway and noticed the Billboards at that moment Roger realized that a billboard was a great way to attract attention he began calling advertising agencies and asking how much it would cost to place the needed information on one of the Billboards one of the agencies that Roger called was Lamar Advertising company when the company's owner learned that Roger Kemp wanted to rent a billboard he refused to take money from him instead he told him that he could post information for free and not on one but several billboards Roger decided to post a sketch of the suspect and information about the reward on billboards located next to one of the busiest highways in the state the police again received hundreds of Clues which took time to check at the same time some Clues were about the same man two unrelated people reported about Teddy Hoover the owner of an old Ford pickup truck the man worked in pool maintenance and looked similar to the suspect's sketch so many matches could not be just a coincidence so the police started the search for a man named Teddy Hoover they found out the address of his residence in Kansas and immediately went there Hoover opened the door he was surprised and visibly nervous but this did not indicate his fault many people get nervous when the police knock on their doors they asked him about his whereabouts on June 18 2002 as one could expect the man replied that he did not remember because two years had passed since then not many people will remember where they were on a particular day a few years ago Hoover also denied being involved in the maintenance of the pool Alexandra worked at still the detectives asked him to voluntarily give a sample of his DNA to exclude him from the list of suspects Hoover replied he needed to contact a lawyer before doing this he said he would call the police himself after talking with a lawyer about a day later Hoover's lawyer contacted investigators and said his client was worried about his sample ending up in the database allegedly Teddy believed in various conspiracy theories in other words he thought the police would use it against him in other cases the investigators promised that they would not enter Hoover's DNA into any database and would only check if it matched the DNA found on Alexandra Kemp the lawyer said he would talk to his client and call back while waiting for the call the police looked through all the materials for the hundredth time and found a piece of paper with a familiar name in one of the folders on the day Alexandra died detectives interviewed onlookers gathered by the pool hoping to learn if they had seen anything suspicious one of the people the police talked to by the pool was none other than Ted Hoover it meant he was at the crime scene although he told detectives he had never been there with every passing minute the police were more confident that Ted Hoover could be the man they had been searching for two years after several days of waiting the investigators contacted Hoover's lawyer and asked if his client was ready to provide a sample of his DNA the lawyer's response came as a surprise to the investigators the man said his client refused his services and stopped contacting him police immediately went to Hoover's house but by this time their main suspect managed to escape they put the 29 year old man on the national wanted list however he managed to cover his tracks quite successfully billboards with the suspect's image were still in place and detectives had been searching for Hoover for months without success in September 2004 a man called the police and said he had information about the suspect he said he knew the name of Teddy's girlfriend with whom he lived in Kansas detectives decided to find this woman but discovered that she left the state at the same time when Hoover escaped the woman's name was Laura Barr and the U.S Postal Service informed the Kansas State Police that she was receiving mail in Litchfield Connecticut a man named Benjamin Appleby also received mail at the same address the house where they lived was in a secluded rural area the police were sure that Benjamin Appleby was either a pseudonym or the real name of Teddy Hoover Leewood detectives contacted the Connecticut State Police and asked them to help find Appleby as it turned out in 1997 the man had problems with the law in Connecticut which resulted in a warrant for his arrest the man exposed himself in front of a schoolgirl however Benjamin fled the state and the police could not find him Now with an arrest warrant the detectives went to the address where the mail came for Benjamin Appleby they found the man at home and immediately arrested him as the Kansas detective suspected Benjamin Appleby and Teddy Hoover were the same person when Appleby got into trouble with the law in Connecticut in 1997 he fled the state and lived under the pseudonym Teddy Hoover but when detectives in Kansas wanted to get a sample of his DNA to check his involvement in the death of Alexandra Kemp he returned to Connecticut started living under his real name and tried to keep a low profile assuming that everyone had forgotten about his wrongdoings Appleby refused extradition to Kansas so the Leewood detectives went to Connecticut assuming that he would again declare his innocence the detectives tricked him before bringing the man into the interrogation room they hung up crime scene photos and Alexandra and Applebee's pictures and put folders on the table with his name written on them the police did everything to give him the impression that the investigation knew everything about him when the man appeared in the interrogation room he was speechless one of the detectives asked what do you think will happen when we get a sample of your DNA a moment later Appleby started crying and said that Alexandra's death was his doing he described the events of that cloudy June day Benjamin saw Alexandra and she seemed attractive he decided to hit on her and when she went into the pump room he went after her and locked the door so she couldn't get out when Appleby touched the girl she hit him back feeling humiliated he began to beat and strangle her Alexandra lost Consciousness and Appleby decided to satisfy his lust and partially undressed her he took a tube of antiseptic gel from the first aid kit and was going to use it as a lubricant Alexandra's friend the one sitting in the car behind the fence and beeping prevented him from carrying out his plan he was afraid to get caught red-handed so he covered the body and left the room when he saw Alexandra's friend he smiled and waved to her next he got into his pickup truck and drove away a few hours later he returned to the crime scene and stood in a crowd of onlookers gathered by the pool the DNA analysis left no doubt the DNA found on the tube with gel and Alexandra's body belonged to Benjamin Appleby thus after more than two years and largely thanks to the efforts of Roger Kemp the police found the man who took Alexandra's life Appleby told investigators he was ready to fully admit guilt to quickly close this case and prevent Alexandra's family from going through an emotional ordeal again but at the first court hearing he declared his innocence saying he confessed under pressure you can say a lot but arguing with the DNA analysis is pointless there was only one DNA sample on the victim's body and it belonged to Benjamin Appleby realizing this his lawyers tried to convince the court that their client did not intend to take Alexandra's life they said Benjamin admits to taking Alexandra Kemp's life but denies acting intentionally however forensic experts reminded everyone that the criminal was strangling the girl for about 10 minutes he could have stopped but did not do it according to the prosecution he came to the pool only for one purpose to watch her unfortunately on June 18 2002 it was cloudy and the pool was empty Appleby used it to his advantage in December 2005 a jury found him guilty the court sentenced him to life imprisonment with the possibility of filing a petition for parole in 50 years he received another 19 years for trying to force her into Intimacy in 2019 Appleby appealed the Court's decision the life imprisonment for the first degree deprivation of life remained in force the court of appeal ruled that an attempt to enter into intimacy with Alexandra was taken into account when passing the first sentence thus Appleby was sentenced twice for the same act based on this the court overturned the second conviction still even if released on parole Appleby will be 81 years old at that time the authorities involved in the investigation admitted they found the criminal thanks to Roger Kemp's perseverance when Appleby was behind bars Roger and his wife created a self-defense class for girls thanks to which tens of thousands of girls and women across the country learned basic self-defense techniques as for the idea of using Billboards it was not new back in 1991 after the death by strangulation of 34 year old Kathy Page her father started placing Billboards criticizing the police and this story inspired the creators of the film three Billboards outside ebbing Missouri however after Roger Kemp posted a sketch of the suspect on billboards people started using this method throughout the country moreover many use it to this day Roger's persistence in the investigation and his subsequent activities for the benefit of society did not go unnoticed Barack Obama awarded him a presidential Citizen's medal at the White House Roger Kemp passed away at 77 on March 1st 2022 until the last day of his life he worked in a foundation named after his daughter he said he would consider all his efforts successful if it helped save at least one person foreign

Channel: True Crime

Views: 223,794

Keywords: True, crime, true crime, true crime documentary, Alexandra Kemp, Ali Kemp, true crime channel, investigation, detective, disappearance, crime investigation, case solved, solved, disappearance of woman solved, detective stories, documentary, crime documentary, true crime 2023

Id: Mkxk79OLl8M

Length: 21min 36sec (1296 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 27 2023