MN lawmakers propose bill to track missing persons

The murder of a young woman in Kansas may lead to a new law in Minnesota regarding cell phone companies and how they share phone location information in missing person cases.

Greg and Missy Smith's 18-year-old daughter Kelsey was abducted and murdered in Overland Park, KS in 2007.

It took four days to find her body, partly because it took that long for her cell phone company, Verizon, to share phone location information.

"Within the first 48 hours if you don't have a solid lead the chances of that person's survival have gone down to just about zero," said Greg Smith.

Cell phones can be tracked because they constantly send signals to cell towers. The towers "ping" the signals from to other towers and record the location of the phone.

But currently in Minnesota, it takes a subpoena or search warrant to obtain cell phone information.

Under a bill that passed through a senate committee Thursday, only a request from law enforcement would be necessary to require phone companies to turn over the information. The case request, however, must involve the risk of death or serious harm.

The Smiths testified to the state legislature in favor of the bill, as did spokesmen for Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

"We further commit to working with the Smith family to pass similarly structured legislation in every state," said Mike McDermott, a representation for Verizon Wireless.