Topeka ? In emotional testimony Monday, the parents of slain Overland Park teenager Kelsey Smith urged lawmakers to require telephone companies to release quickly to law enforcement cell phone location information in emergency situations.

Missey and Greg Smith, the parents of Kelsey Smith, said Verizon Wireless took several days to release information on where Kelsey’s cell phone signals were being picked up.

“Kelsey was dead long before she was found, but to have her lay out there for four days, for us to not know where she was, is inexcusable,” Greg Smith said. Edwin Hall has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2007 kidnapping, rape and murder of Kelsey Smith.

When a cell phone is turned on, telecommunications companies can locate the phone because the signal is being picked up on certain cell phone towers.

The Smiths said it took several days for Verizon to release this location information to police. Once it was released, Kelsey’s body was quickly found near Longview Lake Park in Missouri.

The Smiths said they didn’t believe a quicker release of the information would have saved their daughter’s life, but they said a situation could arise in the future where releasing the information sooner could be the difference between life and death.

A representative from Verizon did not appear at the hearing before the House Energy and Utilities Committee. But Cheryl Bini Armbrecht, a spokeswoman for Verizon, said the company cooperates with law enforcement. She said she could not discuss the Smith case.

State Rep. Rob Olson, R-Olathe, put together House Bill 2126 to require telecommunications carriers to provide caller location information in a timely manner to law enforcement officers.

His bill originally required release of the information to family members, too, but law enforcement and telecommunications representatives said it could result in instances where abusive family members could get location information. The companies noted that under federal law they are restricted in providing information about a customer’s phone.

Olson said he would amend the bill to limit the release of information to law enforcement after it had been determined there was an emergency situation. After that, AT&T and Sprint representatives at the hearing said they supported the bill.

The committee did not take any immediate action.

Missey and Greg Smith said they met with Verizon officials to ask them why it took so long for them to release information.

Missey Smith said a Verizon official told them the company followed normal protocol in handling the situation, and implied that there may have been some delay because the Smiths were asking that Verizon “ping” the phone, which is a term used in trying to find out what cell tower a phone is using.

Missey Smith said the Verizon official told them that “ping” was not a term Verizon used.