Diver search for missing woman under way

A handful of Gage County-area divers suited up Thursday evening to enter the murky waters of Wolf-Wildcat Lake.

While the men, carrying their full gear of tank, hoses and other equipment, splashed along the shoreline to head for deeper waters, a bluegill jumped out of the water nearby.

This was no fun snorkeling outing, however. It was part of the latest effort to find Ann Marie Kelley, a 36-year-old rural Filley woman who has been missing since April 15.

“We still have no further leads,” Gage County Attorney Randall Ritnour said in an interview Thursday afternoon. “We still have no new information.”

Although divers found nothing Thursday evening during their two-hour search, the effort was part a plan by Gage County authorities to send dive teams into county lakes to search for Kelley and her 1991 gray wood-paneled Plymouth Voyager minivan she was last seen driving about 8:25 a.m. April 15 in Beatrice.

“There is no reason to believe she is in a lake, but we want to cover all possibilities,” Ritnour said.

Gage County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Slaven said divers searched Bear Creek Lake about four miles north and two miles east of Beatrice Tuesday, but they found no trace of Kelley or the minivan.

Thursday night, a handful of divers representing Beatrice, Fairbury and other area communities searched the lake in the Wolf-Wildcat Wildlife Management Area, a 160-acre area about six miles south of Virginia on South 162nd Road.

Using a rope stretched out about 100 feet into the water, the divers fought weeds, murky waters with little or no visibility and fatigue to comb the west side of the lake near where the gravel road leading from South 162nd Road goes down a hillside to the lake.

“It was like looking through a camera with the lens cap on,” said Fairbury Fire Chief Eric Voss, one of the divers during Thursday evening’s search.

Divers continually returned to the surface with their face masks, tanks and suits covered with wet, slimy grass, while the divers and personnel on the shore regularly shook off weeds from the rope to make the search go more smoothly.

With no sign of Kelley or the minivan and darkness approaching, however, the search was stopped about 8:30 p.m. Sheriff’s officials who searched the area surrounding the lake also reported finding nothing except beer bottles and other evidence of parties that had taken place recently.

Ritnour said officials from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks were expected to bring sonar equipment Friday to help in searches scheduled for this weekend of Rockford and Big Indian lakes.

Meanwhile, authorities are continuing to ask the public for any information surrounding Kelley’s disappearance. She is described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighing about 125-130 pounds, with auburn/red/brown hair.

Anyone with information should call the sheriff’s office at 402-223-5221 or Beatrice Crime Stoppers at 402-228-4343.