IL IL - Tricia Kellett, 8, Chicago, 7 May 1982

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Richard

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25 Years ago...


Tricia J. Kellett
Missing since May 7, 1982 from Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: May 31, 1973
Age at Time of Disappearance: 8 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'0; 70 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; hazel eyes.
Dentals: Kellett has a space between her upper front teeth.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Tricia went outside to play, biding time until her father, who was divorced from Tricia's mother, arrived to pick up Tricia and her brother for the weekend. But when her father showed up, Tricia couldn't be found. Her family started looking for her about 4 p.m.
She was spotted speaking to an unidentified man shortly before her disappearance.

Witnesses said they saw a man pull the girl into a blue four-door 1979 Dodge with a damaged right front door and a license plate starting with the letters Q and R. She has never been seen again.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning Kellett's whereabouts, please contact:
Chicago Police Department
312-744-8266
You may remain anonymous when submitting information to any agency.

NCIC Number: M-514153624
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
The Doe Network: Case File 272DFIL

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/272dfil.html
 
bumping case up. Here is a case where witnesses saw an abduction take place and provided a description of the assailant and his car.

Does anyone know if there was a composite drawing made of the abductor?
 
Richard said:
bumping case up. Here is a case where witnesses saw an abduction take place and provided a description of the assailant and his car.
Click to expand...

The description was unfortunately very vague, the fact that the witnesses either couldn't tell if the car was either a Dodge or a Pontiac (Chrysler cars don't look like GM cars now and they didn't back then either), or did not agree on what they saw, makes me think they weren't paying enough attention (not their fault) or were too far away to notice significant details. Sometimes hypnosis helps in such cases.
 
Bumping with a possible connection. Tricia was abducted by a man in a blue 1979 Dodge or Pontiac from Chicago. In 1995, a mentally disabled woman named Stephanie Gibson was last seen with a man named Arlie Ray Davis. He drove a 1979 light blue Dodge Dart. Admittedly, Tricia was a child, and Stephanie was an adult. Arlie is suspected of having killed other women and was convicted of killing another IL woman. He was profiled and it was said that he had a sexual dysfunction and felt inferior to women. Prostiitutes in the area identified him and said that he was very abusive to them and most of them would not accept a "date" with him.
If he is a serial, Tricia could have been one of his first vics, she would fit the profile, basically. He went for hookers, and mentally disabled women, a child is not a far cry as a first victim. Tricia's abduction was obviously not done by someone with a lot of experience, she was taken in broad daylight, off a street where people were close enough to get a look at his license plate.
Should I call this one in...
Here's the link to Stephanie's case. http://charleyproject.org/cases/g/gibson_stephanie.html
 
Not, you have nothing to lose by calling it in, you're simply making an observation that may or may not have been overlooked by LE. They will check it out and make a determination as to whether it is pertinent or not.
I encourage you to worry less, and not be afraid to have a voice, especially for those who may not be able to speak for themselves, so go ahead, make that call. :)
 
Well, it's been submitted and at least they took the information seriously, or seemed to. I turned it in to the Chicago PD Special Victims and the NCMEC, since they have Tricia's case. The detective that I talked to wasn't sure who has the case right now, but he will find out and they might call me back if they need anything further from me and it will be going to the case manager at NCMEC.
So, now I play the waiting game...at least they didn't laugh at me.
 
Good posts. If this person is known to have killed once and is suspected of another, AND has plenty of mental problems, he sounds like a good candidate for the position of suspect in this little girl's disappearance.

It is interesting to note that the witness stated that it was a blue 1979 Dodge or Pontiac. I think they probaby actually said or meant a Dodge or Plymouth, as they are both Chrysler Corp cars and very similar in all models around that time.

I think that the Dodge "Dart" was an earlier model (1960's) than 1979. I believe that 1979 was the year that the Chrysler "K" cars came out and most model names changed from what they had been in the 50's and 60's.

Odd, however, that the witness was so set on the year and even got part of the plate number.
 
not_my_kids said:
Just for reference 1979 Dodge Dart
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.carsurvey.org/images/dodge_dart_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.carsurvey.org/reviews/dodge/dart/1979/&usg=__Tetxbkcue6HfWGaVCbCJVR1sn7U=&h=129&w=260&sz=7&hl=en&start=5&tbnid=ilOOnRi1aix3VM:&tbnh=56&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%25221979%2Bdodge%2Bdart%2522%26hl%3Den
Click to expand...

That link references to a Mexican-edition '79 Dodge Dart. In the US and Canada that model was known as Dodge Aspen and was very common. Witnesses would have ID'd it as such. The picture in the link -not related to the Mexican car- is that of a '75 Dart Sport, as the coupe model was called. The name Dart was discontinued in '76. The Dart Sport was twin to the Plymouth Duster. Both were very popular and easily recognizable, I do not know of any late 70's Pontiac that could be mistaken for a Dart or vice versa, but the early '70's Pontiacs GTO and LeMans Coupe were similar to the Dart coupe which was then known as Dodge Demon. The name "Demon" was controversial so Chrysler changed it to Dart Sport.

Most likely the article either has the model or the year wrong.
 
KarlK said:
That link references to a Mexican-edition '79 Dodge Dart. In the US and Canada that model was known as Dodge Aspen and was very common. Witnesses would have ID'd it as such. The picture in the link -not related to the Mexican car- is that of a '75 Dart Sport, as the coupe model was called. The name Dart was discontinued in '76. The Dart Sport was twin to the Plymouth Duster. Both were very popular and easily recognizable, I do not know of any late 70's Pontiac that could be mistaken for a Dart or vice versa, but the early '70's Pontiacs GTO and LeMans Coupe were similar to the Dart coupe which was then known as Dodge Demon. The name "Demon" was controversial so Chrysler changed it to Dart Sport.

Most likely the article either has the model or the year wrong.
Click to expand...

THe witnesses may have had it wrong, but the article is dead on. THe detective that I spoke with worked that case for a couple of days before it was transferred and he checked his memory and the file for me. THe article is correct.
 
not_my_kids said:
THe witnesses may have had it wrong, but the article is dead on. THe detective that I spoke with worked that case for a couple of days before it was transferred and he checked his memory and the file for me. THe article is correct.
Click to expand...

Well since there is no such thing as a 1979 Dodge Dart I will assume that you mean the article is correct in its report that one of the witnesses -I can't imagine two witnesses making the same mistake- incorrectly identified the car as a '79 Dart. What intrigues me though is that usually someone who's able to tell the specific model-year of a car they saw knows enough about that model to tell it's been discontinued for 3 years.

That's why I believe there's been a mistake somewhere, maybe the person who took note of the statements did not write down the year very clearly and that the person who subsequently typed the report was not familiar with the Dart and guesstimated the year scribbled as 1979 when in fact it was a different year. This would explain why those who read the report would believe it was 1979 unless they happened to be familiar with the Dart, and why it was that year that appeared in the article.

But cops have lists of car models and what year those models were made so someone down the line somewhere (likely after the detective you spoke with parted with the case) certainly noticed the error but for some reason it wasn't corrected in the media. This covers a possible error on the year-model.

Another possibility is that was an error on the model. A few notes about the Dodge Dart: between 1967 and 1976 Dart models changed very little and when they did the changes were very minor: only the taillights and grille design were modified (and then only twice in 1970 and 1975), the body and shape remained the exact same. One would need to be near the car to notice the taillights and grille and even then would only be able to tell if it's a model from 67-69, 70-74 or 75-76. In order to tell the exact year one would have to be extremely familiar with the model or have access to the serial#. Considering this it's entirely possible that the witness had mentioned something else than a Dart but for some reason it's a Dart that ended up in the report.

In any case if the media reported a 1979 Dart then it's no surprise that no one ever spotted the car: it doesn't exist.
 
There is such a thing as a 1979 Dodge Dart, but there is no such thing as a 1979 US made Dodge Dart. It is not that hard to have a car imported, which if Arlie Davis went to those lengths to get the car, explains why he would have still been driving it at the time of his arrest 13 years after Tricia disappeared.

Although, yes, it is possible that the witnesses were wrong or there was a patrol officer with really bad handwriting or a smudgy typewriter.
 
not_my_kids said:
There is such a thing as a 1979 Dodge Dart, but there is no such thing as a 1979 US made Dodge Dart.
Click to expand...

The Mexican Dart was a re-badged Aspen, if that's what the witnesses saw they would have called it an Aspen since very few people in Chicago would know that Aspens were called Darts in Mexico. Why would anyone import a car they could easily get here, and why would witnesses in the US know that this specific Aspen was actually the Mexican variant and therefore called Dart when they couldn't even tell if it was a Dodge or a Pontiac? And why would the media not mention that the Mexican Dart was actually the US Aspen so that the public knows what it looks like? Doesn't make any sense.

It's much more likely the car was never spotted because it was erroneously described. If you want the public to keep an eye out for a model known to 99% of the population as Aspen you don't tell them it's a Dart because then they'd be looking for an older car.

which if Arlie Davis went to those lengths to get the car, explains why he would have still been driving it at the time of his arrest 13 years after Tricia disappeared.
Click to expand...
I seriously doubt a car made in Mexico would last 13 years :D

Although, yes, it is possible that the witnesses were wrong or there was a patrol officer with really bad handwriting or a smudgy typewriter.
Click to expand...
Much more possible than expecting the Chicago public to spot a Mexican Dart that's not actually a Dart but an Aspen ;)

Dodge Dart mid-70's
100_2189.jpg


Dodge Aspen/Mexican Dart 1979
288391251_543b4b87b2.jpg
 
This missing person's flier has a description of the abductor. I don't think an image has been released of the man though and the description is way too generic to not have an image. I'm assuming since it was a Friday afternoon, it was probably busy in the neighborhood with a lot of children playing. It's a shame no one saw anything substantial because after Tricia was abducted, no further evidence has been released to the public and no persons of interests have ever been named. A vague description of the man and an inconsistent description of the car are the only real things investigators had.

Hope Tricia can one day return home.


Tricia J Kellett - Find a Grave


3551964437_488e17faa3.jpg
 
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