FOX31 Denver

New search underway in cold case of Denver woman who disappeared in 2013

PUEBLO, Colo. — A new search began Wednesday in the cold case of a Denver woman who disappeared in Pueblo in 2013, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said.

Kelsie Schelling, 21, was eight weeks pregnant when she disappeared four years ago.

The investigation and search for Schelling reopened because of recent leads in the case. Investigators are focusing on the areas near where Schelling was last known to be in southwest Pueblo.

After almost five years, Schelling’s family sees these developments as reason for hope.

Authorities were back at a field Wednesday just west of the Walmart store where she was last seen in February 2013

Members of the Pueblo Police Department, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and FBI collaborated to work on the new information. Bloodhounds from Elizabeth were also there.

Schelling’s mother, Laura Saxton, was there. She and her family want answers about what happened to the woman.

“We’re going through our fifth holiday season without Kelsie and her baby, and I can’t tell you what torture that is … another Christmas without her,” Saxton said.

Saxton said her daughter disappeared shortly after she texted a photo of her ultrasound to her ex-boyfriend, Donthe Lucas.

Schelling was last seen at the Walmart store in the 4000 block of West Northern Avenue in Pueblo on Feb. 4, 2013.

She reportedly texted a photo of her eight-week ultrasound to Lucas, then made the two-hour trip from Denver to Pueblo to meet Lucas at his request.

She arrived at the Walmart just after 11 p.m., and nearly an hour later, texted that she was “tired of waiting.”

Lucas asked her to meet on a street near his grandmother’s house; a half hour later, she wrote: “Where are you … I’ve been here for over an hour just waiting.”

She was never heard from again.