FL FL - Mary Lue Kelly, 33, Fort Lauderdale, 24 April 1970

Soulmagent

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Do understand correct? The missing has been id'd and they are trying to find the family to notify?
 
From the way the article reads it seems so ,odd that they released her name before they were notified maybe they where stuck.

I was upset by the fact the officer had to keep resending her fingerprints the FBI and didnt get a responce that is very disheartening. What if he hadnt been so persistant?
 
This is so odd - I don't see Mary Lue on the missing boards, yet they have ID'd her? Wierd. I hope they find her loved ones soon - she's been "missing" a long time.
 
Interesting - she lived about 20 minutes from my hometown... Maybe not a big deal in large cities, but where I grew up, the next town over in rural Georgia was "close"...!
 
Here is the press release from LE:

ci.ftlaud.fl.us/POLICE/pdf/2008/october/2008-108homicide.pdf

31 October 2008

On April 24, 1972, officers with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department were
checking a field in the 2000 Block of West Broward Boulevard for abandoned
vehicles. While the officers were in the area, they found a partially decaying
body behind some bushes.

Detective John Curcio reopened this case back in 2004 as a cold case review.
The original murder case involved the death of an unknown female. The open
case had been looked at by a variety of detectives over the decades. In 2004,
Detective Curcio with the assistance of Forensic Detective Juan Cabrera, using
technologies not available in 1972, scanned the fingerprints taken from the
victim’s mummified fingers to the FBI prints section for AFIS search in the hopes
of identifying the victim and again in 2006. Recently, Detective Curcio was
contacted by the FBI Latent fingerprint sections who advised that the unknown
victim’s fingerprints had been matched to a black female named Mary Lue Kelly
born in 1937.

In researching the information it was learned that Kelly had been arrested once in
Georgia back in 1966. Detective Curcio was able to obtain the booking
information showing a list of the victim’s relative’s names and was able to make
contact with one of her sisters in Wrens Georgia. The sister informed Detective
Curcio that Mary Lue Kelly had come to Fort Lauderdale to visit with relatives on
her father’s side of the family sometime in 1970.

We know that Mary Lue Kelly had relatives in Georgia and was meeting with
relatives in Florida. However, we do not know who those relatives may be and
we would like to identify them.

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Mary Lue Kelly’s family is
encouraged to contact Detective John Curcio at 954-828-5529 or Broward​
County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.

 
Hoppy....they know her name and her possible connections but can't find family????

If true, I am sure we can get a press release out via Tricia and her connections in GA/FL....thoughts? Could get GBI to send out a whatever they do when they contact all other LE, things we don't have capability to do....thoughts?
 
My goodness she's going to be difficult to track. She's not quite old enough to be on any census info and she's too old and died too early for computer docs.

She was born in 1937, she would be either 71 or 72 had she lived.

I'll give it a go, tomorrow. I'm not sure where to start though.
 
Was this site checked out?

Unclaimed Persons

It's a quiet but disturbing epidemic. People are going to their graves with no family to claim them. Medical examiners and coroners' offices—frequently overstretched with burgeoning case loads—are turning to an unexpected resource for help. Over 400 genealogists are now offering their volunteer services to help locate the next of kin for unclaimed persons. And it's working. To date, 60 cases have been solved through this unusual partnership.

Curious to learn more? We invite you to watch videos about actual cases and find out how to volunteer, or—if you're a medical examiner, coroner or investigator—gain a better understanding of how our Unclaimed Persons team can help you.


http://www.unclaimedpersons.org/
 
Hoppy....they know her name and her possible connections but can't find family????

If true, I am sure we can get a press release out via Tricia and her connections in GA/FL....thoughts? Could get GBI to send out a whatever they do when they contact all other LE, things we don't have capability to do....thoughts?

I think the first thing to do is phone the detective and ask if he has found any family yet. Then go from there.

Hoppy
 
My goodness she's going to be difficult to track. She's not quite old enough to be on any census info and she's too old and died too early for computer docs.

She was born in 1937, she would be either 71 or 72 had she lived.

I'll give it a go, tomorrow. I'm not sure where to start though.

Thanks for working on it, Kat.

I do think you are mistaken about the census though. I'm pretty sure they go back past 1937.

Good luck!

Hoppy
 
From the article, it does sound like they were able to find family since they talked to one of her sisters, I think what they are trying to do is find the relatives on her fathers side that she had gone down to Florida to visit, maybe looking for clues to how she died? I wonder if she was staying with them when she was killed? Strange that the sister did not have their names, maybe they were half-sisters and had different fathers so these would not be relatives of the sister?

VB
 
From the article, it does sound like they were able to find family since they talked to one of her sisters, I think what they are trying to do is find the relatives on her fathers side that she had gone down to Florida to visit, maybe looking for clues to how she died? I wonder if she was staying with them when she was killed? Strange that the sister did not have their names, maybe they were half-sisters and had different fathers so these would not be relatives of the sister?

VB

That's what I thought to when I read ithey want. Sounds like to talk to the family she was visiting to find the perp.
 
Thanks for working on it, Kat.

I do think you are mistaken about the census though. I'm pretty sure they go back past 1937.

Good luck!

Hoppy

Hi Hoppy, I didn't make myself clear last night about the census info, I'm sorry.

The latest census info that we can access through say like ancestry would be 1930. IIRC they release census info after 70 yrs. In 2010 that's when we will have access to the 1940 census info.

Since she was born in 1937, she wouldn't be on the 1930 census that can be accessed now. Her parents would but it is very possible that they had not been married in 1930.

There are other ways, I'm approaching this in a more genealogical way, given that she would have been in her early 70's.

I'm start plugging away but I don't know if I have enough info to help find her. :)
 
Hi Hoppy, I didn't make myself clear last night about the census info, I'm sorry.

The latest census info that we can access through say like ancestry would be 1930. IIRC they release census info after 70 yrs. In 2010 that's when we will have access to the 1940 census info.

Since she was born in 1937, she wouldn't be on the 1930 census that can be accessed now. Her parents would but it is very possible that they had not been married in 1930.

There are other ways, I'm approaching this in a more genealogical way, given that she would have been in her early 70's.

I'm start plugging away but I don't know if I have enough info to help find her. :)

Kat,

If you get stuck let me know. I'm not into genealogy but have a few close friends who are. They are EXCELLENT at it, in fact. I can ask them to help.

Hoppy
 
Update:

I'm still trying to locate her family. I am not making any headway. Here is the problem(s)

1. We have her year of birth but not date

2. We don't have her place of birth

3. We don't have any family names of those that were contacted in Wrens Georgia

4. We do not have the names of the Family she was supposed to be visiting in FL.

I'll keep trying but without that information I'm not sure I can help find her.
 
Update:

I'm still trying to locate her family. I am not making any headway. Here is the problem(s)

1. We have her year of birth but not date

2. We don't have her place of birth

3. We don't have any family names of those that were contacted in Wrens Georgia

4. We do not have the names of the Family she was supposed to be visiting in FL.

I'll keep trying but without that information I'm not sure I can help find her.

Thanks for trying.

Have you contacted the officer/detective mentioned in the press release?

Hoppy
 
Thanks for trying.

Have you contacted the officer/detective mentioned in the press release?

Hoppy

Not yet Hoppy, I was thinking to do that though and ask if it was possible to have more information about Mary Lue. I will compose something this weekend and send it off.
 
Not yet Hoppy, I was thinking to do that though and ask if it was possible to have more information about Mary Lue. I will compose something this weekend and send it off.
----------------------------------------------------

I think starting with LE info is the best place to start.
I wonder why they could not track her other family members.?

Does LE have a copy of her ssn?
Do they know the dob?

Is it just to do a notification, so that all the family is aware of
what happened? Or do they suspect family?

Otherwise, they could contact newspapers and ask them
to run the information. Or perhaps the other family
member would like to ask for a memorial/obituary to be in the newspaper.

Good luck. Let us all know.
 
Bump

Is anyone working this still? I wonder if LE has located her family or not yet? I never got far and to be honest it slipped my mind to contact LE. Looking at the time frame that I last posted on this thread, that was right before we moved to El Paso. We have since moved again. Anyone else up for it? If not, I'll try to work on it. :)
 

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