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'Hopefully, we find her': Portage police continue to search for missing mother of 8

heather kelley missing poster.jpg
Posted at 3:33 PM, Dec 16, 2022
and last updated 2022-12-16 16:28:29-05

PORTAGE, Mich. — Heather Kelley is a Kalamazoo area mom who has disappeared. Loved ones, including her eight children, want her home for Christmas.

But these types of cases are hard to investigate with limited information available by design.

Loved ones have been searching for a missing Kalamazoo area mom for six days.

The Portage Police Department and Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office are dually involved in the investigation but are keeping much of the information close to the vest.

“She was reported missing on the 11th and we’ve had our staff of investigators working essentially around the clock since then,” said Portage Director of Public Safety Nicholas Armold.

Heather is a mother of eight who has been gone since Saturday, December 10.

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Sunday, law enforcement got the call.

‘There was a report by Heather Kelley’s mother I believe that she was missing,” said Armold.

Since then, Heather’s car has been found. Posters are circulating with one thing in mind: finding the blonde 35-year-old who has a lion and rose tattoo on her right forearm and a dream catcher tattoo on her left forearm. Police say Heather always wears a silver heart necklace.

“There’s a lot of work to it, especially if things look to be more than just a runaway, or maybe somebody went out of town, and the person reporting is unaware they went out of town,” explained Armold.

heather kelley missing poster.jpg

Portage police say their job right now is to look for Heather.

“There’s not a lot that I’m willing to tell anybody right at this point,” Armold told FOX 17’s Julie Dunmire.

Police are promising to update everyone when the time is right. But right now, it’s time for investigators to do their work.

“One of the big things for a chief is realizing you need to get out of the way. And I’m in the way if I’m standing in front of a camera telling the wrong thing. So, I have to be careful what I say. Not because it’s sensitive, but I don’t want to say something that would impact the investigation,” said Armold.

Because law enforcement and loved ones all want this missing mom found safe.

If you have any information about where Kelley might be, call Kalamazoo County Central Dispatch at (269) 488-8911 or 911.

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