Until recently, few outside the immediate area had ever heard of Hawk Point.

The Lincoln County community was a typical sleepy, nondescript, small town. It was recognized as the midway point between Warrenton and Troy and considered a safe haven for citizens who wanted to move from the city to a rural setting over concerns over crime.

Last week, two crimes that were linked together, caused law enforcement agencies from the St. Louis metro and the media to converge on the normally quiet community.

Residents were stunned and scared following the murder of longtime Hawk Point resident Jeffrey “Smitty” Smith, who was shot and killed outside his business July 3. Police believe they found the man responsible, an individual identified as Paul Smith, who also was the same person who abducted a 4-year-old girl from a Louisiana, Mo., home.

Paul Smith, a 38-year-old convicted sex offender, lived in a cabin home off Highway D just north of Hawk Point. Authorities said he kidnapped Alisa Maier from the front yard of her home on July 5. He released her about 26 hours later at a car wash in Fenton.

The following day, Smith was spray painting his dark-colored car silver when officers approached his Hawk Point home to question him. Without warning, Smith pulled out a handgun and shot himself. He died about six hours later.

Police say Jeffrey and Paul Smith were not related.

“If it can happen here, it can happen everywhere,” State Rep. Ed Schieffer (D-11th District) said. “There is no such thing as a safe community. Those days are gone.”

On Friday, hundreds of mourners attended Jeffrey Smith’s funeral. Afterward, dozens of hot rods and muscle cars formed a long procession to the cemetery where Smith was laid to rest.

Police say Jeffrey Smith, 49, went to his business, Smitty’s Garage, located on Highway A to investigate a suspicious activity on July 3. He  was later discovered unconscious at approximately 11:30 p.m. A silver Corvette that was stored inside the business was believed to have been stolen and was recovered down the road. 

Investigators eventually linked the murder and kidnapping after finding ammunition and a gun under the porch of Paul Smith’s home that matched the one used in the shooting of Jeffrey Smith.

“He was a great man,” Schieffer said. “He really knew how to take care of older model cars and trucks. You can look at his work here. He was well respected in the community. I know people that wouldn’t let anybody else but him change their oil.”

Now the town’s residents are trying to recover and make sense of what happened. 

“The whole town is devastated,” said a man at a Hawk Point gas station who asked not to be identified. “It put everybody on their heels. That is the main thing. Everybody (had) their ears to the ground hoping they could help the investigation.”

He later added, “It seems like people hide out in the littler towns. They can get back in brush, hide out and you don’t know where they come from.”

Schieffer blamed the struggling economy for an increase in crime in the area. He said several burglaries had occurred in recent weeks prior to the two related incidents. It’s not known if Paul Smith was responsible for those.

Mayor Robert Henebry, a Hawk Point resident for 30 years and city official for the last three years, also cautioned citizens to keep a close watch on their children. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Henebry said. “It’s pretty stunning. It’s an odd situation.”

Paul Smith was convicted in 1995 of sodomy in a case involving a 10-year-old boy, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s registry of sex offenders. He served about 11 years in prison.

Authorities continue to investigate Smith’s background and whether he may have been involved in other unsolved missing child cases. Among them is the case of Bianca Piper, a 13-year-old girl who went missing from her home near Foley, Mo., in 2005. Foley and Louisiana are both located along Missouri Route 79, and are about 25 miles apart.