DENVER — The mother of a Colorado woman who went missing the day after she texted a photo of her eight-week ultrasound to her boyfriend is suing not just his family but local police and the city as well.
Laura Saxton said her world changed on Feb. 4, 2013, when her pregnant 21-year-old daughter Kelsie Schelling went missing; Saxton suspects she’s dead, believes her daughter’s boyfriend is responsible and won’t rest until there is a conviction.
She accuses the police, among other things, of not searching Lake Minnequa in Pueblo even after a fisherman said his line might have encountered a body.
A magistrate judge is recommending the lawsuit against the police be tossed because of local regulations, but KKTV reports the lawsuit “gives insights” into what Saxton thinks transpired.
The evidence is sparse, but a timeline has been established: At boyfriend Donthe Lucas’ request, Schelling drove two hours from Denver to Pueblo the night of Feb. 4, 2013. Lucas was aware of the pregnancy long before she sent him the photo.
She arrived at a Wal-Mart just after 11 p.m., and nearly an hour later texted she was “tired of waiting,” reports ABC News.
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.
Later that morning Lucas withdrew $400 from an ATM in Schelling’s car using her card. He was also filmed driving her car to the Walmart parking lot; on Feb. 7, a hooded figure drove off in the car, which was ultimately found at a hospital.
Lucas says he did meet Schelling, that she accompanied him to the bank (surveillance video doesn’t back this up) and that he left her at Wal-Mart.
Police say Lucas remains a person of interest, and the Help Find Kelsie site shares a January 2014 news release from Pueblo police that says they will “continue to look at every lead,” but adds that they “do not use unlawful methods to solve a case.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Pueblo police or 1-855-453-5743.
This article originally appeared on Newser: She Sent Her Boyfriend Ultrasound Photo, Vanished
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