Help Find Kelly Rothwell

03/13/20

Family and friends of missing Florida police cadet Kelly Rothwell marked the one-year anniversary of her still-unsolved disappearance on Monday.

Rothwell’s best friend, Donna Scharrett, did not mince words during a press conference at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

“Kelly Rothwell is dead, and her body is out there. It’s out there dumped like a piece of trash. She doesn’t deserve that. … That’s not where she needs to be,” Scharrett said.

According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Rothwell’s case remains a top priority.

“We’re gonna keep going. We’ll never stop,” Gualtieri said. “We’ll keep going until we find Kelly, whether it’s tomorrow, a week, a month, a year or 10 years.”

There has been no arrest in the case.

Rothwell, 35, was last seen on March 12, 2011, when she left a restaurant in Clearwater, Fla., with Scharrett.

“We had lunch together at Chili’s restaurant and about 3:30 p.m. said goodbye in the parking lot,” Scharrett told The Huffington Post. “That’s the last time anyone heard [from] her.”

Rothwell had recently left a hotel job to enroll in the Pinellas Police Academy in St. Petersburg, Fla. She was planning to break up with longtime boyfriend David Perry, according to Scharrett, who described him as “controlling.”

Speaking with TV host Nancy Grace in March 2011, Ken Williamson, a neighbor who lives below the couple’s condo, said his wife heard a series of loud noises coming from above that afternoon.

“Mary, my wife, was inside at the time,” Williamson said. “It was probably around — oh, sometime around 4:00 on the 12th, and she heard a series of loud thuds up above the ceiling where our bedroom is directly below their master bedroom. And somebody, like, threw something heavy on the floor three or four times. And then it got real quiet.”

A short time after that, Williamson said, they heard somebody upstairs vacuuming.

Scharrett called the sheriff’s office on March 13 and asked deputies to check on Rothwell after mutual friends told her Rothwell had failed to show up for a planned get-together. When deputies arrived at the condo, there was no sign of the couple and both their cars were gone. Later that day, they found Rothwell’s green 2007 Subaru Outback on a street about two miles south of her home.

Detectives later discovered that Perry, a 47-year-old retired corrections officer, had left Florida for New York. He has since repeatedly ignored requests to be interviewed, the sheriff’s office said.

In June 2011, authorities in Florida named Perry a suspect in Rothwell’s disappearance. Two months later Perry married a woman he had met online. The couple divorced in November. In the interim, Perry was arraigned on unrelated insurance fraud and grand larceny charges in Elmira, N.Y.

Investigators have conducted multiple searches for Rothwell, but to date they have been unable to locate any sign of her.

“Kelly’s remains could be anywhere from Indian Rocks Beach to New York,” Gualtieri said. “It really is looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Rothwell’s family is offering a $25,000 reward for anyone who has information leading to her whereabouts. On Monday, Gualtieri announced his department would match the amount with confiscated drug money, bringing the total to $50,000.

“It’s so important to her family and friends that there be some kind of resolution,” Gualtieri said. “We want closure for the family.”

Scharrett echoed the sheriff’s statement.

“The only thing I hope for — from Day 1 — is that we find Kelly’s remains and get them back to her mother,” Scharrett said. “I know justice will be done.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/kelly-rothwell-missing-one-year-florida_n_1342457.html

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David Perry's booking photo, taken after his arrest in New York for insurance fraud and grand larceny.

Mar 13, 2012

Tampa, Florida -  Just one day after the one-year anniversary of Kelly Rothwell’s death, her ex-boyfriend David Perry, the prime suspect in her disappearance, has been arrested in upstate New York on charges of grand larceny.

Perry is currently in custody at New York State police headquarters.

Perry is a former state prison guard accused of faking an injury to receive worker’s compensation benefits.

He is also accused of murdering his girlfriend one year ago at their Indian Rocks Beach condo.

The Pinellas County Sheriff announced Monday that he was adding an additional $25,000 to the current reward put forth by the Rothwell family of $25,000. The grand total now is $50,000 for anyone who can locate Kelly’s body.

Kelly was at the top of her class as a police cadet at Pinellas Police Academy at the Allstate Center in St. Petersburg.

Friends say she was planning to end a volatile relationship with Perry.

Her friends and family are desperately waiting for answers.

Where is Kelly Rothwell and what happened to her?

Images from a security camera at a Pinellas County Publix show what may be the last pictures of Rothwell as she wrapped up a shopping trip with her best friend, Donna Scharrett.

Scharrett said Rothwell was heading to the Indian Rocks Beach condo she shared with David Perry to end their relationship.

Kelly planned to move out and leave Perry.  No one has ever seen her alive since.

The next day, on March 12, Scharrett reported her best friend missing.

When sheriff’s deputies went to Rothwell’s Indian Rocks Beach condo for a welfare check, nobody was home and both cars were gone.

Deputies later found Rothwell’s car about two miles away from her condo.

Rothwell was no where to be found.

From that day, Rothwell’s loved ones haven’t stopped searching.

“You’re not going to find somebody if you just stay home.  You have to look, you have to start somewhere and you have to eliminate, you have to eliminate space and we have to go through every space available here in this county and the next county,” Scharrett told 10 News on Saturday, during a fundraiser for their search efforts.

Detectives named David Perry their prime suspect last year due his refusal to cooperate, his bizarre behavior and a new relationship with woman shortly after Rothwell went missing.

The night Rothwell was reported missing, detectives say Perry fled to his hometown of Elmira, New York. His cell phone was last used within hours of Kelly’s disappearance.  Detectives narrowed it down to the location of State Road 52 and I-75.

http://origin.wtsp.com/news/breaking/article/244414/20/BREAKING-NEWS-Missing-cadets-ex-arrested-in-New-York

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March 12, 2012

ELMIRA, NY (WENY-TV)—Where is Kelly Rothwell and what happened to her?–-that’s what police, family and friends of Kelly Rothwell want to know. They say, one person, David Perry, knows the answer to those questions. Police are now offering more money for information in Kellys disappearance.

Kellys family has put up $25,000 and now the Pinellas County, Florida sheriff’s department has matched that amount.

They hope the increased reward encourages, somebody to come forward with more information.

“Thats what we need now. We need information. Please everybody, come forward. Make our phones ring off the hook, says Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office.

Its a call for help on the anniversary of Kelly Rothwell’s disappearance. Rothwell went missing from the Tampa Bay area apartment she was sharing with her boyfriend, David Perry last march.

The night she disappeared, Rothwell told her best friend, Donna Scharett, she was going to break up with Perry. Scharett was the second to last person to see Kelly.

The last person was David Perry – who returned to Elmira the next day.

Her body is out there. Dumped like a piece of trash and she doesn’t deserve that. Just like no one here would deserve that. Thats not where she needs to be,says Donna Scharrett, Kellys best friend.

David Perry is the prime suspect in Kellys disappearance. Since last march, he remarried a woman whom he met on Craiglist, who recently filed for divorce.

He then tried to sell his West Church Street home. Hes also charged with insurance fraud and is not allowed to leave New York State.

Police say Perry refuses to cooperate.

Everybody out there. Dont think twice about calling us. Even if it’s the smallest thing,says Sheriff Gualtieri

If you can help, give the Pinellas County Sheriff a call at 727-582-6200.

Or CUE Center For Missing Persons 24 Hour Tip Line- (910) 232-1687
http://www.ncmissingpersons.org

Or you can submit a confidential tip on Kelly Rothwell’s website
http://helpfindkellyrothwell.com/

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Thursday, 27 Oct 2011, 6:46 AM EDT

TAMPA – People from around the country will rally Thursday to generate interest in the disappearance of Kelly Rothwell, the St. Petersburg police cadet who went missing in March from her Indian Rocks Beach condo.

CUE Center, a North Carolina group that highlights cases of missing people, will rally this morning in Tampa as part of a tour across the country. Many of Rothwell’s loved ones who have expressed frustration in the investigation are expected to attend.

At the event, attendees are expected to release butterflies and flowers to celebrate her life.

Police in St. Petersburg say they believe the man Rothwell lived with, 47-year-old David Perry, is involved in her disappearance. He is awaiting trial on an unrelated arrest in New York.

LINK: More background on the investigation

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/group-holds-rally-for-missing-st.-pete-police-cadet-102711

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