Missing Women and Small Towns
Charish Thompson-Blume
Comm 215
09/15/2014
Ms. Lyncheski
In my area, there have been two women gone missing, and it was a huge deal. Normally this doesn't happen, or you just don't hear about it. Everyone got together and drove and walked around everywhere within about 100 miles and looked for both of these ladies.
The first missing woman, Joelle Lockwood, went missing July 9, 2014. She is 30 years old and has two young children. She had last been seen walking down the road in Evansville, IN. She had been hanging out with friends at an apartment, and she left after an argument while being drunk. A friend gave her a ride to another house, which she later left and then wasn't heard from again until September 7, 2014 nearly two months later. (Taylor2213, 2014).
The second woman, Kristy Kelley, went missing on August 15, 2014.
Closeup of Southwestern Indiana. White counties ar...
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English: Indiana Area Career & Technical District ...She is 27 and has two young children. She was last seen at the VFW in Boonville, IN with some friends. They reported her missing after not showing up for work (Gootee, 2014). Large groups of volunteers gathered and combed through much of the area in Warrick county searching for clues. She wasn't found until September 16, 2014.
"To have someone missing in our area -- two of them active like this at the same time -- is very unusual," Sgt. Jason Cullum of the Evansville Police Department told The Huffington Post (Lohr, 2014). We normally do not have two people so close together go missing at the same time. Everyone around our little towns started freaking out. A lot of people were getting gun permits and not doing things they normally would just to be safe. Everyone just jumped to the conclusion that they were abducted.
Both women were found within the same two weeks. Joelle was found in Posey county. She had been abducted by a man and woman and held captive in their trailer for two months. She was locked in a cage, raped, and abused. The woman, who helped abduct Joelle, her ex- husband came over to their house and found that Joelle was being held there against her will so he came up with a plan to get her out. When he got her out of the house, he took her back to Evansville, and they called the police. (Taylor2213, 2014). Kristy Kelley was found by an independent search team with sonar equipment on the boat found a car in a lake near her home, the plates matched Kristys. They said the description of the female was the same as Kristy and was wearing what Kristy was described wearing the night of her disappearance. They say no foul play was detected (Gootee, 2014).
This affected my community and me pretty hard. A lot of us were scared thinking that people were getting abducted, and I believe it is a superb lesson to us all that there can be good and bad outcomes for everything. The girl who was abducted was found alive, and a woman who wasn't abducted was found dead. We should know never to stop looking for someone because there is always a chance of finding them even if it isn't the outcome we hoped for.
References
Taylor2213, . (2014). Fox 59. Retrieved from http://fox59.com/2014/09/07/arrests-made-in-connection-to-missing-person-investigation-in-evansville/
Gootee, R. (2014). Still no clues in Boonville woman's disappearance. Retrieved from http://www.courierpress.com/news/local-news/southwest-indiana/still-no-clues-in-boonville-womans-disappearance_85746943
Lohr, D. (2014). Joelle Lockwood and Kristy Kelley Missing: Possible Connection?. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/18/kristy-kelley-joelle-lockwood-missing_n_5689173.html
Gootee, R. (2014). Sheriff: Kristy Kelley's car found, body inside. Retrieved from http://www.courierpress.com/news/local-news/warrick/kelley-found_98586854