Five years later, no answers in disappearance
By: Cole Miller
cmiller@klkntv.com
It's a mystery with little clues and the Gage County Sheriff, is not giving up the search for Ann Marie Kelley. Five years ago Monday, she seemingly vanished from the Beatrice area.
It's in the small town of Filley, Nebraska, just east of Beatrice on Highway 136, where Ann Marie Kelley left the morning of April 15, 2008, to take her four children to school in Beatrice.
After dropping them off, she made her way to Southeast Community College, where she worked, but about an hour after arriving, she disappeared.
Now, five years later, she hasn't been seen since then.
“We're just looking at everybody and anything. I guess that's the best way to put it,” Gage County Sheriff Millard Gustafson said.
Gustafson says with no good leads or new information, the case is not only challenging, but frustrating.
He says in a perfect world, Kelley would simply walk through his door.
“That would be the best scenario, if we could find her alive for the friends and family,” Gustafson said.
“But I'd like to find her period, no matter what the situation is so we can bring closure.”
The “missing” poster still hangs outside Gustafson's office and the description of how she disappeared reads “unknown.”
It wasn't until 7:30 that night until Kelley's husband, William, called law enforcement officials to report her missing. Then, 4 hours later, a bizarre twist. He says he went into their bedroom to find Kelley's cell phone and a note on the pillow. And to this day, the contents of that note have not been disclosed.
“I can't really release that because it's still an ongoing, active investigation. So, we can't release things like that at this time anyways.”
Refusing to give up on the investigation, Gustafson says as long as he's the sheriff, the search for Kelley continues.
“It's still always going to be open to me,” Gustafson said.
Gustafson says that in the coming months, they'll do more searching, including going back to area lakes and looking for any clues. Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Gage County Sheriff's Office.
