PUEBLO, Colo. — Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of a pregnant woman who disappeared in Pueblo. Friends and family gathered to remember Kelsie Schelling, whose body has never been found.
Laura Saxton, Kelsie’s mother, cried as she said, “I don’t get to help her plan a wedding. I don’t get to go through the process of pregnancy and childbirth with her. I don’t get to see her be a really great mommy.”
The memories of her daughter and hope for closure is why Saxton asked friends and family to gather together for a prayer vigil Saturday. Kelsie’s friend, Allie Jacoby, said she did not want to, “forget her.” Jacoby and another of Kelsie’s friends flew in from California.
Allie added, “I think we want to make sure that the community is still looking her and justice needs to be served and it’s also for Pueblo to be a safer place, too. If something goes wrong you have to stand up for what’s right.”
Schelling was last seen in 2013 not far from the Walmart parking lot where the vigil was held. Her ex-boyfriend, Donthe Lucas, was charged with murder in December.
The Pueblo Police Chief would not talk about the case directly, but did say cases with missing bodies, the cases “have a lot of challenges and one of them is evidentiary.”
Schelling’s absence has left a hole in this community’s heart.
Kelsie used to babysit for Veronica Marroquin who said it’s “Very painful. Very hard. Very, very hard. She was very dear to me and my family.”
Colorado State Representative Donald Valdez said, “We need to find answers to find out what happened and why.”
For now, all Laura Saxton wants to do is find her daughter. Time has not erased the pain nor the hope that someday Kelsie will be found.