Murder Of Kacie Woody

Kacie Rene Woody (October 17, 1989December 4, 2002) was an American teenager from Holland, Arkansas, who was catfished, abducted, and murdered by 47-year-old David Leslie Fuller, from La Mesa, California, whom she met in a Yahoo Christian chat room for teens. Fuller had given his name as Dave Fagen, claimed to be a 17-year-old living in San Diego, and used a photo of a younger male on his profile. Fuller traveled to Arkansas, and abducted Kacie from her home on the night of December 3, 2002. The next day, her body was found in the rear of a minivan inside a storage unit in Conway, along with the body of Fuller. After he had shot her, he also shot himself, as law enforcement closed in on the unit. Kacie's case has been featured on the ''Investigation Discovery'' documentary shows ''Web of Lies'' and ''Man with a Van'', and the podcast ''Crime Junkie''. It is possibly the first well-documented case of a pedophile using the Internet to groom, abduct, and murder a victim.

Since Kacie's murder, her friends and family founded the Kacie Woody Foundation, which is designed to educate parents and children about dangers associated with the Internet.

Background

Kacie was born on October 17, 1989, at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Rick and Kristie Woody. She had two brothers, Austin and Tim. She suffered from meconium aspiration syndrome, and spent the first weeks of her life in the NICU. After returning to the hospital a few more times in early infancy, Kacie didn't have any more lung problems.

On June 19, 1997, when Kacie was 7 years old, her mother Kristie was killed in a car accident, while the family was on their way home from Tim's baseball game. The car collided with a horse that had run into the road, which shattered the windshield and hit Kristie, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Everyone else in the vehicle survived, although Rick, who was driving, suffered broken ribs.

In 2002, Kacie lived in Holland, Arkansas, with Rick, Tim, and Tim's friend Eric Betts. Her maternal aunt, Teresa Paul, lived next door. Paul's daughter and Kacie's cousin Jonna had died in a car accident, like Kristie, in 1994, at the age of 17. Kacie was a student at Greenbrier Middle School, and a member of the band, choir, and gifted and talented programs.

The Woody home was in a rural, heavily wooded area, and due to many outgoing calls being long-distance, Rick allowed Kacie to use instant messaging on the computer to keep in touch with her friends. She registered on Yahoo! Messenger with either the username modelbehavior63 or modelbehavior36 (accounts vary). Kacie eventually started using chat rooms to meet new friends, and on either New Year's Eve 2001 (according to ''Web of Lies''), or in the summer of 2002 (according to the written documentary ''Caught in the Web''), she befriended "jazzman_df", who claimed to be a 17-year-old boy named David "Dave" Fagen, in a Yahoo! Christian teen chat room. The photo on jazzman_df's profile was of a "surfer dude"-type attractive young man; he claimed to love surfing and the beach, and the two bonded quickly and began to chat often. Kacie eventually told Dave about the loss of her mother, and he told her that his aunt, who also happened to live in Arkansas, was recently in a car accident and now comatose, and wasn't expected to live much longer.

Kacie felt bad about Dave's aunt, and told her family and friends about him and the situation. Her friends Sam and Jessica also befriended Dave, and added him to their Yahoo buddy lists. At the same time, Sam in particular was fearful over Kacie's naivety, and warned her about becoming close to and falling in love with people that she hadn't met in person. Since Kacie's father, Rick, worked long-hour swing shifts as a police officer with the Greenbrier Police Department, he often wasn't home to monitor her Internet activity. Although, he stated during his ''Web of Lies'' interview, that at the time, he was aware she was talking to boys online. However, he wasn't very afraid, as long as he knew that she was at home, and the boys were elsewhere. Around the summer of 2002, when Kacie told him that Dave was turning 18, Rick told her that he was too old for her, and to stop talking to him. Although Kacie told Dave about this, she disobeyed Rick, and began talking to Dave over the phone, despite the long-distance call issue.

One night, likely in the autumn of 2002, Dave called Kacie while Jessica was spending the night at Kacie's house. During this, the girls heard strange sounds around the outside of the house, and a floorboard squeak in the kitchen, as if an intruder was on the property. The girls rushed into Kacie's bedroom and blocked the door with a dresser. Kacie told Dave that she was afraid someone was in the house; he told her that nobody was in the house and not to worry, and then the noises stopped.

Sam was skeptical of Dave's age, because of his use of outdated slang, using terms such as "groovy" and "far out". Kacie assumed this was simply because he came from California, and that people there talked differently than in Arkansas.

At some point, Kacie met another boy in a chat room, Tazz2999. He claimed to be a 14-year-old named Scott from Alpharetta, Georgia, who loved football and wrestling. The photo on his profile was of a young teen boy in a football uniform. Kacie and Scott began dating on October 3, 2002. When Dave learned about the relationship, he wanted to remain friends with Kacie, but he began talking about his aunt and her worsening condition more.

On the morning of Tuesday, December 3, 2002, Sam noticed that Kacie had the photo from Scott's profile in her locker. She told her that he was hot, which Kacie misheard as "fat". Kacie became angry, and the two began arguing. When Sam asked Kacie how she got the photo, she told her that Scott had mailed it to her. Alarmed over the fact that this meant Kacie had given Scott her address, Sam warned her again about giving her address to people that she had never met in person, and told her that Scott "could be an 80-year-old rapist and that the photo could be of his grandson". Kacie did not take this warning seriously, and without her knowledge, Sam told the school counselor, Diana Kellar, about how Kacie was giving out her phone number to strangers online. Kellar later called Kacie into her office, where she warned her about the dangers of the Internet and told her not to meet any online friends in person without a parent present. Kacie responded that she only gave her phone number to people her father approved, which Sam disbelieved. Kellar then called Sam to the office and left her and Kacie alone to talk, and the girls reconciled. When classes dismissed, Kacie asked Sam if she could spend the night at her house. The latter declined, because her mother likely wouldn't have allowed a sleepover on a school night, and Kacie would have needed a written note from her father in order to be allowed to be dropped off at Sam's house. Kacie then asked Jessica, and then another friend, being turned down by both as well. She was not upset about the refusals, and told her friends goodbye before boarding the school bus. Her friends found it unusual that Kacie asked about a sleepover on a school night.

Disappearance and investigation

That evening, Kacie was home alone, while Tim was doing research at his college's library, Betts was at his electrician's class, and Rick was on duty in Greenbrier. In addition, Paul was at her daughter's basketball game in Conway. Kacie was instant messaging with Scott on the computer while talking to Dave over the phone. Dave told Kacie that his aunt's condition continued to worsen, and that he was driving to Arkansas to be by her side until she passed away. At 9:41 PM (unknown if CST or EST), Kacie's messages with Scott suddenly stopped. Scott quickly became concerned, and continued to message Kacie, in an attempt for her family or Betts to see. He emailed Jessica, and attempted to call the Woody house, all to no avail.

When Betts returned home at about 10:15 PM CST and noticed that Kacie wasn't around, he assumed she was in bed, or out with family or friends, and continued his normal activities. When Tim returned home around 11:40 PM and noticed that Kacie wasn't in bed, he called Rick, who raced home in his squad car. Rick noticed that the house showed signs of forced entry, Kacie's reading glasses that she used on the computer (which was still on with the chat window between her and Scott still open) were damaged with a lens missing, and her pet Yorkshire Terrier

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