Heather Mae Kelley, 35, left her Portage, Michigan home at around 9 o’clock at night on December 10 to pick up an acquaintance. At 10:20 she called her eight children to let them know she was on her way home.
She did return home that evening, and her disappearance was soon reported.
Her cousin reportedly discovered her wrecked burned pickup truck the next day in Comstock Township, according to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office. Her belongings were located near the truck.
A witness, her cousin, told the police she saw a red car speed away from the scene.
A sheriff’s deputy had seen the truck 18 hours before Kelley was reported missing and before it was set on fire.
This month, new evidence has been discovered in the case. There was blood and hair inside Kelley’s abandoned car, and DNA testing confirmed it was Kelley’s. The police say someone is providing “limited cooperation” in the case.
A man, age 37, who was the deceased woman’s boyfriend, is a possible witness. About a week after she vanished, he was arrested and is still being held as of this writing.
The boyfriend’s parole had just been revoked at the time of his arrest. He had been serving time for a drug conspiracy conviction from 2010 and had been placed in a halfway house in Kalamazoo Township. He escaped from the halfway house on December 11 without his tether. He claimed he had to get away after Kelley’s brother and family threatened to kill him and sent him pictures of rifles. A judge rejected his request for an earlier release so that he could undergo heart surgery.
The charges were refuted by Kelley’s brother.
The boyfriend’s mobile phone led investigators to discover that he had lied to police and that the couple had attended a Kalamazoo dinner club on the night Kelley vanished. His phone service ended shortly thereafter, but authorities were able to piece together that he had been in the area where Kelley’s truck was discovered.
Police believe Kelley may have been the victim of a violent crime.
A reward of $5,000 is being offered by Silent Observer to anyone who can provide information on Kelley’s whereabouts.