Daily Sun staff
Search warrant affidavits filed Wednesday in Gage County District Court shed more light on the time leading up to Ann Marie Kelley’s April 15 disappearance and include contents of conversations law enforcement officers had with former co-workers of Kelley’s husband, William Kelley Jr., in which he allegedly threatened to kill his wife.
Gage County Attorney Randall Ritnour has said the investigation into Kelley’s disappearance remains a missing persons case and her husband is a “person of interest” but not a suspect because no body or vehicle has been found.
However, he said the evidence contained in the affidavits filed this week was troubling.
“(Kelley) is still just a person of interest, but all these things cause us great concern,” Ritnour said.
So far, five search warrants connected with Kelley have been issued: one for a computer, one for a boat and pickup truck from a DeWitt residence, one for a vehicle in Beatrice and two for items from Kelley’s residence three miles east and two miles north of Filley, including one related to the missing person’s case and one related to charges filed against him recently for having sex with a 15-year-old girl from August 2006 to August 2007.
Information contained in the affidavits offer a picture of the timeline leading up to Ann Marie Kelley’s disappearance, although in one point they contradict earlier statements from law enforcement officials.
According to the affidavits, it was William Kelley and not Ann Marie Kelley who left their residence at 5:45 a.m. April 15. In the report, Gage County Sheriff’s Investigator David Heidbrink said Ann Marie received a text message from her husband at 7:22 a.m. that read, “Have a good day.” She then replied, “You too, don’t blow away.”
She and the couple’s four children then left their house sometime after 7:23 a.m. to be dropped off at school in Beatrice. In the middle of the trip, she made a purchase at the SunMart supermarket in Beatrice at 8:14 a.m.
There was later a telephone call from Ann Marie’s mother to Ann Marie at 8:45 a.m. for a duration of one minute and 14 seconds. Ann Marie, who worked for a cleaning service at Southeast Community College, used a key fob assigned to her to enter Roosevelt Hall on the SCC campus at 8:46 a.m.
She then used her phone to call her employer at 9:43 a.m. to say there was a problem with her children at school. At 9:55 a.m. there was a call from Ann Marie’s phone to the school, but no one there indicated they had a conversation with her that day.
The report filed Wednesday said there were no further sightings or contact with Ann Marie after 9:55 a.m. April 15.
At 12:29 p.m., William Kelley sent a text message to Ann Marie asking her, “What’s up?” and then another asking if she was planning to pick up their son. Her mother picked up the son after Ann Marie did not show up. Records then indicate William began to send numerous text messages to Ann Marie, but received no response.
Kelley then called Beatrice Communications at about 7:30 p.m. that day to report his wife as missing.
A sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to the Kelley residence, and a search began of all Gage County towns as well as all the bars and motels in the Beatrice area in an effort to locate Ann Marie, who would have been driving a dark gray 1991 Plymouth Voyager minivan with wood panels on the side and rear.
At about 12:30 a.m. April 16, Kelley reported finding a note and Ann Marie’s cell phone in their bedroom on their pillow. The contents of the note were not disclosed.
The affidavits filed Wednesday also contain information from conversations law enforcement officials had last week with former co-workers with William Kelley at Filley Powdercoating.
One former co-worker told Investigator Tina Vath that he worked with Kelley from July 15, 2007, to Aug. 9, 2007, and heard Kelley make comments about killing his wife.
Heidbrink later interviewed the co-worker himself, who said one day Kelley came in to work early and told him he was frustrated because he was low on money and was fighting with his wife all the time. In addition, according to the document, Kelley said he liked to fish and there were places he knew of deep enough to get a vehicle into and no one would be able to find it.
Other former co-workers said they overheard Kelly complaining about his wife spending too much money and said he often had a temper and could be easily rattled.
In the midst of the search for his missing wife, Kelley has been charged with 13 offenses, ranging from child sexual assault to possession of a controlled substance.
Ritnour, meanwhile, said the investigation is continuing.