Police are focused on a person of interest in connection with the disappearance of a Michigan mother of eight who has been missing for two months, WWMT-TV reports.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, 35-year-old Heather Kelley was last seen on December 10, 2022, while pumping gas in Comstock, Michigan. This week, investigators revealed that Kelley’s on-again, off-again boyfriend is a person of interest in the case, according to court documents obtained by the television station.
The boyfriend, whose name has not been disclosed, reportedly had been released from federal prison over the summer and was living in a probation home at the time Kelley went missing.
A GPS tracking device the boyfriend was required to wear reportedly stopped working around 9:30 p.m. on December 10, the day Kelley was last seen.
He also is said to have left the probation residence without permission the day after Kelley vanished and returned with what appeared to be deep scratches on his back and chest around 2:45 a.m. the following day.
Kelley’s vehicle was found burned and abandoned on December 11. Investigators identified evidence of violence in the vehicle, including Kelley’s blood, WOOD-TV reports. The woman’s clothing was located near the vehicle.
Authorities say Kelley, a mother of eight, called her kids around 10 p.m. the night she went missing and said she was going to visit her boyfriend, according to WWMT-TV, citing the court records.
Police believe that multiple people may have tried to help conceal the killing, suggesting that prosecutors may file charges against more than just the boyfriend.
“We know that it’s likely someone helped with the burning of the vehicle and the possible destruction of other evidence and that a person or people are also a person of interest in this investigation,” Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said, according to WWMT-TV.
The boyfriend has not been charged in connection with Kelley’s disappearance, but he is being held on unrelated charges.
Court records show the boyfriend has been convicted on drug and weapons charges, WWMT-TV reports. He previously was indicted in a murder-to-hire plot but the charge was dismissed.
Kelley’s body has not been found.
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[Feature Photo: Handout]
