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Police digging up backyard find evidence in case of missing pregnant Denver woman Kelsie Schelling

Posted at 5:47 PM, Apr 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-14 19:47:59-04

PUEBLO, Colo. – Day two of the search of a Pueblo home and backyard connected to the case of a pregnant Denver woman who went missing four years ago has turned up some evidence, though police won’t say what kind.

Pueblo police and investigators with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation began searching at a home in the 5100 block of Manor Ridge Drive Thursday morning in the hope of finding new clues in the disappearance of Kelsie Schelling.

The home used to be occupied by Donthe Lucas, Schelling’s boyfriend and the father of her unborn child. Lucas has long been considered a suspect in the case but he has never been convicted on any charges.

On Friday, police told KRDO that investigators digging up the home’s backyard found some pieces of evidence. Though officers wouldn’t say what kind of evidence it is, they said it is not a body.

Schelling was 21 years old and eight weeks pregnant when she vanished on Feb. 4, 2013. She had her first doctor’s visit and had seen a sonogram of her baby earlier that day.

After the trip to the doctor and a shift at work, the Denver woman drove two hours south to Pueblo to visit Lucas, and has never been seen since.

Lucas was found to have parked her car at an area Walmart the day after she disappeared, and an unidentified man picked it up and eventually dropped it off again at the St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center. Police recovered the vehicle Feb. 7.

Schelling was never seen in surveillance video at either location.

Investigators discovered through text messages that Schelling and Lucas had talked to one another once she had reached Pueblo, but the messages stopped shortly after she got there.

Schelling’s family has long offered a reward for information leading investigators to their daughter or to an arrest and conviction of someone in her disappearance – upping the reward to $100,000 in February and organizing a Colorado Missing Persons Day event at the state Capitol on Feb. 3

Pueblo police say the investigation into the case remains ongoing and that they are looking for tips related to the case. To submit anonymous tips in the case, contact Pueblo Crime Stoppers at 542-STOP or go to their website. You can also contact the Colorado Bureau of Investigation at 303-239-4300.


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