Detectives with the Major Case Squad said this afternoon that child abductor Paul S. Smith is connected to Saturday's murder of a Hawk Point garage owner.

Preliminary ballistics tests showed a match between a gun Smith had and the bullets that killed businessman Jeffery "Smitty" Smith.

Detectives said the gun used in the homicide was not the same weapon Paul Smith used to kill himself on Wednesday. The caliber of the murder weapon was not released.

Lincoln County Prosecutor John Richards said the gun was stolen in a burglary in Pike County last month. He said his office has no information that would lead to charges against anyone else for the murder or the burglaries.

Our earlier story:

HAWK POINT, Mo. -- Detectives discovered ammunition under the Lincoln County cabin home of child abductor Paul S. Smith that they believe is the same make and model of the ammunition used in a shooting death in the area Saturday night, a source close to the investigation said Friday.

Police have not conclusively linked Smith to the death of garage owner Jeffery Smith, but they are performing ballistics tests today on a weapon found with the ammunition, according to the source.

Paul Smith, 38, a convicted sex offender, kidnapped Alisa Maier, 4, from her Lousiana, Mo., home Monday night. He released her 26 hours later at a car wash in Fenton, then fatally shot himself about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday as detectives closed in on him at his home in Hawk Point, in Lincoln County.

Jeffery Smith, 49, was found unconscious outside his Smitty's Garage on Highway A at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday. He died of a single gunshot wound to the head a short time later, police said. They recovered a silver mid-70s Corvette that was taken from the garage and analyzed it for clues. He is not related to Paul Smith.

In November 2009, Paul Smith robbed El Rancho Garage, another auto shop in Hawk Point, and took a cash register, a $4,000 diagnostic tool and a 2005 Chevrolet Impala.

He pleaded guilty to charges of tampering and receiving stolen property in that case in February. Smith was sentenced to five years in prison, but the execution of the sentence was suspended, and he served 120 days of shock time instead.

He also faced forgery charges connected to a home break-in in Bowling Green, Mo. That break-in also occured in November 2009. Richard Fowler, the owner of the home, contacted police after $40, two air guns, two blank checks and credit cards were stolen from his home. Smith, an old friend of Fowler's son, had visited the Fowler home prior to the break-in, Fowler said. The forgery charges were still pending at the time of Paul Smith's suicide.

Ever since Paul Smith was linked to Alisa's abduction, and his past criminal record became known, residents in Hawk Point have questioned whether he was linked to the death of Jeffery Smith and a string of recent burglaries in the area.

Detectives with the Major Case Squad on Thursday afternoon searched the cabin and surrounding wooded area where Smith had been living at 309 Highway D in Hawk Point, the source said.

The pistol and more than 30 rounds of ammunition were found along with a pair of gloves zipped up in a black vinyl case under the cabin's porch, the source said.

Other items were also recovered, including power tools, car batteries and a cash drawer, the source said.

Asked about the investigation, Deputy Cmdr. Mark Schimweg of the Major Case Squad said detectives were continuing to follow up leads, adding, “Hopefully, we'll have something later today,” he said.

Paul Smith was living in a cabin on five acres of heavily wooded land owned by James B Oellermann Jr., according to the Lincoln County Assessor's Office. The 35 acres next to the property is owned by William Oellermann of Mansfield, Texas, who said he is the estranged step-brother of James Oellermann.

He said the land was left in his mother's estate, and that the five acres were deeded to his step-brother when he got out of prison for a sex offense.

James Oellermann, 54, was convicted of first-degree child molestation of a 7-year-old girl in Troy, Mo. He was sentenced in 2004 to five years in prison.  The Missouri Sex Offenders Registry currently lists Oellermann as homeless in the city of St. Louis.

Oellerman said he had not spoken to his step-brother and did not know what if any relationship James had with Smith.

"I don't know a thing about it, nor do I wish to," he said.

According to information from the Missouri Department of Corrections, though, Oellermann and Smith were housed at two of the same institutions, and their time there overlaps.

Both men were at the Farmington Correctional Center from Feb. 1, 2005 to May 4, 2006; they served time together at the Northeast Correctional Center in Bowling Green from Dec. 18. 2008 until May 9, 2009.

Jacqueline Lapine, spokesperson for the Department of Corrections said the men were never roommates and sex offenders are not housed together in a special unit at Farmington or NECC as at some other institutions.

“It's possible that they knew each other, but no one but them, I guess, would know that,” she said.

 At Smitty's Garage, less than two miles from the Highway D property, the front door remained boarded up from Saturday's break-in.

Funeral services were held for Jeffery Smith at 11 a.m. today in Hawk Point.