The whereabouts of Ann Marie Kelley has changed from a missing person investigation to a homicide investigation.

At a hearing Thursday morning, Todd Lancaster, the attorney for Ann Marie’s husband William Kelley, appeared in court to ask for evidence in the Ann Marie Kelley case to be returned to William Kelley. 

Gage County Attorney Randall Ritnour said Lancaster’s reasoning for wanting the evidence returned to William Kelley was because the case was over.

Ritnour disagreed with the claim, saying the case isn’t over, but has rather evolved into a homicide investigation and William Kelley is the key suspect.

“We believe she might be dead,” Ritnour said. “So we need to keep the evidence.”

Ritnour said the evidence the defense requested included  vehicles, a fishing boat and various VCR tapes and pictures.

District Judge Daniel Bryan Jr. denied Lancaster’s motion to give the evidence back.

Ann Marie Kelley, a resident of rural Filley, disappeared on April 15, 2008.

According to an affidavit released in June of 2008, William Kelley 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.

She made a purchase at SunMart Foods 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 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.

William 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, William Kelley reported finding a note and Ann Marie’s cell phone in their bedroom on a pillow. The contents of the note were not disclosed.

The affidavits also contained information from conversations law enforcement officials had last week with former co-workers with William Kelley at Filley Custom Powder coating.

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, 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 Kelley complaining about his wife spending too much money and said he often had a temper and could be easily rattled.

Since Ann Marie Kelley’s disappearance, William Kelley has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for separate charges unrelated to the Ann Marie case. Those charges include child abuse, two counts of felon in possession of a firearm and providing false information on a firearm application.

On Thursday, Ritnour said the county attorney’s office has been treating the case as a homicide investigation for a while now, but didn’t disclose that until Thursday morning because they were forced to do so. He said no new evidence has surfaced in the case.

“We’re just taking a harder look at it now and treating it as a homicide investigation,” Ritnour said.