Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Vanished Without a Trace - The Unsolved Mystery of Maureen Leianuhea Kelly
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: On June ninth, twenty thirteen, nineteen year old Maureen Kelly
- 0:05embarked on a camping trip with her friends in southern
- 0:08Washington State. That evening, just a few hours prior to sunset,
- 0:13she expressed her desire to undertake a spiritual quest. Disrobing,
- 0:19she departed from the Canyon Creek campground donning only a
- 0:23fanny pack. She assured her companions that she would return
- 0:28by midnight. However, she was never seen again. Despite the
- 0:33day being clear and warm, temperatures plummeted into the forties
- 0:37that night. Additionally, it was the day following a new moon.
- 0:44Although she had brought along a knife, compass, and matches,
- 0:47she did not have a flashlight. The limited leads that
- 0:50have emerged have resulted in dead ends and law enforcement
- 0:55holds varying theories regarding her disappearance and the circumstance surrounding it.
- 1:02To this day, no evidence of Maureen Kelly has been discovered.
- 1:09The chilling disappearance of Maureen Kelly in Washington State. Maureen
- 1:16Leanuhia Kelly born on September twenty sixth, nineteen ninety three,
- 1:21was raised in Vancouver, Washington by her single mother, Mapuana
- 1:25affectionately known as Arnu among her peers. She completed her
- 1:29education at Lewis and Clark High School and pursued her
- 1:33passion for music as a singer and songwriter, frequently sharing
- 1:38her ukulele performances on YouTube. Her friends noted that she
- 1:43had often expressed a desire to embark on a spiritual
- 1:46journey in the wilderness. Therefore, when a group planned a
- 1:50camping trip in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, located near
- 1:54Mount Saint Helens, she was enthusiastic about participating. On the
- 2:00evening of June ninth, twenty thirteen, at approximately five pm,
- 2:06Kelly removed her clothing, placed a knife, compass, and matches
- 2:11into a fanny pack, and departed from the Canyon Creek campground.
- 2:16No one attempted to intervene. The weather that day was pleasant,
- 2:21with temperatures reaching the seventies and clear skies, according to
- 2:25Scamania County under Sheriff Dave Cox, who spoke to ABC
- 2:29News at the time. The individuals accompanying her believed this
- 2:33was a necessary experience for her. However, as the night progressed,
- 2:39temperatures fell to the forties, creating conditions that could lead
- 2:43to hypothermia without adequate clothing. When Kelly had not returned
- 2:48by midnight, her companions contacted the Sheriff's department to report
- 2:53her as missing. How the naked hiker most likely met
- 2:58her end, Investigators initiated a search for Maureen Kelly's whereabouts
- 3:03At the break of dawn on June tenth. Multiple teams
- 3:07of investigators and volunteers were deployed to locate her, encountering
- 3:12a challenging landscape characterized by dense timber and underbrush. After
- 3:18a full day of searching, the teams discovered footprints that
- 3:22corresponded to Kelly's size and shape, which led them to
- 3:26Forest Service fifty four road. However, upon reaching the paved roads,
- 3:31the trail abruptly ceased and K nine units were unable
- 3:36to detect any further scent. The area where she entered
- 3:40the creek is remarkably steep. It is referred to as
- 3:44Canyon Creek Campground for a reason, remarked Sharon Ward from
- 3:49the Pacific Crest Search Dogs, a group of volunteers engaged
- 3:54in the search for Maureen Kelly. It is extremely steep. Therefore,
- 3:59how she managed to descend their barefoot is perplexing. Additionally,
- 4:05how she ascended from the bottom remains a mystery. Furthermore,
- 4:10under Sheriff Cox indicated that due to the dense underbrush,
- 4:15a searcher could literally walk right on top of somebody
- 4:19if there rolled under a log and remain unaware of it.
- 4:23Despite extensive efforts, the search for Maureen Kelly yielded no results.
- 4:28The official search was halted after only two days. It
- 4:33was briefly resumed following protests from her family and friends,
- 4:38yet it ultimately proved fruitless. To this day, law enforcement
- 4:43has not located Maureen Kelly or any remains. There has
- 4:47also been no evidence suggesting foul play or that she
- 4:52was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the
- 4:55time of her disappearance. According to Cox, the most plausible
- 5:00explanation is that she perished due to the elements on
- 5:03the night she went missing, and her body was likely
- 5:07scavenged by wildlife. However, her family and friends hold a
- 5:12different perspective, as her friend Yasmin stated she may not
- 5:16want to be found. While the weather on the day
- 5:19of her disappearance was relatively mild, the temperatures that evening
- 5:25fell into the forties, accompanied by light rain, which could
- 5:29have led to her rapidly succumbing to exposure without adequate clothing.
- 5:35The official search was halted after only two days. It
- 5:39was briefly resumed following protests from her family and friends,
- 5:43yet yielded no results. Despite the diligent efforts of official
- 5:48search and rescue teams, along with numerous volunteers, the search
- 5:52for Kelly proved fruitless. As of February twenty twenty four,
- 5:58a decade later, neither Unus nor any of her possessions
- 6:02have been located.