KALAMAZOO (WWJ) - Police said they've discovered evidence of foul play in the case of a missing Portage woman who was last seen over a week ago in West Michigan.
Heather Kelley, 35, of Portage, was last heard from when she called her children around 10 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, in the Comstock Township area, Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said during a news conference on Monday.
According to police, Kelley left her home Saturday night and called her children around 10:20 p.m. to say she would be back shortly -- but she never returned.
Kelley was reported missing Sunday, Dec. 11. On the same day, her truck was found abandoned in the Comstock area by authorities. At first police did not release where it was discovered or if it offered any insight about where she might be, but they revealed Monday that they found evidence with the vehicle that made them suspicious.
"We have concern for her," Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said to reporters. "There is a person of interest that we do have in custody on another charge and we are talking to them just because we want to make sure all of our bases are covered. And I say person of interest, when I'm saying that, I mean we believe that person has some information that will help us locate our missing person."
Fuller said Kelley was last seen on video at a business near where her car was found.
Authorities from both the Portage Department of Public Safety and the Kalamazoo Sheriff’s Department are working together on the case in "hope that she is still alive."
“We’ve got everybody we have working on this in our detective bureau,” Portage Chief Nicholas Armold said.
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Both agencies are continuing to seek and speak to anyone with information or a connection to Kelley's disappearance, Armold said they are conducting searches in response to any leads and new evidence.
Police aren’t exactly sure where Kelley is or what happened may have happened to her, but they hope to find her soon.
Both agencies declined to comment further about the investigation.
In the meantime, Kelley's family has sent up a GoFundMe to raise funds to help her eight children at Christmas.
"We may not be able to give them their mom as of now, but giving them a nice Christmas might help lift their spirits during these trying times," Kelley's family member, Lashawn Perry, wrote on the crowdfunding site.
Kelley is described as a white female standing 5’10” and weighing 130 pounds with long blonde hair. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, a black hoodie and a black coat with fur on the hood, according to post made to Missing in Michigan.
“Our real concern is to try to find this young lady for her family,” Armold said at an earlier conference last week. “We know that they’re struggling with her being missing and it makes total sense. Hopefully we can bring this to a happy conclusion at some point. We just need more time.”
Anyone with information has been asked to call the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department at 269.383.8821 or Portage Public Safety at 269.329.4567.