OLATHE, Kan. -- A Kansas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to snatching a suburban Kansas City teenager from a store parking lot, raping her and strangling her with her own belt before dumping her body in a Missouri park.

Edwin Hall, 27, of Olathe, pleaded guilty to capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, rape and aggravated sodomy in the June 2007 death of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, who was taken from a Target store parking lot. The Overland Park teenager's body was found four days later in a Missouri park.

The guilty plea means Hall avoids the death penalty.

Hall's plea came during what was supposed to be a change-of-venue hearing. The courtroom was jammed with Smith's parents and other family members, friends and reporters.

Following the hearing, Kelsey Smith's family and members of a group known as Kelsey's Army spoke about the plea at a news conference.

"It's not really a victory, but it is justice, and justice isn't always fair," said Greg Smith, Kelsey Smith's father. "If it was fair, we'd get Kelsey back, but she lives on through her legacy, and we hope that the foundation we established in her name can carry that legacy on and that we can provide a service to the community so that nobody else ever has to do this, so that nobody else ever has to go through what we went through and so that nobody else has to feel this pain and this suffering."

Kelsey Smith's family established a foundation in her name following her death. The Kelsey Smith Foundation Inc. The foundation's mission is "empowering families, friends, and communities to proactively protect one of its most precious resources, namely its youth and young adults," according to its Web site.

In part, the foundation offers safety seminars and information for young people about rape and date rape prevention.

Her mother, Missy Smith, said the plea was what was best for their family so they didn't have to hear testimony during a trial.

"As our daughter Lindsey said, she didn't want her kids and her kids' kids to deal with this," Missy Smith said.

Later, Missy Smith said, "We'll never move on. We just keep moving forward."

During Wednesday's hearing, which was carried live by Kansas City media, District Judge Peter Ruddick said the only penalty for the murder charge was life in prison without the possibility of parole. Each of the other three counts carries sentences of more than 12 years in prison to more than 54 years in prison.

Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline laid out what happened the day Smith was taken. Kline said Hall told authorities that when he first saw Smith at the Target store, he thought she was 12 years old and had "nice legs."

Smith's nude body was found June 6 in a hollow by a tree in a wooded near Longview Lake in Jackson County, Mo. -- 15 to 20 miles away from the Target parking lot where she was abducted. Kline told the hushed courtroom that Smith's belt was "turned into a murder weapon around her neck."

Smith's clothes were found nearby.

The hearing came a day after Ruddick ruled that prosecutors could still seek the death penalty for Hall, even though Kline failed to put his address, telephone number and registration number on a legal notice.

Hall's trial had been scheduled for Sept. 16. Now he is set to be sentenced on that date.

Defense attorney Carl Cornwell said he did not think Hall would get a sentence other than life in prison.

"He will die in the penitentiary," Cornwell said.

Hall's wife, Aletha Hall, was in the courtroom and had no comment after the hearing. But when asked by reporters if she was OK, she replied, "That's a loaded question."

Asked if she has anything to say to Aletha Hall, Missy Smith said, "I pray for his son. He's just a baby caught up in this. To his wife, I have nothing to say to that woman. I'll pray for his son, but I don't know how she can sit there in court with him."