IA IA - Helen Jean Kelly, 83, Sioux City, 18 May 2005

[YaYa_521]

Helen Jean Kelly – The Charley Project

Helen Jean Kelly

• Missing Since 05/18/2005
• Missing From Sioux City, Iowa
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 08/26/1921 (99)
• Age 83 years old
• Height and Weight 5'5, 115 pounds
• Medical Conditions - Kelly has an unspecified medical condition. It is not life-threatening. She was considered quite active and in good health for her age at the time of her disappearance.
• Distinguishing Characteristics - Caucasian female. Gray hair, brown eyes. Kelly's maiden name is Braunger.

Details of Disappearance
Kelly was last seen at her house in the 3600 block of Court Street in Sioux City, Iowa on May 18, 2005. When her husband woke up that morning, she was missing. He believed she left sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. He was initially unconcerned, but started to worry after she missed lunch. He reported her as a missing person at 3:00 p.m.

Kelly left behind her purse and all her other belongings, and she hadn't mentioned plans to travel anywhere. She has never been heard from again. Her gold 2000 Honda Accord with the Iowa license plate number 953EDK is also missing; a photo of the car is posted with this case summary.

Kelly disappeared just two weeks before her 58th wedding anniversary. Her husband died in 2009 at the age of 89; in his obituary, it was noted that his wife predeceased him. They had two children.

Another family now lives in their former home on Court Street, and their young son claimed he'd seen a "Ghost Grandma" living in the crawl space under in the home. None of the adults have ever seen the supposed ghost.

Kelly was born in Sioux City as the youngest of ten children. She has been declared legally dead, but her case remains unsolved.

Missing Persons

 

[YaYa_521]

Searching the Waters: Duo travels to Sioux City searching for cold case answers
Wednesday, January 13th 2021

Adventures with Purpose started about a year ago and has helped bring answers to families all across the nation. "We are Adventures with Purpose. We are a search and recovery team we travel the country trying to solve as many cold cases as we can," said co-founder Sam Ginn.

"We are actually working on three cold cases," Leisek said along the banks of the Missouri. "One from 2005, one from 1961, and then the other one is over in Moville, but there was some connection to Sioux City with a casino that is no longer here." The cases of Helen Kelly, Thomas Doughtery and Dale Robinson all have been open for years and they all have one theme in common. Not only is the person missing, but their vehicle is missing, too.

They also searched the area for signs of any other vehicles, especially those that could have belonged to Keller, Daughtery and Robinson. After two hours on the Missouri Wednesday morning, they returned.

 

[YaYa_521]

Helen Kelly

 

[Kim M]

Helen Kelly namus page The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Pennysmom1]

Helen Kelly

Helen Kelly, 83, vanished without a trace from her 3646 Court Street home in Sioux City on May 18, 2005. Neither her remains nor car were ever recovered.

iowacoldcases.org

Helen Jean (Braunger) Kelly​

Missing, Presumed Deceased​

Helen J. Kelly
83 YOA
DOB: 8/26/21
White female
Missing From:
3646 Court Street
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
Agency: Sioux City Police Department
Case Number: SCPD 14-18463
NamUs MP # 17050
Missing Since: May 18, 2005​

Eighty-three-year-old Helen Kelly kept an active social life, but like most women, seldom left home without her purse — particularly if she was driving.

Yet on Wednesday, May 18, 2005 — just two weeks shy of her 58th wedding anniversary — the 5-foot-5, 115-pound wife and mother of two grown children and four grandchildren suddenly disappeared without a trace and has never been seen nor heard from since.

Courtesy photo trulia.com
The 3646 Court Street home in Sioux City, Iowa, where Helen Kelly was last seen alive.

According to reports by Kelly’s husband, Arthur “Lennon” Kelly, 85, he awoke at approximately 8 a.m. that morning and discovered his wife wasn’t home. He estimated she must have left their 3646 Court Street home in Sioux City sometime between 7 and 8 a.m.

Lennon Kelly said he didn’t think much of her being gone, but when she didn’t return home for lunch, grew concerned. He reported her missing to Sioux City police at 3 p.m.

Also missing was Kelly’s gold 2000 Honda Accord with Iowa license plate number 953EDK.

Peculiar though, was the fact that Kelly would have left home without her purse, which police located at her residence. In addition, she’d made no comments to her husband about travel plans to go anywhere — that day or otherwise. Yet the active senior had apparently left the couple’s home with nothing more than the clothes on her back.

The Sioux City Police Department made a public appeal for anyone with information to contact them, and received a few tips that turned up nothing.

Helen Kelly drove a 2000 Honda Accord, license plate number 953EDK, which also turned up missing.
In mid July 2005, authorities were prompted to investigate a Missouri River boat ramp on the Iowa side in Sioux City. Despite a search by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, they found no signs of Kelly or her vehicle.

“This is unusual behavior on her part,” Sioux City Police Detective Greg Rose told the Sioux City Journal in a story published August 1, 2005. “We’re obviously hoping that someone in the public can help us out… point us in the right direction.”

Rose indicated that prior to her disappearance, Helen Kelly had been diagnosed with an undisclosed medical condition, but that the condition was not life-threatening.

Four years after his wife’s unsolved disappearance, Lennon Kelly, 89, died in his sleep the morning of July 21, 2009. Interestingly, his obituary — published in the Journal on August 2, 2009 — stated that his wife Helen “preceded him in death in May 2005,” even though her body had never been located.

The United States Social Security Death Index lists Helen Kelly’s date of death as May 17, 2005, the day before her husband reported her as missing.

NamUs notes that dental information and charting is available and will be entered later.

About Helen Kelly​

Helen Jean (Braunger) Kelly was born August 26, 1921, in Sioux City, Iowa, the last of 10 children born to Josephine “Jessie” Marie (Hensler) and Anton “Anthony” Braunger.

Helen’s father was a German butcher who came to the United States and built a large and lucrative meat market in Sioux City.

She married Arthur “Lennon” Kelly on June 3, 1947.

In addition to her husband, Helen’s survivors included a daughter, Anne Krause of Fish Creek, Wis.; a son, Anthony “Tone” Kelly and his wife, Beth, of Rochester, N.Y.; and four grandchildren, Chris, Kelly, Ryan and Ashley Krause.