At around 9 p.m. on December 10, 35-year-old Heather Mae Kelley left her home in Portage, Michigan to pick up an acquaintance. At 10:20 p.m., she called her eight children to inform them that she would be back to the house soon.
She did return home that night and was reported missing.
Her pickup truck, which had been found burned, was discovered by her cousin the next day in Comstock Township, according to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office. Her clothes were found near the truck.
Her cousin also told the police that she saw a red vehicle quickly driving away from the location.
A sheriff’s deputy had seen the truck at that location 18 hours earlier, before Kelley was reported missing and before it had been set on fire.
In March, 2023 new information was shared regarding the case: Kelley’s blood and hair were found inside her abandoned vehicle, confirmed by DNA tests that were performed on the evidence. The authorities also said that someone is providing “limited cooperation” with their investigation of the case.
The dead woman’s 37-year-old boyfriend, who remains unnamed, is a person of interest. He was arrested within a week of her disappearance and is being held in custody.
The boyfriend was on parole when he was arrested. He was staying at a Kalamazoo Township halfway house while he finished a sentence for a 2010 drug conspiracy. It was reported that the man took off his tether and went missing from the halfway house on December 11. He told police that he ran away because Kelley’s family was threatening him and sending him photos of rifles, saying they would kill him. He also requested an earlier release for heart surgery, which was denied by the judge.
Kelley’s brother denied the allegations against him.
Upon searching through the boyfriend’s phone, detectives were able to discover that the couple were at a private dinner club in Kalamazoo on the night of Kelley’s disappearance and that the boyfriend had lied to the police. After that, his phone got turned off, but they discovered that he was near the location where Kelley’s truck was discovered.
Police suspect that Kelley was the victim of a violent crime.
A $5,000 reward is being offered by Silent Observer for those who have information regarding Kelley’s actual location.
