Japan - Kelli Cribbs Abad, 27, American wife of airman in USAF, Okinawa, 26 Oct 2011

[SmoothOperator]

««««disclaimer plz excuse excessive typos tablet keyboard sux»»»»

Heartbreaking and Kelli's mom bei.g not able to have regular vontact with the only real part of her beautiful daughter tbat is left..

Thank you for your sharing about Kelli and I know for certain Kelli wohldnt want you for a minute to torture yourself in feeling guilty..in fact Im certain shes beaming down with great love and appreciation for your quest for finding the answers for your beautiful friend, her children and her loved ones who deserve to knw the truth,bring her body home and lay her to rest..

What is ypur honest gut intuition as to what happened to Kelli?.. I ask because I 100% believe that your close bond you and Kelli shared has you very well understood likely to the dynamics of her,her life,her husband and children,as well as loved ones back home.. I am very certain that in your heart you quickly knew what was to have most likeliest to have happened to Kelli and who or why she is missing..your mind quite honestly may have fought and even overruled those intuitions you knew in your heart..but imo your heart was most likely correct no matter how difficult or hard that reality of truth may be ..

So,if possible would you share what your honest feelings and opinions are as to what happened that night/morning of her supposed "disappearance"..also in wording that its an opinion we are able to discuss openly and honestly what we believe very likely happened even tho there is no one arrested or charged in her disappearance..

I am in no one want to come across as prying and wa.ting you to spill every thing that Kelli ever spoke with you about as freind to friend.. I just believe that most likely your instinct on what you believe to have happened to her is most likely quite accurate...so to whatever degree you personally feel comfortable in sharing your tboughts,views,and opinions on what possibly happened to your friend that might be a good place to start..

Welcome to Websleuths youve come to the right place and quite likely there can be progress made,if even by just bringing about further exposure via media,online ,print,etc..

 

[Thespyma]

I think we should all back up and go at this methodically and rationally.
IMO you're jumping to a hasty conclusion based solely on the husband's comment and what you know about some totally different person and their situation. If the husband is responsible for his missing wife, he would definitely imply she did this. What does anyone know of her relationship with her husband?
Try taking baby steps, not giant leaps.

The reason I stated what I did is that a family friend with two very tiny boys (2 and 4) a wonderful doting wife and a huge network of friends and neighbors did just what it seems like happened here. He was a happy man at least outwardly. He showed no signs of duress. His wife said he seemed a little upset and then told her he felt like driving off a cliff. He left and she immediately called police. Everyone who knew him swore he could never leave those boys that he cared for along with his wife. His work was such that he had a lot of family time and was a hands on Dad. Unlike what was described as an argument that Kelli had with her husband. There was not even an argument. Brian drove his car off a 500 foot cliff 3 and a half weeks ago. It was out of the blue. He didn't think about consequences, many times people who feel that low do not. SGLI, by the way does not pay for suicide and if she was murdered by a benefactor(s), they would get nothing. It seems like a distinct possibility that she did the unthinkable. It is also possible she got out of the car to "think" and walk and slipped. The ocean often does not yield who or what falls or jumps into it. The chances of a random stranger abducting her in Japan are very, very low. Of course I am not as familiar with Okinawa as I am with mainland Japan. Maybe there are more psychos there and I could be wrong about what happened to her. IMOO I believe it was most likely suicide.

 

[Thespyma]

as a 30 year Air Force spouse my hinky meter is way off! Im sure she had the SGLI which is generally 500k! Suicide in the Air Force by a female is very rare!

Air Force is tight, a higher standard of Quality of Life on all Air Force installation's especially in Japan!

It may be rare but the suicide rate for AF personnel is rising. This is from the AF Times-
"The number of Air Force military and civilian personnel who have committed suicide this year is up 40 percent from the same time last year, according to the service’s top noncommissioned officer.
Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Roy, who was guest speaker for an Air Force Association lecture series, said among all Air Force military and civilian personnel there have been 35 suicides in the first quarter of the year, compared with 25 during the same time last year."

One thing to consider was her adaptation to the Okinawan culture. Yes, she lived on base but it is hard to deny the culture is vastly different. This is why Therapist offices have plenty of clients in overseas bases. I am not saying she was discontent or that she was in need of therapy. I am making a general statement based on my own knowledge of both the military and Psychology.

 

[Thespyma]

So if any military people are out there...

Who investigates this type of disappearance? Is this a MP responsibility or the Japanese police's responsibility?

If someone had concerns or questions about the investigation, who should they contact?

Do we even know id Kelli's disappearance is being investigated? I am going to go check out the previous links...

In the army, I know the investigations would be a joint effort with the MPs investigating the family and any base connections and keeping in close contact with the local LE. I must add if there is any evidence for suicide, the local LE will not be as fervent, sadly. IMOO

 

[Leomoon80]

WebSleuths has made Kelli a SPOTLIGHT case.

And the lovely Kimster is putting Kelli's information on the front page of WebSleuths in just a short while!

I'm very happy to hear this, for her mother Janice, is and has been suffering terribly. It's always the "not knowing" that causes the worse suffering. She can't move on, because of this, the "not knowing", what in the world happened to Kelli.

After all, Kelli was upbeat and happy, and always called her mother, was making preparations for moving to a warmer clime, she was looking forward to.

I think it's also very important to realize, it's extremely rare for someone to commit suicide, unless they have threatened to do so , or showed signs to their friends and loved ones prior as to being depressed and unhappy.

It doesn't sound like any suicide I am aware of.

Although there is always that possibility of course.

Glad to hear it's being looked at and talked about again, with the upcoming Anniversary and Kelli's birthday this month.

She disappeared near Halloween last year 2011, after buying and outfitting her children with new Halloween costumes, and being with her daughter at a play that evening.

Did the pastor know of her upset?

The husband claims that he was counseling them. Is this true?

 

[EXIA15145]

Lets also not forget...it could have been a stranger or acquaintance...
Someone could have stopped by her house that night after the husband left and forced her to leave...the husband might not have noticed things out of place since they have two kids.

The Craiglist ad could have attracted some bad person. Kelli could have let her guard down thinking, oh this person is a family man, this person is an American, etc. Maybe she said that he could drop by that night because her husband is usually home, not knowing he would take off.

It could have been a neighbor, someone who had been getting friendly with her. When neighbor sees husband leave, neighbor comes over...

It could have been the classic "argument goes out of control" type thing to.

Lots of possibilities here.

That's what happened to that girl in Florida. Amber Lee. Her husband came home and found the babies alone, and she was gone. He immediately sensed something was wrong and he called 911. The killer took the young mother right out of her house. There were five 911 calls placed, one from Amber herself tied up in the back of the car. Another from a witness that actually followed the car for several minutes and gave cross streets and everything. Maybe it was someone related to ads. Crazy things have been happening with those all over the place.

 

[Leomoon80]

But here is the problem with that scenario as I see it.

Kelli's husband says he came home, to an empty house, other then the 2 children. One in his crib the other asleep.
He doesn't call the police, and Kelli would never ever leave her children alone in the house or anywhere.
Makes no sense.

 

[lovemyhuskies]

What time did husband make it home that night?

 

[Leomoon80]

What time did husband make it home that night?

http://www.examiner.com/article/kel...-pleads-for-info-no-matter-how-minor-it-seems

the evening Kelli went missing,

Vince reportedly said when he arrived home around 9 p.m. their two young children, ages 20 months and 4 years, were home and Kelli was nowhere to be found. Kelli’s family and friends have all said Kelli is a wonderful mother who adores her children. They've all said she would never willingly leave them.

 

[concentric]

Recently, I decided to go to the 20/20 website. There are cases of women from other countries who went missing/murdered in Japan. Recently, this case was reviewed on 20/20:

English Teacher Murdered in Japan Lindsay Hawker's family is fighting to put her accused killer behind bars.

 

[VeryVeritas]

I guess what makes me pause on the "suicide" route are these points:

She left her very young children home alone that night
She had spoken with her parents earlier that day and asked them to buy her some boots, made other plans with them for the future
Husband did not report her missing in timely manner
Husband and wife had been having problems


Even if they find her remains...I suppose there is no real way to determine what happened that night. Someone could have thrown her over the cliffs and there would be no evidence.

You seem to have isolated the key facts in this case.

For what it's worth, intuition says that it's Husband making it look like Suicide. I'm 10 to 1 that it's Husband vs. Suicide. Other possibilities seem extremely remote given the circumstances.

The thing that would seal it 100% for me would be if she had told someone in her family that she was considering taking the kids and coming back Stateside and leaving husband in Okinawa. When they say husband and wife were having "problems" and it's clear she wanted to go home, this is the scenario that comes to mind: She repeatedly tells him that she is done and needs to go back home. He is tormented by the thought of losing his family and being stuck there on duty. He can feel her disconnecting and fears he is about to lose "everything". He comes home, she lays it out for him that she is leaving and he panics. Whatever happens, happens without much noise. He checks on the kids and they are still asleep. He drives her out to the lighthouse location and dumps her body. That could be done within say 15 minutes. Then he needs some way to get back so the kids are not alone very long. If he ran most of the way he could get back in under 2 hrs total. But if he had a bike or some other means, he could have returned perhaps in as little as 1/2 hr round trip. It seems they lived off base, and this lighthouse was off base. So there would have been no Military checkpoint. Since he does not report her missing until the following day, there is plenty of time to clean up anything out of order at home.

 

[Leomoon80]

Who knows, it's coming up to a year soon.

One thing that is a known however, is they found her vehicle, parked near the ocean, where there is a cliff. How did it get there?

Who drove it?

 

[summer_breeze]

http://www.stripes.com/news/okinawa...ing-and-still-a-mystery-a-year-later-1.199358

By TRAVIS J. TRITTEN
Stars and Stripes
Published: December 5, 2012

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — When Air Force spouse Kelli Abad disappeared on Okinawa, she left behind little more than a cryptic note and many questions.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Okinawa airman's wife still missing, and still a mystery, a year later

When Air Force spouse Kelli Abad disappeared on Okinawa, she left behind little more than a cryptic note and many questions.

More than a year later, the case continues to resonate in the military community, particularly among fellow spouses shaken by the unsolved disappearance on an island known as a safe overseas deployment.

More: http://www.stripes.com/news/okinawa...ing-and-still-a-mystery-a-year-later-1.199358

 

[deca]

This looks like a sad case that will never get resolved. I wish for the best for those poor kids.

 

[summer_breeze]

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/rotting-corpse-found-at-us-base-in-japan_898204.html

Last Updated: Friday, December 20, 2013, 17:50

<snipped>

The corpse was discovered on Wednesday inside a former housing area at Camp Foster but the identity of the person, including their gender and approximate date of death, were unknown, a spokeswoman for the base said.

 

[CatFancier]

Very sad! I can't imagine it would be Kelli's body since it's been so long but so sad for the family of this person!

 

[FragileSugar]

http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/human-remains-found-at-okinawa-s-camp-foster-1.258193

From Stars & Stripes:
The identity and cause of death are unknown at this time, the release said.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is leading the investigation.

 

[summer_breeze]

http://www.stripes.com/news/remains-found-on-camp-foster-still-unidentified-1.262326

Stars and Stripes
Published: January 16, 2014

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Human remains found last month on Camp Foster appear to be those of an unidentified Japanese male, according to Okinawa prefecture police.

 

[Cherry]

Why are they still unidentified, and why hasn't she been at the very least ruled out? Since the marriage was in trouble and it sounded like they used someone in the Mil church as counsel; this husband needs to be looked at. If he had reported her missing at 9:15 I'd believe him, ergo I don't.
the lack of reporting indicates lack of concern to me or possibly building a timeline and motive, I'd like to know if the base gates show him leaving at all that night....after 9pm and if 9pm was his normal time to come home. Confused on whether they lived on or off base, records are indicating both.
Also reading that her mother has not seen the children? Horrific. Again shows a lack of concern for his wife's own family.

I don't this she suicided at all; I'd like to see the note she left in the car. JMO's.