Shamaia Smith shot and cremated by Kenneth Otto

Strip clubs often invite sketchy characters, so it's not surprising they're a minor theme among the murders on Forensic Files. In cases like Kenneth Otto's and Jack Denofa's murder of Rachel Siani, it's the patrons who the offenders. Andrea Morris in the Pat McRae case illustrates when the dancer herself is the perpetrator. And it's difficult to classify Craig Rabinowitz's murder of his wife Stefanie to cover up a Ponzi scheme and his infatuation with a stripper.

Though police suspected Otto above all others, they're diligent in exploring all possible avenues early in each investigation. The episode proposed three initial suspects, including Shamaia's boyfriend and Harold Brown. Her boyfriend remained unnamed, but he'd seen Shamaia on the day she disappeared, and the victim's partner is always a strong suspect. Harold Brown's involvement was interesting – a slight mistake in his memory of events put him on police's radar. It's a good thing Brown's error was clarified, and that he had nothing else to hide.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Ken Otto was characterized as a semi-successful industrial business owner, and a frequent visitor at Kahoots. For an aficionado of strip clubs, Otto should have been quite aware of the prevalence of cameras throughout such establishments, especially by 2007. His story about dropping Shamaia off at Kahoots and watching her enter the premise was easily refuted by investigators as soon as they reviewed the surveillance video.

In a few episodes of Forensic Files, relatives of the victims sometimes take matters into their own hands. In the episode If I Were You (s11e28), Paul Gruber's daughter Shellie left a message on her father's answering machine providing a fake birthday date for her husband to see if a potential imposter would react. In this case, Shamaia's sister Monique called and left a message on Kenneth Otto's phone. She pretended to be Shamaia and asked Otto to call her back. Of course if Ken had nothing to do with her disappearance, he'd likely return the call. But I wonder when this subterfuge is helpful to investigators, and when it might have negative outcomes. Perhaps a well-intended Samaritan could mistakenly tip off the suspect to the police's suspicion, hindering their investigation. Or worse, the aide could put themselves in harm's way. Recall the episode Church Disappearance (s06e10) where Dorothy Noga questioned her massage client Stuart Knowlton. He was the prime suspect in Cassie Hansen's murder in 1981. After questioning Knowlton, Noga was attacked and her throat was slashed – thankfully, she survived.

An Associated Press article from boston.com published in May 2012 indicated that Shamaia had informed her boyfriend on the day she disappeared that she was going to work and meeting a client who "owned a large piece of property". The episode indicated that it was Shamaia Smith's cell phone calls bouncing off the tower adjacent to Otto's 75-acre property that determined where investigators would focus their search. But these calls were five days prior to Shamaia's disappearance. It seemed that Shamaia had been out to Ken Otto's property before – had ridden with him 30 miles outside of East Hartford and returned. It was no wonder she trusted him to ride out there again. But what was out there for them? Why would she go in the first place, and why return?

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

I believe Shamaia Smith's sister Monique Frink when she said, "Nobody's gonna give you $500 just for nothing. You had to do something." I believe it's possible that Ken Otto had an arrangement with Shamaia to exchange money for other benefits – this was investigators' notion as well. So this was why Shamaia was willing to ride out to his secluded property on multiple occasions. Ken's indication of giving Shamaia $500 for her to return to school is a strange admission, unless this payment was traceable. Had Ken written her a check? For sex?

Investigators first arrived at Kenneth Otto's 75-acre property to try and verify that Shamaia Smith wasn't being held against her will. The construction equipment was interesting, but the woodchipper caused speculation. It wasn't unheard of to use a woodchipper to dispose of a victim's body in previous cases. In very first Forensic Files episode ever, The Disappearance of Helle Crafts (s01e01), the perpetrator had in fact put his victim's frozen body through a woodchipper.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Being given Kenneth Otto's consent to search was a stroke of luck – this may have been what ultimately let police build their probable cause against Otto to get their warrant to return. Right around the time Otto was revoking his consent, a "chunk of flesh" was indicated in the firepit (was this the foot?) While it might have been a plausible reason, Ken Otto's explanation was revolting. I'm not sure claiming to "like to kill animals and chop them up" painted him in a respectable light to investigators.

The eight-day delay between being turned away after beginning their consented search and retuning with a warrant gave Kenneth Otto ample time to eliminate evidence of his crime. The weather had delayed police's return, and so may have been a factor against Ken too. During the window of opportunity, he managed to burn his 30-foot trailer. However there was an incredible amount of evidence remaining – another of those instances where the effort to clean up doesn't seem worth it when so much additional evidence gets ignored. Recall the clean-up effort by Andrea Morris in the Pat McRae murder scene. On Ken Otto's property, the carpet (and its telltale traces of human blood) was mostly intact and recovered by detectives. And despite the cadaver dogs alerting near the firepit on the previous visit, Otto hadn't destroyed or buried this yet.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

This is where Shamaia's house key was located, along with many bone fragments. Bone is often a poor source of DNA (especially when burned). Investigators hoped for something with intact tissue, and they sure found it. The photo of the charred, partial foot recovered from the firepit was jarring – it's why this episode was tagged with "Graphic content". It's hard to think hundreds of small bone fragments were located before the much larger, semi-intact foot. This presentation of facts was likely reordered for the show's benefit. And of course it was DNA from the tissue of the foot that matched back to Shamaia Smith, confirming her murder.

After the search, was Otto unaware of the evidence that had been located and seized from his property? Did he think he'd done a passable job at covering up his crime? I ask because Ken Otto didn't have much of a head start when police came to arrest him. Yes, he was at the airport and ready to travel to parts unknown with $10,000 cash (and maybe more importantly: condoms and Cialis). But if this was his getaway plan, why had he not executed it sooner? Maybe he didn't attempt to leave until his personal life fell apart. The article cited above also explained that "… days after police searched Otto's property ... his wife, Kathleen, filed for divorce."

Where is Kenneth Otto now in 2024?

On December 9, 2008, a jury convicted Otto of murder and evidence tampering after a three-week trial. On February 10, 2009, Superior Court Judge Thomas O'Keefe Jr. sentenced Kenneth Otto to 60 years in prison, calling him a "cold-blooded killer".

In 2012, ex-wife Kathleen filed a motion for the return of Otto's property seized in the 2007 investigation. The property included Ken Otto's truck and his gun collection. Interestingly, despite her divorcing Ken, the same article stated that Kathleen, "still loved her ex-husband", indicating that she'd visited him in jail before and after the 2009 trial.

A habeas corpus petition was filed in 2013, but Otto's murder conviction was upheld in 2015. Kenneth Otto is incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Connecticut.

The Kahoots gentlemen's club closed down for good in 2013 after two employees were arrested on drug charges. A manager was cited for selling cocaine to undercover police. Additionally, a dancer was arrested and charged with prostitution.