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People Magazine Investigates revisited California entrepreneur Chris Smith's 2010 murder case, who was killed by his business partner, Edward Shin. The killer later posed as Smith, sending emails to his family and friends to cover up his tracks.
The episode, titled Vanished, aired on November 25 on ID. The synopsis of the episode states:
"So-Cal surfer and tech entrepreneur Chris Smith dreams of making a tidy sum of money and surfing off into the sunset; it seems as though his dreams have come true, but all is not as it appears."
Entrepreneur Chris Smith mysteriously disappeared in June 2010, supposedly on a surfing tour across the globe. Smith's family, friends, and girlfriend allegedly received emails from him stating that he was on the road, but months passed and he did not return home. There was no sign of him except for the occasional emails.
Smith's family filed a missing persons report in early 2011 and recruited a computer specialist to examine the emails he allegedly sent. It was soon uncovered that the emails were transmitted within the United States.
Moreover, forensic analysis done by detectives at the missing persons office detected huge amounts of blood, and it was later discovered that Chris was killed in his office.
Entrepreneur Chris Smith's body was never found
Chris Smith was an outdoors person, immensely passionate about water sports and surfing in particular. He was raised in Watsonville, right outside of Santa Cruz.
In 2009, it appeared as though his goals were coming to life - he was living in the affluent neighborhood of Laguna Beach, driving a Range Rover, and running a business that was at its height, making million-dollar profits per month.
Together with Ed Shin, Smith founded a firm called 800XChange, which provided businesses with sales leads when customers contacted the 800 numbers listed in their advertisements. His brother Paul started working for him at his company. He also started dating a ballet dancer named Erica.
Strangely, Chris allegedly sold his company's portion to Ed Shin in 2010 so that he could travel the world. Given his independent character, his family had little trouble understanding his behavior. He left for the Galapagos Islands in June 2010 with the intention of staying there for three weeks.
But as the weeks slipped into months, nobody had a clue about his whereabouts except for the emails he apparently sent. Not to mention, the contrasting emotions in the emails were likewise strange - while some stated that he had experienced childhood trauma that had even caused him to consider suicide, others said that he was finally at peace.
Chris Smith never returned from his trip and 2011, and things slowly started to uncover.
Chris Smith's business partner Ed Shin murdered him and sent emails to his family, posing as the victim
Employees of Ed and Chris's firm received an email telling them not to report to the office the week that they were expected to sign the contract. However, when Chris's brother Paul went to get something, he discovered that the office smelled awful, the carpets were wet, and the walls had been freshly painted. He also saw a sizable stain in front of his office.
In an explanation, Shin told Chris' family that he came to work extremely drunk, and puked and urinated all over himself. The Smiths reported him missing after a string of strange occurrences that only served to intensify the already existing tension caused by his absence.
They also hired an expert who claimed that the emails were sent from the US. Authorities also discovered blood traces in his office.
Chris Smith's business partner Ed Shin, who was once convicted of stealing money from his former company, was detained at an airport for breaking the terms of his parole.
He admitted to fatally hitting Chris and paying an unidentified man money to dispose of the body, which was never found. Shin was found guilty of first-degree murder in December 2018 and was given a life sentence.
