Identified! AR - El Dorado, Whitehall Motel, WhtFem 18-21, 81UFAR, Jul'91 #4 - Kelly from VA

[Gameman]

I figured it was probably Kelly’s sister that wrote it and had a lot of anger at her mom. I could understand her having all that anger if what was written was true & that’s probably the better stuff. There is probably much worse in the story but they stopped themselves from telling everything. Idk I see it as a person brenda hurt deeply with her actions & this sounds like a child crying for help like “look what she has done” “ look how she treated us” and finding out her sister passed probably brought all that anger back to the surface

Truth be told, I'm sure Brenda was an absolute garbage mother and monster that destroyed the lives of her children. It's just that rehashing every wrong she did without a casual mention of the circumstances around Kelly's birth seems like borderline dishonesty, considering they could have just as easily said nothing.<modsnip>

 

[Blackbirdsitdon]

I can't find any public records for a Brenda --- obituary from 2008 in Virginia. Does anyone know the city or county? I want to see if it mentions her children.

Also, do we know since her identification whether Kelly (Mercedes) had children as she claimed? I wonder if they wouldn't still be living.

 

[scruffydog]

I can't find any public records for a Brenda --- obituary from 2008 in Virginia. Does anyone know the city or county? I want to see if it mentions her children.

Also, do we know since her identification whether Kelly (Mercedes) had children as she claimed? I wonder if they wouldn't still be living.

I cannot find any listing of children for Kelly, and remember-she was only 23 when she died. A

 

[Blackbirdsitdon]

I cannot find any listing of children for Kelly, and remember-she was only 23 when she died. A

From the stories she told contemporaries of having babies taken they would have had to have been very young, so I wonder if any child she did have was never known for long before it was put into care. It's just one aspect that bugs me, thinking of her having a child or children growing up in foster care all those years. If they had wanted to pursue finding their birth mother they would be using false names and getting nowhere.

I also wonder why the autopsy did not mention either way whether she had given birth. It seems like the sort of thing that it would have mentioned since they did not know her identity.

 

[Blackbirdsitdon]

You know, it's not very frequent in commonwealth countries anymore, but "Brenda" can be used as a short form of several longer names like Margareta, Alexandria, and Elizabeth.

That's because "Brenda" is considered a stereotypical commoner's name, that's why since 1969 the Queen herself has been called Brenda (jokingly/lovingly). I don't know how it was used in the US state of Virginia during the decades in question, but is it possible that our "Brenda" could be a longstanding hypocorism, nickname, middle name, or otherwise another version of a longer name that wouldn't show up on "official" papers like marriage certificates and obituaries?

Do people in Virginia ever go by names other than what their documents say? I did have an aunt named Jacqueline who went by Jo, so they don't always even have to make sense like Patricia -> Pat.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Kelly (murder victim) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[coco]

I’ve lo

I can't find any public records for a Brenda --- obituary from 2008 in Virginia. Does anyone know the city or county? I want to see if it mentions her children.

Also, do we know since her identification whether Kelly (Mercedes) had children as she claimed? I wonder if they wouldn't still be living.

I’ve looked high and low and also cannot find it

 

[Susikatze]

A lot of the information does not line up. They say Kellys parents share a paternal lineage but then that would rule out the Blevins that were also mentioned a long time ago as possible maternal line. And the only cousin Brenda with the Wood surname of DLL who is the proven bio dad has no sisters. So Kellys maternal "aunt" is another enigma.

Probably the family trees we have are incomplete and since VA is very endogamous, there are multiple possibilities for close relatives of DLL with the name Brenda around a similar age because certain names run in the families.
Just the tree is probably not public.

I am very confused with all that new information.

 

[Alleykins]

Based on my personal experience, it's quite easy for the paternal side of the family not to know about a secret love child or "oops" baby. Happened all the time in my world.

I'm fine with not knowing Kelly's last name.

 

[Gameman]

You know, it's not very frequent in commonwealth countries anymore, but "Brenda" can be used as a short form of several longer names like Margareta, Alexandria, and Elizabeth.

That's because "Brenda" is considered a stereotypical commoner's name, that's why since 1969 the Queen herself has been called Brenda (jokingly/lovingly). I don't know how it was used in the US state of Virginia during the decades in question, but is it possible that our "Brenda" could be a longstanding hypocorism, nickname, middle name, or otherwise another version of a longer name that wouldn't show up on "official" papers like marriage certificates and obituaries?

Do people in Virginia ever go by names other than what their documents say? I did have an aunt named Jacqueline who went by Jo, so they don't always even have to make sense like Patricia -> Pat.

A lot of the information does not line up. They say Kellys parents share a paternal lineage but then that would rule out the Blevins that were also mentioned a long time ago as possible maternal line. And the only cousin Brenda with the Wood surname of DLL who is the proven bio dad has no sisters. So Kellys maternal "aunt" is another enigma.

Probably the family trees we have are incomplete and since VA is very endogamous, there are multiple possibilities for close relatives of DLL with the name Brenda around a similar age because certain names run in the families.
Just the tree is probably not public.

I am very confused with all that new information.

But where are you getting that the father has been PROVEN?

 

[Alleykins]

But where are you getting that the father has been PROVEN? That's the biggest thing that all other things are based on. Please point us in the direction of a source.
Everything in the blog post revealing Kelly's case was solved matches up with this Brenda's biography. Brenda has a sister, brother, and several aunts & uncles herself. Her father died in 1998, and her Blevins mother went on to marry again. KELLY has one maternal aunt (Brenda's sister mentioned above), one maternal uncle, and one half sister. Brenda's maternal Blevins lineage does not affect her sharing a paternal lineage with Kelly's father, all it means is that Brenda's brother wasn't the father because he shares paternal AND maternal lineage. All other men from the Wood family, from her father down to cousins, are candidates. Also, the Blevins were never ruled out that we know of. Someone mentioned once on this forum that a Blevins grandson was tested and Kelly is not related to him, but that isn't fact at all. Brenda's sister and Kelly's half sister are on Facebook for anyone to find. They're very much alive and not old. They would be the first people tested instead of another generation further away.

Anyway, let me know what you think, and please post a source on the father

If you scroll back on this thread, or possibly the one before it, there was a lot of discussion about Kelly's paternal side, with citations, too, I believe.

 

[bettyboop]

A lot of the information does not line up. They say Kellys parents share a paternal lineage but then that would rule out the Blevins that were also mentioned a long time ago as possible maternal line. And the only cousin Brenda with the Wood surname of DLL who is the proven bio dad has no sisters. So Kellys maternal "aunt" is another enigma.

Probably the family trees we have are incomplete and since VA is very endogamous, there are multiple possibilities for close relatives of DLL with the name Brenda around a similar age because certain names run in the families.
Just the tree is probably not public.

I am very confused with all that new information.

I am an amateur genealogist, and suggest that people create an account at FAMILYSEARCH.org which is Totally free, and was created by the Mormon church. Once a member, you can do your own family genealogy, and Kelly and her family. You will find Brenda has many aliases. www.familysearch .org Hope this helps. JMO MOO edit to correct link

 

[summergirl1]

I'm not surprised that has been the wrong Brenda mentioned here. Also, maybe this isn't the case, but could Brenda be a middle name that someone with another first name went by? Sometimes people go by middle names, not their first name.

 

[Susikatze]

Cant find her

 

[DSCrime]

RIP Kelly

What a tragic young life.

As for the reveal, I share the opinion w/ others here that it made me feel uncomfortable.

Genetic genealogy is uncovering a lot of family traumas.

My condolences to her loved ones. Thank you to all the investigators and volunteers who spend so much time working on these cases. I never posted on this thread before, although I used to read over it every once in a while.

 

[coco]

I am an amateur genealogist, and suggest that people create an account at FAMILYSEARCH.org which is Totally free, and was created by the Mormon church. Once a member, you can do your own family genealogy, and Kelly and her family. You will find Brenda has many aliases. www.familysearch .org Hope this helps. JMO MOO edit to correct link

I couldn’t find any aliases for Brenda

 

[Blackbirdsitdon]

<modsnip>I think the Brenda who was her mother probably DID have a Blevins connection. I'm very cautious (even using public records) to put together a family tree using the wrong Brenda, and it seems like several people may have started down that path. It's completely understandable why.

I don't think the original announcement was deceptive on purpose--I think it was actually just very poorly written and less clear than it intended to be.

 

[missmonica]

"Mom eventually moved back to Virginia and died in 2008. No one in the family even knew mom was in Virginia or that she had died."

I feel like this means she died in 2008. I don't think it means she moved back in 2008 and eventually died, because the beginning of this paragraph started with 1992 and then this part if that makes sense.

Or it could have been meant to say 2018.


Or her name was never even Brenda. I feel like the first time I read this, her name was in quotations but I went back and checked and it's not.

 

[Oakie]

A lot of the information does not line up. They say Kellys parents share a paternal lineage but then that would rule out the Blevins that were also mentioned a long time ago as possible maternal line. And the only cousin Brenda with the Wood surname of DLL who is the proven bio dad has no sisters. So Kellys maternal "aunt" is another enigma.

I'm more confused than ever now. But I guess we know now why the Jane Doe's identity was so hard to pin down!

Edited to add: I'll bet that this ends up being a "textbook" case, that forensic genealogists study, as an example of potential stumbling blocks....

 

[Kiranerys]

<modsnip>I think the Brenda who was her mother probably DID have a Blevins connection. I'm very cautious (even using public records) to put together a family tree using the wrong Brenda, and it seems like several people may have started down that path. It's completely understandable why.

I don't think the original announcement was deceptive on purpose--I think it was actually just very poorly written and less clear than it intended to be.

I'm completely confused lol.
Is there a Blevins connection or is it just pure coincidence looks wise?.
Does Brenda share the same paternal line as Kelly?, was she related in any way to DLL and is it confirmed 100% that DLL is Kelly's father or is it still an unknown Woods?