On December 10, at around 9 p.m., Heather Mae Kelley, 35, left her Portage, Michigan home to pick up an acquaintance. She called her eight children at 10:20 p.m. to let them know she would be returning home soon.

That night, she did go back home, and she was reported missing soon after.

According to the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, her cousin found her burned-out pickup truck the following day in Comstock Township. Her clothing was discovered near the truck.

Her cousin also told the police that she saw a red car leave the scene quickly.

Before Kelley was reported missing and the truck was set on fire, a sheriff’s deputy had seen it there 18 hours earlier.

The case received new information this month. DNA tests on the evidence revealed that Kelley’s blood and hair were discovered inside her abandoned vehicle. Someone is allegedly offering “limited cooperation” with the investigation, according to the police.

An unnamed 37-year-old man who was the deceased woman’s boyfriend is a potential witness. Within a week of her disappearance, he was detained and is currently in custody.

When the boyfriend was arrested, he was on parole. He was completing a sentence for a 2010 drug conspiracy while residing at a halfway house in Kalamazoo Township. On December 11, it was claimed that the man left the halfway house without his tether and vanished. He claimed to have fled because Kelley’s brother and family were threatening to kill him and had sent him photos of rifles. A judge rejected his request for an earlier release so that he could undergo heart surgery.

Kelley’s brother denied the allegations. 

Detectives were able to learn from the boyfriend’s phone that he had lied to the police and that the couple had been at an exclusive dinner club in Kalamazoo on the night of Kelley’s disappearance. After that, his phone was turned off, but police were still able to see that the man had been close to where Kelley’s truck was found.

Kelley may have been a victim of a violent crime, according to police.

Silent Observer is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone with information about Kelley’s whereabouts.