Murder of Kacie Woody

Kacie Woody
School portrait of Kacie
Born	(1989-10-17)October 17, 1989 Little Rock, Arkansas United States
Died	December 4, 2002(2002-12-04) (aged 13) Conway, Arkansas United States
Cause of death	Gunshot wound
Body discovered	December 4, 2002
Resting place	South Crossroads Church Cemetery Rose Bud, Arkansas[1]
Nationality	American
Education	Greenbrier Middle School
Occupation	Student
Known for	Victim of catfishing and Internet homicide by an online predator
Parents	Ricky Don Woody (father) Kristie Lea Woody (née Smith) (mother)
Website	Memorial website

Kacie Rene Woody (October 17, 1989 – December 4, 2002) was an American teenager from Holland, Arkansas who was catfished, abducted and murdered by 47-year-old David Leslie Fuller^[2] from La Mesa, California, who 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.^[3] 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 and, when law enforcement arrived at the unit, himself.^[4] Kacie's case has been featured on the Investigation Discovery documentary shows Web of Lies^[5] and Man with a Van,^[6] 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.

Background[]

Kacie was born on October 17, 1989, at Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas to Rick and Kristie Woody and 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.^[7]

On June 19, 1997, when Kacie was 7 years old, 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, shattering the windshield and hitting Kristie, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Everyone else in the vehicle survived, although Rick, who was driving, suffered broken ribs.^[8][9]

In 2002 Kacie lived in Holland, Arkansas with Rick, Tim and Tim's friend Eric Betts. Her maternal aunt, Teresa Paul, lived next door.^[10] Paul's daughter and Kacie's cousin Jonna died in a car accident, like Kristie, in 1994, at the age of 17.^[3][11] Kacie was a student at Greenbrier Middle School and a member of the band, choir and gifted and talented programs.^[1]

Location of Holland in Faulkner County, Arkansas

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.^[3] 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, but at the same time Sam in particular was fearful over Kacie's gullibility 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 but wasn't very afraid as long as he knew that she was at home and the boys were elsewhere.^[5] But 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.^[8][6]

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, and the latter declined because her mother likely wouldn't allow a sleepover on a school night, and Kacie would need a written note from her father in order to be allowed to be dropped off at Sam's house.^[6] 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, emailed Jessica and attempted to call the Woody house, all to no avail.^[10]

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 was limping. He called Kacie's friends, who hadn't recently heard from or seen her, and eventually called for backup. Either Tim or Betts instant messaged with Scott and learned about Kacie's conversation with Dave and how she suddenly stopped responding to Scott's texts.^[8]

Investigators initially considered the possibility that Kacie had run away, which Rick denied, stating that she was happy with her life and would not leave the house without telling him. He had last spoken to her around 7 PM that evening; when he had called to check in on her she had been practicing her saxophone and nothing had seemed unusual. It was noticed that Kacie's coats and shoes were left behind when temperatures that night were in the thirties with rain, leading authorities to suspect an abduction. A massive investigation, involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Arkansas State Police, every law enforcement agency in Faulkner County, police dogs and dozens of volunteers was launched,^[12][5] and a Level II Morgan Nick alert was issued at 5:14 AM.^[8] Investigators seized the Woody computer and questioned students and staff at Greenbrier Middle School, and were told about Scott and Dave by Kacie's friends. FBI agent Jerry Spurgers also discovered discarded notes containing the two males' names in Kacie's trash can. Scott's computer was traced to his home in Alpharetta. FBI visited the property, where his mother answered the door. Scott’s parents were unaware of who Kacie was or even that he’d had a girlfriend. However, FBI determined that Scott had given his true identity online and was at home when Kacie disappeared, and he was cleared of suspicion.

Investigators learned from Kacie's friends that Dave had told her he was en route to Arkansas from California at the time she disappeared. They launched a search around the local area for clues about him and at a Conway Motel 6 discovered a 1993 Buick Regal with a California license plate. Detectives learned that it belonged to a man named David Fuller, who had checked in December 2 and booked his stay for a week, requested no maid service and had complained to the staff about not being able to connect to the Internet from his room, which he had become very angry over. When the detectives searched his room they found Fuller's packed suitcase, laptop, camouflage clothing, rubber gloves and that the bed hadn't been slept in.

After checking with the Conway Enterprise Rent-A-Car (where an employee stated that Fuller had behaved strangely and repeatedly went outside to smoke while filling out paperwork), detectives subpoenaed his paperwork and learned that his phone number matched one repeatedly dialed from the Woody home, that he'd rented a silver Dodge Caravan minivan and that his credit card had been charged by Guardsmart Storage (now StoreSmart Self-Storage) in Conway. Fuller was confirmed to be "Dave" and at this point he was upgraded from a person of interest to a suspect in Kacie's disappearance.

Murder of Kacie Woody
Units at Guardsmart Storage (now StoreSmart Self-Storage), the location of Kacie's murder, photographed sometime after
Location	3715 Prince St Conway, AR 72034 United States
Coordinates	35°05′30″N 92°29′32″W / 35.09179°N 92.49216°W / 35.09179; -92.49216Coordinates: 35°05′30″N 92°29′32″W / 35.09179°N 92.49216°W / 35.09179; -92.49216
Date	December 4, 2002; 19 years ago (2002-12-04) Abducted at 9:41 PM December 3
Attack type	Abduction, rape, murder-suicide
Weapons	Chloroform, 9 mm Luger
Victim	Kacie Woody
Perpetrator	David Fuller
Convicted	Fuller committed suicide upon law enforcement’s arrival

Conway police Sgt. Jim Barrett and two FBI agents arrived at Fuller's unit at Guardsmart at around 6:00 PM on December 4. The door was down and did not have a lock, and when it was lifted they noticed the silver Dodge Caravan inside, forward-facing with its engine running. When Barrett began to enter the unit, a single gunshot rang inside and law enforcement ran for cover and called for backup while shouting commands for whoever was inside to surrender the weapon and emerge with their hands up, with no result. When a SWAT team arrived around 8:30 PM, they stormed the unit.^[5]

David Fuller had shot himself in the head when Barrett had lifted the unit's door; his body was found lying on the floor behind the minivan, still holding a 9 mm Luger and along with the van's back seats. Barrett found Kacie's body lying supine in the back of the minivan, with her wrists and ankles chained to the four corners of the van's floor. Fuller had raped her before shooting her in the head. Also found was a half-empty bottle of chloroform and a rag next to Kacie's head. (The Man With a Van episode states that the bottle of chloroform was found in the Woody home at the beginning of the investigation.) Although Kacie's time of death could not be agreed upon, it was determined that she had been deceased for hours, and a medical examiner concluded that she had likely been unconscious from the chloroform from when she was abducted to when she was murdered.^[13]

Perpetrator[]

David Fuller
Born	David Leslie Fuller (1955-01-18)January 18, 1955 Salt Lake City, Utah United States
Died	December 4, 2002(2002-12-04) (aged 47) Conway, Arkansas, U.S.
Cause of death	Suicide by gunshot
Resting place	Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park Millcreek, Utah[14]
Other names	Dave David Leslie Fagen
Education	Skyline High School
Occupation	Former used car salesman
Known for	Abduction and murder of Kacie Woody, online predation
Criminal status	Deceased
Spouse(s)	Sally Krens ​ (m. 1983)​
Children	2
Details
Victims	At least 4
Span of crimes	2000–2002
Country	United States
State(s)	California, Arkansas
Killed	2 (including himself)
Weapons	Chloroform, 9 mm Luger
Date apprehended	Committed suicide on December 4, 2002

David Leslie Fuller (January 18, 1955 – December 4, 2002) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah; the fourth and youngest child of Edward "Ned" and June Fuller. His parents were devout Mormons.

Fuller was a quiet and reserved child, and did not perform very well in school. After graduating from Skyline High School, he went on to play guitar in several different rock bands.

At age 19, he married an unidentified girl and moved with her to Moab, although they ended their marriage shortly after. He met Sally Krens, his wife at the time of his death, in the early 1980s while he played bass guitar at a local bar. They married on May 21, 1983, and moved to Salt Lake City.

Fuller became a Navy Seabee in 1989, before the couple moved to Gulfport, Mississippi, in which state they had a son. They later moved to Maryland, where they had a daughter, and then to San Diego. The children were 11 and 7 years old at the time of Fuller's death.

The family moved to La Mesa around 1997, and Fuller left the Navy two years later.^[2] As the marriage went on and Fuller and Sally began social drinking less, Fuller developed anger problems and mood swings. He also eventually began spending long hours online and taking nighttime walks around the neighborhood while talking on the phone. In June 2002, Sally obtained paperwork from a divorce workshop while Fuller took the children to visit his parents. When he returned, he was very angry to learn this.

In August of that year, Child Protective Services of California investigated a report that Fuller had been showering with his daughter; it was eventually concluded that this was untrue. Sometime after Fuller moved into his own apartment, still in La Mesa, he was charged with spousal abuse after he had returned to Sally's home one night, shoved and screamed at her and then unlocked a bedroom door with a screwdriver after she had locked herself and the children inside. Fuller had also once been arrested and fined for indecent exposure after exposing himself to two young girls, and had been fired from his job as a used car salesman after being caught watching pornography (possibly of children) on the work computer.

After Fuller's death, FBI got a warrant to search his apartment and discovered a framed montage of photos of Kacie near his computer and paper with her and her friends' names, phone numbers and addresses written down.^[6] Stored on the computer was a poem Kacie had written about her mother's death and photos of Kacie and her friends. The FBI also learned that under Fuller's Dave Fagen persona he'd attempted to groom at least three other girls around Kacie's age, beginning in the winter of 2000, although none of these attempts led to offline encounters. He had offered to buy a Michigan girl a plane ticket to California, which she refused, and in March 2002 mailed a Dallas girl flowers, although she told detectives that she'd never given him her address.

Police also discovered that Fuller had already visited Arkansas twice before, both times in the fall of 2002. The first time, he'd flown into Clinton National Airport on October 11, rented a car from Adam's Field and checked into a Motel 6 in Conway. It is believed that he spied on Kacie and her home during this trip, although it is not certain.

Fuller bought a gun on November 2, telling his children that he needed it for target practice. Two days later, he again flew to Little Rock, rented a car and checked in at the Motel 6, extending his stay on November 8. On November 6, he'd visited Guardsmart, looking for the largest unit available and telling an on-site manager that he bought vehicles and needed a place to temporarily store them. Authorities speculated that he'd planned to abduct Kacie at this time, but was unable to.

After this, Fuller bought duct tape, chain and zip ties from his local Home Depot in California, and obtained the bottle of chloroform from a chemical supply company. He then packed the supplies in his Buick Regal before driving to Arkansas and succeeding in abducting Kacie.

Investigators later ran Fuller's DNA through a national database in order to learn if he had committed similar crimes prior to Kacie's abduction and murder, which produced no results.

Fuller's remains were cremated. Sally kept his ashes in her closet with intent to someday take the children to Mount Olympus to scatter them; however, at some point he was interred at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Millcreek, Utah, above the grave of his parents, both of whom passed away after Fuller.^[15][14]

Reactions[]

Around the time of the discovery of Kacie's body, Sam and Jessica were at the former's house watching the news for updates. Jessica reported in her Web of Lies interview that when the girls learned of Kacie's death, they huddled together on the porch and cried. At that time it began to snow, and since Kacie had mentioned within the prior few days that she'd wanted it to snow, Jessica believed that this was a message from her.

Fuller's parents did not believe reporters who told them about their son's crime and death, but police were able to convince them. Fuller's father, Ned, wanted to call Rick Woody to express his condolences, but was discouraged by the officers.^[3]

Kacie's funeral was held on December 9, and she is buried in South Crossroads Church Cemetery in Rose Bud, Arkansas, next to her mother.^[1] Her cousin Jonna is also buried in this cemetery.^[11]

Kacie's friends and family founded the Kacie Woody Foundation, a nonprofit organization designed to teach parents and children about Internet safety. Her father, Rick, stated that Kacie liked to help people and that he founded the organization as a way to do this in her honor, as well as to help prevent other children from suffering her fate.^[5][12]

In spring 2003, Rick granted federal and state authorities permission to share Kacie's story in an Internet safety and law enforcement training program by the FBI called "Innocent Images". That June, the FBI released patches depicting a teddy bear sitting next to a computer with its screen reading "KACIE WOODY 1989-2002" for the program's task force to wear.^[3][16]

During her Man With a Van interview, Jessica recalled the night she was at the Woody home and she and Kacie heard an intruder, and stated that in retrospect maybe this could have been Fuller looking to abduct Kacie and possibly herself as well.

On December 3, 2012, 10 years from the day of Kacie's abduction, her friends and family held a service for her at Greenbrier High School.^[17]

Kacie is described as a very friendly and caring girl who was very close to her family and friends and whose hobbies included poetry, singing, dancing and playing the saxophone.^[7]

Media appearances[]

• In December 2003, former Arkansas Democrat-Gazette journalist Cathy Frye wrote a four-part documentary about Kacie's life and murder titled Caught in the Web.
• On January 15, 2014, the Investigation Discovery documentary series Web of Lies aired an episode titled Age, Sex, Location about Kacie's case.
• In March 2019, Crime Junkie aired a podcast about Kacie's case titled MURDERED: Kacie Woody. Five months later, Frye accused Crime Junkie co-host Ashley Flowers of plagiarizing Caught in the Web. Per Frye's request, Flowers removed the episode before restoring it with source links to Caught in the Web but without verbal attribution in the episode. Frye and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette then issued a cease and desist order to Crime Junkie and threatened further legal action if verbal attribution wasn't added or the episode wasn't again removed. Crime Junkie removed the episode again but at some point restored it a second time.^[18][19][20]
• On February 20, 2020, fellow Investigation Discovery documentary series Man With a Van aired an episode about the case titled Catfish Killer.
• On March 8, 2021, Kacie's brother Tim, now a police officer, was interviewed by KATV about losing his younger sister to an online predator.^[21]

See also[]

• List of kidnappings
• Internet relationship
• Catfishing
• Sock puppet account
• Online predator
• Internet homicide
• Murder of Carly Ryan
• Alicia Kozakiewicz

External links[]

• Kacie Woody Foundation
• Kacie Woody Foundation Facebook page
• Kacie Woody at Find a Grave
• Caught in the Web

References[]