The 2013 Danville Pawn Shop Murders
For this case I watched the latest episode of See No Evil. It’s season 7 episode 5, titled ‘Come Quickly, I’m Afraid.’
Three people are murdered in a Danville, Kentucky pawn shop.
Background
In May 2013, Michael Hockensmith became the co-owner of ABC Gold Games and More pawn shop. Michael was a 35 year old, married to a woman named Angie, who his family described as his one and only love. Michael and Angie had two kids, Andrew and Naomi.
Daniel Smith was a gold broker, who traveled around central Kentucky, to various pawn shops. Daniel’s brother described him as being a charmer, who loved working with people.
Daniel Smith, Angie and Michael Hockensmith
ABC Gold Games and More, Danville, KY.
The Murders
On September 20, 2013, a 911 call came into the Danville police. The call was from 9 year old Andrew Hockensmith, and he there was a robber and that his parents had been shot. The dispatcher asked Andrew if the robbery was still in the store, and he said he didn’t know because he was in the back with his sister. Andrew told the police to hurry because he was afraid.
The police arrived in six minutes. When they arrived, the front door was locked, but they were able to get in contact with Andrew. The police were able to go inside, and they immediately found the three victims behind the counter. The victims were Michael and Angie Hockensmith and Daniel Smith.
Andrew and his baby sister Naomi were unharmed, and left the store with the police.
The Crime Scene
The forensic and detectives started to process the scene. In the store, the police found fourteen .22 shell casings and three .22 caliber bullets. Daniel’s brief case was found on the counter. The police also found $1,000 in the cash register. The police started to think that maybe Daniel Smith was the target, but they still had a lot of investigating to do.
Michael and Angie were both shot multiple times in the head and torso. Daniel Smith was shot in the head, and they all died immediately.
The next step in the investigation was to look for surveillance footage, and the police realized this store didn’t have any cameras, which was odd. Since the store didn’t have any cameras, the police needed to canvas the area for cameras and witnesses.
The Investigation
The first witness was an employee from Rainbow Cleaners, a nearby business. She said that she saw a silver minivan behind the pawn shop. She said the driver was a heavy set man with a beard.
The police also looked around the area for the silver van, just in case it was abandoned. The silver van wasn’t left in the area. The next step was to notify the families.
Daniel’s family said he had a very predictable schedule. They also said he carried a lot of cash with him, and his daughter Crystal said that she always told her dad not to carry that much because she was afraid for his safety.
The police still believed at this point that Daniel was the intended target, so they needed to track his last movements. Before he went to the pawn shop in Danville, he visited a jewelry store called Lawson’s, in Hardinsburg, Kentucky.
The police traveled to Lawson’s, and saw that they had surveillance cameras above the door and on the outside. They were given access to look at the footage. At 8:16am, Dan is seen entering the store, looking very happy and carrying his brief case. He walked to the back of the store, and was out of range until 8:39am when he left.
The police switched to the outside camera, and didn’t see anything suspicious.
A Witness
Detective A.J. Mullins sat down with the only eye witness in the store that day, 9 year old Andrew. This interview was on the episode, and Andrew gave a very in depth interview about that day. He said he went to the store with his parents and his sister that day. He said Dan came in with his suitcase that was full of money. He said a man came in, with a gun and told everyone to get down. The man pointed to the case and told Dan to give it to him, and the man shot Dan.
Andrew said he heard his dad say stop it, and heard his mom begging for the man to not harm the kids. Angie told Andrew to take his sister to the back. Andrew said he ran really fast. Michael and Angie were both shot as well.
While Andrew was describing the shoot, he told the detective that his parents and Dan were shot with “fake darts,” and the detective realized he was describing the silencer on the gun.
Andrew also said he didn’t know the man, but that he was bigger than his dad, he was wearing a green jacket and had a fake beard that was yellow. Andrew’s description matched the description that the woman from the Rainbow Cleaners gave them.
What was the motive?
The police still weren’t sure who the intended target was. The police ran a background check on the pawn shop. Michael was the co-owner of the shop, and the other co-owner was a man named Steve Devine. The police found out that Steve was usually at the store on Friday mornings, and found it odd that he wasn’t there that morning. The police contacted Steve.
Steve said he woke up that morning and was going to go in, but he had really bad allergies and decided to stay home. Steve was also asked why they didn’t have any surveillance cameras, and Steve said the previous owner, Allen Keith, took the cameras with him and that they hadn’t replaced them yet.
Allen Keith had known Michael for about 15 years, and was a local pastor.
Steve was eventually ruled out, his family said he was in fact at home sick that day. Also, he didn’t own a silver mini van.
The Silver Van
The police extended their search, and wanted to try to find more surveillance footage to see if they could find the silver van traveling into the area.
The police found a rental business that had surveillance cameras. At 8:45am, the silver van that was described came into view. The description was that the van was an older model, that was squared in the back. It seemed like this footage matched, however, the footage was grainy and they couldn’t see the license plate.
The next surveillance cameras that the police wanted to look at was from the Ephraim McDowell Hospital. This time, they wanted to look at footage from an hour before the murders took place. At 8:17am, the silver van comes into view. The police kept watching, and the van is seen again at 8:56am. The police realized the van was circling the area, maybe waiting for something or someone to go to the shop.
The Danville police put out a public appeal for any information about the silver van.
A New Suspect Emerges
On September 24, four days after the murders, Detective Keith Peel received a call. The call was from a man named Tracy Harold, a pastor from Michigan. Tracy said he saw a post on Facebook about the murders, and recognized the name of the pawn shop as being the one previously owned by his friend Allen Keith. He called his friend, and said that their conversation was very strange.
Allen told Tracy that he was in Danville on the day of the murders, picking up medication for his wife. He said he felt bad that he had gotten Michael into the business, and said he warned Michael not to bring his family into the shop. His reason for that was in case a man came in with a gun.
Allen then said that the other guy that was shot, Daniel, used to come in to the shop every week to buy gold from him. He said that Daniel always had a large amount of cash on him.
Allen then said one more strange thing, he said that Michael and Angie had cost him a lot of money.
Allen Keith was now a suspect. He didn’t have any previous criminal history, and knew Michael from church. Allen had given Michael the business after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. The police wanted to talk to Allen and track his last movements.
Allen Keith
The police went to the pharmacy where Allen said he went. They were given access to the surveillance footage, and at 9:24am, just a few minutes after the 911 call was place, Allen walks in. Allen didn’t have a beard or a green jacket on, but that didn’t mean he could be excluded yet.
The police drove from the pharmacy to the ABC pawn shop in five minutes, so it was possible that Allen could have killed them and went to the pharmacy for an alibi.
The police dug further into Allen’s life, and they determined Allen and his wife had a 2008 Dodge minivan, silver in color. The police also obtained his medical records, and discovered that Allen was never diagnosed with brain cancer, and never even had a tumor.
All the evidence was circumstantial, but the police had an idea. The police contacted Tracy to see if he would be willing to call Allen and have their phone calls recorded. He agreed.
During the phone calls, Allen made statements that Michael was crooked. He said they stole the business from him. Allen also knew facts about the case that the public didn’t know. Allen said after he left Danville he went to a carwash, and he knew the police were looking at him.
The police went to the carwash, and Allen is seen on camera at 10:55am walking to the counter. At 11:25am, Allen drives away in his silver mini van.
Arrest and Conviction
Allen Keith was arrested, and Detective Peel interviewed him at the Somerset PD.
Allen said he had no motive to kill those three people, and told the police that that he couldn’t pass a polygraph test because he had killed before when he was in the military. After making these bizarre statements, Allen asked for a lawyer.
A warrant was obtained for Allen Keith’s pawn shop. Inside, they found money and money bands that were traced to Daniel Smith. They also found .22 shell casings.
Allen Keith was charged with three counts of murder and with burglary and robbery in the first degree.
Allen Keith in court
In 2017, before his trial, Allen Keith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The police’s theory is that Allen thought Michael and Steve conspired to run him out of business . He knew that Daniel always had cash on him, and the police think he waited for the day that Daniel was known to go to the store. The police think it was to throw off the police, which he did for awhile, the police didn’t know who the intended target was.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Three people lost their lives that day, and luckily two innocent children survived. Allen Keith is a monster. First of all, how are you going to lie about having cancer? I have lost two grandparents to cancer and I would never wish that on anyone. How are you going to kill three people in front of children?
There was no evidence that Michael and Angie were “crooked,” or that anyone was trying to conspire to take away your business. I think he was a paranoid asshole, who decided to take things into his own hands. I hope he rots forever.
Again, the victims in the case were Michael Hockensmith, Angie Hockensmith and Daniel Smith.
Sources
https://www.amnews.com/2020/03/12/keiths-confession-brings-an-abrupt-end-to-2013-triple-murder-case/
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article152795169.html
