Oct 27, 2011
Indian Rocks Beach, Florida – They came with flowers and butterflies: Kelly’s favorite things. They had smiles on their faces, but their hearts were heavy. After all, they haven’t seen their friend, Kelly Rothwell, in seven months.
The young police cadet had a future full of promise and a heart filled with goodness. Kelly Rothwell, her mother says, never said a bad word about anyone.
Detectives say the last person to see her alive was her then-boyfriend, ex-prison guard David Perry. Their relationship was tumultuous for several years before she summoned the courage to break up with him.
Kelly always looked for the good in him, but said she could not continue to date him. It was too stressful, and he was too domineering, she told friends.
On the weekend of March 12th, Kelly decided she would meet Perry at their Indian Rocks Beach condo. She was going to explain to him, friends say, that she “loved him, but was not in love with him anymore.”
Kelly went alone that day. She was never heard from again.
Pinellas detectives Michael Bailey and Amy Plourde have worked tirelessly on the case, reviewing evidence and conducting countless interviews. Both of them admit they have passion for the case, knowing the promising future this young woman had in front of her.
“She was just minding her own business,” said Detective Bailey.
Detectives have worked so hard on this case that a national search team called Cue Center for Missing Persons out of North Carolina is featuring her story on a nationwide tour.
Cue Center has conducted searches in Florida in the last six months and has returned to the state once again as a part of their “On the Road to Remember” tour where Kelly’s case is at the forefront.
They’ve traveled 4,000 miles in less than two weeks and are featuring more than a 100 cases.
Founder Monica Caison told 10 News, “The special fondness for this particular case is that she got missing from my hometown, where I grew up and born and raised, and I feel like it’s this organization’s responsibility to come back and help people.”
Pinellas detectives realize that the tips are few and far between on this case, but they feel if they keep Kelly’s name and face in the news that someone somewhere out there will come forward with clues.
Detective Bailey finds it frustrating, but as a cold case homicide detective, he says, “We are in it for the long haul. We just have to put together the best case we can.”
Kelly’s ex-boyfriend has officially been named a suspect in her disappearance. Perry is known for his temper, friends say, and he would have never let Kelly go willingly. Perry took off for his home state of New York shortly after Kelly went missing and has never been cooperative in the case.
He refuses to talk with Detective Bailey or Detective Plourde. Perry was said to have gone crazy when the two Pinellas investigators traveled to New York to speak with him over the summer.
Perry was arrested on insurance fraud charges this summer after officials say that he defrauded the prison system where he worked as a prison guard by allegedly faking a worker’s compensation injury to collect more than $100,000.
Perry got out of jail and then got permission from a New York judge to visit Hawaii for a month, where he has a new girlfriend that he met on Craig’s List just weeks after Kelly disappeared.
Pinellas detectives keep close tabs on him. They believe he may have applied for a marriage license to start a life with his new girlfriend.
Detective Bailey said, ”He’s supposed to be gone for a month. Probably about a week from now is the time frame in which he has to be back. We’ll find out if he’s going to return from Hawaii or not.”
For now, Kelly’s mother and sisters will wait, keeping in mind the Cue Center tour’s title, “On the road to remember. ” Kelly, they maintain, may be gone, but she will never be forgotten.
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/217594/250/Local-missing-police-cadet-case-goes-national
