Kelly Anne Bates was a mere 17-years-old when her life was brutally taken from her by 48-year-old James Patterson Smith. While assuming the guise of “Dave Smith,” James had manipulated a then-14-year-old Kelly into a romantic relationship fraught with severe physical, emotional, and mental abuse. Once the two had decided to cohabitate, relentless pain and violence ensued for young Kelly. At her time of death, it was clear that Kelly had endured four weeks of gruesome and systematic torture at the hands of James, who now serves a life sentence for his heinous acts.