The past few days in Newsday, Long Island's daily newspaper, and the New York Daily News, articles have appeared about a 1984 missing person's case, that of Kelly Morrissey -- who was 15 years old when she disappeared. Her story has re-surfaced because of chatter on Facebook; people were reminiscing about their roller skating days at Hot Skates Rink in Lynbrook. In doing so, the topic of the disappearance of Kelly surfaced, since it was from that vicinity of Nassau County she was last seen. In addition, however, people were discussing the case of two women who went missing within months of Kelly's disappearance -- but their bodies were found, raped and strangled. One of the victims was a friend of Kelly's. Those murders have gone unsolved, and police have not made a connection between the three cases. Kelly's parents, Iris and Paul Olmstead, are thankful for the new interest and would of course appreciate any information about Kelly's whereabouts.
As a former police officer who worked for many years in Crime Stoppers, I know that the police and the missing person's family would be extremely grateful to receive information about the mystery surrounding Kelly Morrissey. If you or someone you know has information about Kelly, please contact the Nassau County Police Crime Stoppers tips line at 1-800-244-TIPS.
For a photo of Kelly (above) and this age-progressed photo, visit Help Find the Missing.
*****
The Criminal Justice Degrees Guide has prepared a list of the Top Ten Unsolved Missing Person Cases.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children maintains an extensive web site with information concerning missing children.
Kathleen - Thanks so much for posting this. I wish I did have any knowledge of the case. I really do. I think it's fascinating that social networking has sparked interest in this case; I have no data, but I'm wondering whether the use of Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, etc. means that more of these cases (of missing people) are being solved.
ReplyDeleteHi Margot,
ReplyDeleteI think you're right ~ the social networking available today is opening up discussions, and people are sharing information ~ what an investigator dreams of. In Crime Stoppers, I would profile an unsolved case on/near the anniversary date, in order to give the media a very good reason to run/air the case. It would sometimes "wake" people up who realized they did have a piece of the puzzle...OR ~ even more important, a shift in a relationship occurred, "freeing" that person with information to come forward. I always used to say, when a shift in a relationship occurs (be it death, divorce, a woman or man scorned, etc), Crime Stoppers benefits.
For years, I have turned to Classmates.com to ask the people of Northport about the village in the 1950s to help me with my book; their response has been overwhelming!
Hopefully through these social medias more information can come to light and help investigators at least find her body to help give her family closure. It sounds as though the 3 cases are related.
ReplyDeleteMason
Thoughts in Progress
Hi Mason,
ReplyDeleteI think you're right ~ they are just too close together to NOT be related. Sounds like the killer(s) might have been very good at concealing her body. I wish like heck, though, that miracle of miracles, Kelly could still be alive -- you have to wonder how many Jaycee Lee Dugards there are in this world. Fortunately, that 13 year old abducted girl was found alive in Ohio a couple of days ago, although her mother, brother, and mom's friend may have faced a different fate. I hope they turn up alive, too.