EXCLUSIVE – ‘We though he lost his marbles’: Family of businessman who was murdered by his partner over a $1.2million debt reveal the moment they realized his emails were coming from the killer, and not their son
- Family of Chris Smith will sit down in a two-hour Dateline interview with Keith Morrison on Friday at 9p/8c ET
- Smith was killed by business partner Edward Shin, who later hijacked his identity to send emails to his family saying he was going to Africa
The family of a California businessman who was murdered over a $1.2million debt by his partner will speak out for the first time since his death in 2010.
Chris Smith, 32, was beaten to death in June 2010 by business partner Edward Shin, who helped run their debt-consolidating company 800XChange.
Shin later hijacked Smith’s identity and for months sent emails to his family saying he was traveling to Africa to throw them off the scent.
In a two-hour Dateline broadcast set to air on Friday, the family will reveal the moment they learned the harrowing reality that the emails were not coming from Chris and that their son was actually dead.
Chris Smith, 32, was beaten to death by business partner Edward Shin, who helped run their debt-consolidating company 800XChange.
Shin later hijacked Smith’s identity and for months sent emails to his family saying he was traveling to Africa to throw them off the scent
‘[He said] He was gonna head back up into Rwanda and exchange some gold krugerrands that he was carrying in his pocket, supposedly, for cash,’ Smith’s brother Paul says in an exclusive clip.
‘At that point, I was like, okay, he’s lost his marbles. And that’s when, you know, the possibility of it being something that you hope it’s not starts to come to the door of your mind. And it’s–you don’t wanna let it in.’
Upon hearing the news, Smith’s mother Debi says she urged her son to be safe, but immediately sensed something was off.
‘We still love you, and don’t do anything, you know, and we just kept saying how much we all miss him. But my gut instinct told me something was really, really, wrong. So and then they ended there.’
Chris’s emails stopped in December 2010 and his body has never been found.