Dateline: In A Lonely Place - Where is Ed Shin now? Whereabouts of Chris Smith's murderer, explored

Dateline is one of the most popular news magazine reality legal shows. The show has been airing since 1992 and even though it used to cover general interest news stories earlier, it has now gained success as one of the foremost news shows that covers true crime stories.

The show often covers the most baffling cases and provides in-depth research on the whole affair. From statements by the affected family and friends, to interviews with the law authorities, Dateline has aired many engrossing episodes that cover the dangerous and often bizarre world of true crime.

During the episode, the show covered the shocking case of Chris Smith, who was a tech entrepreneur. He suddenly told his family that he has sold half his business and is going to sail around the world. However, when his email updates stopped coming, Smith’s family became suspicious and realized that Smith never left the country.

After much investigation, it was revealed that Smith’s business partner Ed Shin had killed Smith and Shin impersonated Smith for six months online. Here’s a look at the devastating story of Chris Smith and the whereabouts of Ed Shin.

Dateline: In A Lonely Place - Details about Chris Smith and Ed Shin explored

Still from the show (Image via Dateline NBC)

Smith was a 31-year-old tech entrepreneur who loved the outdoors. He lived in Laguna Beach and created a tech company called 800XChange with Ed Shin. “He’s one of those people that thought anything was possible,” his brother Paul Smith told Dateline.

Smith had a successful business and loved his family and girlfriend. However, his life changed when he met Ed Shin. Both of them were working in a lead generation company in 2008 and decided to launch their own company, 800XChange. Shin was a husband and a father to four children.

Interestingly, Shin was disciplined but also had a gambling addiction. Soon, he began embezzling more than half a million dollars from a previous company due to his gambling problem. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to embezzlement agreed on a settlement.

This led to Shin coming up with a plan to get the settlement money from 800Xchange as he needed to pay to not violate his probation and go to prison. Further, he could only get that money if Chris Smith agreed. However, Smith was hesitant to let Shin get those funds and the two decided to meet in 2010 to discuss a plan.

Dateline: In A Lonely Place - Details about what happened to Chris Smith

Even though Smith and Shin met each other according to Smith’s lawyer Aldover, he soon got an email stating that Smith has sold his half of the business to Shin and is going on vacation for a few weeks. Further, Smith’s family also began received emails about him selling his half of the company and going on a sailing adventure around the world.

This continued for the next six months and his last message was sent to Chris’s brother in December 2010. When Smith did not share more messages, his family became worried and began to enquire in those hotels where he claimed he stayed. In April 2011, Smith’s family reported him missing and discovered that all the emails were sent from the US.

The Orange County Police Department found traces of blood that belonged to Smith at the 800XChange’s office. While trying to flee the country, Shin was arrested in August 2011. During the trial, Shin admitted that he and Smith got into a fight in the office and Smith accidently died when he hit his head on a desk. Further, Shin admitted that he pretended to be Smith and emailed everyone. Unfortunately, Smith’s body was not recovered as Shin admitted that he paid someone to dispose the body in an unknown location.