In early February 2013, Kelsie Schelling, a 21-year-old woman from Denver, Colorado, was filled with the excitement and anticipation of impending motherhood. Just a day before she vanished, she had an ultrasound that confirmed she was eight weeks pregnant and joyfully shared the images with her family and the baby's father, her on-and-off-again boyfriend, Donthe Lucas.
That evening, Lucas asked Kelsie to make the two-hour drive from Denver to his home in Pueblo, insisting he needed to speak with her in person and had a surprise for her. Kelsie agreed and set off, planning to meet him at a local Walmart. After arriving, she waited for nearly an hour, sending text messages to Lucas expressing her growing fatigue and frustration. The plan changed, and they decided to meet near his grandmother's house instead. Kelsie was last seen on February 4, 2013; she and her unborn child were never heard from again.
The days following Kelsie's disappearance were filled with growing concern for her family and friends when she failed to show up for work and ceased all communication. Her family's investigation began with worry and soon turned to dread. The initial police inquiry revealed a series of suspicious activities involving Donthe Lucas. Surveillance footage captured Lucas driving Kelsie's car to an ATM the morning after she was last seen, where he withdrew $400 from her bank account. The video showed him alone in the vehicle. Lucas was later filmed parking Kelsie's 2011 Chevrolet Cruze in a Walmart parking lot. Days later, an unidentified person was seen getting into the car and driving it away; the vehicle was eventually found abandoned in a hospital parking lot on February 14. When questioned, Lucas gave conflicting accounts of his last encounter with Kelsie, initially claiming he left her at the hospital because she felt unwell, a story that hospital records and surveillance footage did not support.
For years, the investigation into Kelsie's disappearance continued, though her body was never found. Investigators conducted extensive searches, including excavating the yard of a home where Lucas formerly lived. Finally, in December 2017, nearly five years after Kelsie vanished, Donthe Lucas was charged with first-degree murder. The subsequent trial in March 2021 relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, including cell phone records that placed Kelsie's and Lucas's phones in the same location, the troubling surveillance videos, and witness testimony about their tumultuous relationship. Prosecutors argued that Lucas was unhappy about the pregnancy and had lured Kelsie to Pueblo with the intent to harm her. The defense highlighted the lack of a body, a murder weapon, or a cause of death, calling the case 'the biggest stretch in Colorado history'. After a 14-day trial, the jury deliberated for only a few hours before finding Donthe Lucas guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case is a tragic story of a young woman's life cut short on the cusp of motherhood, and while a conviction brought a measure of justice, the absence of Kelsie's remains leaves her family with an unending ache and a search for closure that continues to this day.Last Seen: Feb 5, 2013
