Post by Joanna on Jul 1, 2014 1:36:12 GMT -5
Six years later, Fike murder still unsolved
KEARNEY, Neb. – The search for Kelcey Fike’s killer has gone nationwide after little local information has surfaced in the six years since her murder. "We are open to any possibility of who committed this homicide," said Capt. Mike Kirkwood of the Kearney Police Department.
Fike, 21, died in the early morning of Tuesday, June 17, 2008, in her trailer home at Lot 58 R-Villa South Trailer Court in west Kearney.
Since her death, Kearney police have pursued leads, processed evidence and conducted countless interviews in the case. They’ve questioned a long list of people, including former co-workers, family, friends and acquaintances. But in the time since her murder, police have turned up no murder weapon, suspects or witnesses and are stymied. Why somebody killed Fike remains as large of a mystery as who killed her. And with each passing year since her death, her family struggles to keep the faith that her killer will someday be brought to justice.
"Somebody out there knows something, and I believe we will get answers someday," Fike’s older brother John of Omaha said. John Fike isn’t alone. The rest of Fike’s family and friends and KPD also believe someone knows something, and they are pleading with those people to come forward and put Fike’s case to rest.
"It’s been very tough. One day you just realize that this (Fike’s death) isn’t your life, and you have to go on without this person that you love and you miss. You never really stop missing that person and stop loving that person, but at some point you have to accept that they’re gone and live your life the way they would’ve wanted," John Fike said.
What police know. Fike got off work at the former Bob’s Superstore in east Kearney at 5:30 p.m., June 16, 2008, and is believed to have gone home. That evening, she made and received several phone calls and sent and received text messages with family and friends. About 9 p.m., a neighbor reported seeing her outside. At 1 a.m., Fike sent her last text message to her then-live-in boyfriend. He was out of town at the time.
At 4:50 a.m., the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to Fike’s home tucked behind a row of businesses along West Highway 30 because of a structure fire. It wasn’t until the fire was extinguished that firefighters found her body at the back of the mobile home in a hallway between the two bedrooms. Unfortunately for police, the fire and water used to extinguish the blaze destroyed much of the evidence at the scene.
Police initially thought Fike’s killer was someone she knew. But because little information is known about her death, they aren’t ruling out the idea her killing could have been random. Until someone comes forward, police say, Fike’s family will not know how, or why, she died. "We still get calls a lot, and we follow up, but nothing pans out," Kirkwood said.
Without the physical evidence, police are working with several DNA laboratories to decipher evidence.
For Fike’s best friend, Jamie Graham, 26, of Monticello, Wisconsin, going on without her has been difficult "when big things happen. When big milestones happen, like my little boy being born or my birthday," she said. "This time of year is always hard." Fike died five days before Graham’s 21st birthday, which the friends had planned to celebrate in Wisconsin. "She was my No. 1 person to go to. So when I found out when I was pregnant, and when my son was born, those moments are harder than just the everyday," Graham said. "The whole thing is still just so hard to comprehend."
A $30,000 reward remains available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Fike’s death. Anyone with information about Fike’s death should contact KPD at 308-237-2104, the Buffalo County Sheriff’s office at 308-236-8555, or Crimestoppers at 308-237-3424.
Source: Kim Schmidt, Kerney Hub, June 17, 2014.