0:01

This is of VaultStudio's production.

0:06

Every unsolved case leaves

0:08

a vacuum of unanswered questions. AND

0:10

THAT'S ESPECIALLY TRUE WHEN A CHILD

0:12

IS AT THE CENTRE OF THE INVESTIGATION. Reporter:

0:14

TONIGHT ARSHA McCallister AND THE Unsolved

0:16

TEAM TAKE YOU TO HASSARD KENTUCKY WHERE

0:18

A six year old boy. Back at Mountains

0:21

I covered a decades old unsolved case

0:23

from the city of Hazelt in the mountains

0:25

of eastern Kentucky.

0:27

Coal Country, about two hundred

0:29

miles away from my home in Louisville.

0:33

It's about a three and a half hour drive

0:35

And when I finally got there, I met up with

0:37

a master

0:37

trooper, with the Kentucky state

0:39

police. Trooper master trooper Jody

0:42

Sims, with Kentucky state police post thirteen

0:44

and has.

0:45

Cooper Sims had agreed to show me around

0:47

the city, which calls itself the queen

0:49

city of the mountains. It's a tiny

0:51

community by Louisville Standard, but

0:53

up in this part of the state with a population

0:56

of around five thousand, it's the biggest

0:58

city around. a cluster of

1:00

buildings and houses zigzagging out

1:02

from a main street

1:03

and then slowly disappearing

1:04

into a seemingly endless expense

1:07

of rolling Green

1:08

Mountains all sides.

1:10

It's it's extremely rural,

1:12

rough terrain. You have steep mountains

1:15

all around you, narrow

1:18

and dirt, gravel roadway, krigs.

1:21

It's it's just very it's a very rough

1:23

terrain. Cooper Sims led me out

1:25

of town. up into the mountains to

1:27

a remote hauler about thirty miles

1:29

away, where a few houses peaked

1:31

out

1:31

between folds of a forest on either

1:33

side of a winding gravel road. And

1:36

and it's that has that landscape

1:38

has changed over the years,

1:40

but at that time, you still probably

1:42

had a lot of, if you wanna,

1:44

call it,clanish communities.

1:49

where several several families live in

1:51

very close proximity in

1:53

the Mountains. The people are still pretty

1:56

pretty close knit.

1:58

and and would

2:00

stick together a lot of times in in

2:02

paper thin. and

2:05

but and a lot of those ties still bind

2:07

together, but but it's not it's a little bit

2:09

different than it used to be. But just looking

2:12

back in nineteen eighty two, It

2:15

was still a lot of lot of what

2:17

we see today as far as roads that are

2:19

paved. This is one of of

2:21

the few roads to mine that are probably

2:23

still has gravel. With

2:25

Sims help, I was able to match all video

2:27

footage I'd brought with me to the scenery

2:29

as it exists now. And I

2:31

realized we'd made it to our destination, a

2:34

property where in the winter of nineteen eighty

2:36

two, a little boy stepped outside to

2:38

play

2:39

and never came home. Most thirteen

2:42

received a call from Knott County RescueSquadied by

2:45

that they were in the pine

2:47

tree hollow road

2:50

in the Larks Lane community of Knott with

2:53

a possible missing person or

2:55

missing child incident.

3:01

My

3:01

name is Shane McAlister, and

3:04

I'm Madison Wayne. For both journalists

3:06

and for years, we've been covering unsolved

3:09

cases on TV. talking

3:11

to investigators

3:11

and families of victims all

3:14

pushing for answers. CASES

3:17

we haven't forgotten and still

3:19

want to sea salt.

3:22

This is Bardstown,

3:23

unsolved.

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5:38

Today, we're talking about the stereo's

5:40

missing person's case of Kelly Holland

5:43

junior out of Kentucky. Shea's

5:45

case really has a lot twists and turns, and

5:47

you actually talked to a key person in this

5:49

case. Right? Madison, we

5:51

talked to Kelly Holland Junior's

5:53

mother. who is the

5:55

last person we know who

5:57

saw the little six year old alive. And

6:00

so she is a key person when

6:02

it comes to exactly what

6:04

might have happened that night. She's

6:06

also been involved in the investigation

6:07

over the years.

6:09

So tell me about this six

6:11

year old boy, what what do we know about

6:13

him? So what we know about Little Kelly

6:15

Hollen Jr. is what we've gathered

6:18

from what looks like a school photo.

6:20

So he's just a little boy, brown hair,

6:23

it kind of soups over the front of his

6:25

face. He has a big smile

6:28

and it's a cleft palate. So you have a

6:30

has a little bit of a scar on the left side of

6:32

his face between his nose and his

6:34

upper lip. we only have

6:36

this one picture of him,

6:39

but he just looks like your typical little

6:41

boy, the type that's gonna run out of the Mountains play,

6:44

He's in a blue striped sweater

6:46

and with a little collared shirt underneath

6:48

it. We think it must be some sort of

6:50

school photo Now it's actually

6:52

the photo used in Namus. So

6:54

the actual group for missing

6:56

and unidentified people, it's

6:58

the picture that they use as

7:00

they try to look for him. And

7:03

now we are here in twenty twenty two,

7:05

so how old would he be today? So

7:08

Kelly was last seen in February

7:10

of nineteen eighty two.

7:12

That would make him forty six years

7:15

old today. certainly a

7:17

much different picture than that sweet little

7:19

schoolboy that we

7:21

see on all of the missing person's

7:23

websites. So

7:25

February nineteen eighty two, I mean, I

7:27

used to live in Tennessee, not too far

7:29

from Kentucky. That's a cold part of the

7:31

year. Just tell me about the

7:33

scene, where did he go missing?

7:35

And and what kind of a day was it?

7:37

So Kelly lived in eastern

7:39

Kentucky, more specifically Hasor,

7:42

Kentucky. When

7:44

you think about this region, think about

7:46

mountains,

7:47

deep valleys, lots

7:49

of back roads. It was

7:51

coal mining country and was extremely

7:53

lush vegetation. A fun

7:55

fact about this area, it's actually the second

7:58

most

7:58

diverse ecosystem on the

7:59

planet. And when you're there, it just

8:02

feels different. It feels like you're in a

8:03

different part of the country,

8:05

especially compared to the more urban

8:07

areas like Louisville, where I

8:09

live.

8:11

So Kelly and his family lived in a

8:13

trailer, and it was tucked away in a hauler.

8:16

Haulers are really common rural

8:19

eastern Kentucky, And

8:21

what it means is a single

8:23

road that goes into a mountain or a

8:25

valley, and then multiple households

8:27

actually live off of that road.

8:29

They settled there a long time ago,

8:32

and the family just stays, and it becomes

8:34

known as that family's holler.

8:36

Oftentimes, they'll actually be named after

8:38

the family and

8:40

sometimes they can be more than one hundred

8:42

years old. In this

8:44

case, family from Kelly's

8:46

family Also some

8:48

friends all lived in the same

8:50

holler. And there was a gravel

8:52

road. The mountains surrounded

8:54

it. They were really tall. And

8:56

when we visited it, almost forty

8:58

years later, it

9:00

looked like nothing had changed.

9:03

and four decades had passed. I

9:05

mean, it looked like the structures were

9:07

all exactly how they had been left, though

9:09

some of them were obviously abandoned.

9:12

the trooper who we were at with who took us on

9:14

the tour said that's just kind of how

9:16

it looks there. And the part time

9:18

of year that Kelly disappeared was

9:21

February. So you think winter,

9:23

snow, Mountains, certainly a

9:25

really cold time of year. But it

9:27

wasn't uncommon for him to, you

9:29

know, go out of the house and go play. I mean,

9:31

you're six years old. At the time,

9:33

we all remember we were six. You know, we'd

9:35

be like, okay. We'll see you later parents.

9:37

we're gonna go play, so it wasn't uncommon for him

9:39

to do that? No. His mom told

9:41

us that he loved to be outside even on

9:43

the coldest days of the year. would

9:45

go outside and play ball with his friends.

9:47

If it did get absolutely

9:50

freezing outside, someone in

9:52

the holler would force them into

9:54

a house and watch TV or play

9:56

games inside. And that's kind of what

9:58

we know about this day

10:00

is he begged his mom to

10:02

let him go outside and play. and

10:04

she did, but it was really cold. And

10:06

she thinks that eventually he and

10:09

his friends actually ended up in another house

10:10

watching TV. at around four

10:13

o'clock on February the twelfth.

10:15

Investigators were advised that Kelly Holland

10:17

junior had gone to a residence

10:20

to watch TV with a friend who he was

10:22

with quite often. And

10:24

a few hours after that, The

10:26

family went to check on him at that

10:28

location at which time

10:30

they were advised that the child

10:32

never never came to the home. and

10:34

those who resided there and not seen

10:36

him. So tell me about that last time

10:38

she saw her son. What was

10:40

the conversation like? What does she

10:42

remember? Kelly's mom to us that

10:44

she really didn't want him to go outside.

10:46

That it was really snowy, it was really

10:48

cold. She thought it might be a little bit

10:50

overkill for him to be playing outside,

10:53

but he begged her

10:53

so she said yes. And

10:56

that was mid afternoon, a little bit

10:58

after school time. So he goes

11:00

out and plays for hours. And

11:02

she said she remembered telling him

11:04

that she loved him and

11:07

butting up his coat getting him

11:09

ready and then sending him out the door. And

11:12

hours later, she says she tried to call

11:14

him in for dinner and he would not

11:16

come. Who was he? Was he playing with

11:18

friends? Do we know who he was with?

11:20

The mom believes that

11:22

he was playing with friends. She said it was common

11:24

for everybody who lived off the little

11:26

gravel road to entertain themselves. All the kids

11:28

went out together, they play outside

11:31

together, watch TV inside one house, and

11:33

just kind of pop around from house

11:35

to house. And so she

11:37

believes that he was with some of his friends.

11:39

So then night came, right, what

11:41

happened next? So it gets dark. Obviously,

11:44

it's dangerous. At this point, he really

11:46

needs to come home. So

11:48

she's calling him. She's calling the

11:50

neighbors. She's looking in the other

11:52

houses. nearby and she can't

11:54

find him anywhere. And

11:57

something that wasn't so uncommon

11:59

during this

11:59

time was she didn't have a phone at

12:02

her house So she actually

12:04

had

12:04

to go find a neighbor who had a

12:07

phone so that she could call

12:09

police and tell them that her little boy

12:11

was missing. That

12:12

would have been around what time of

12:15

night or

12:15

was it the next morning? So she

12:17

tells us that her search

12:19

for Kelly started around dinner

12:21

time. She wanted to find

12:23

him. She went out looking for him.

12:25

Then of course, time passes. She

12:27

searches multiple different houses. She

12:29

finally finds a phone. that she

12:31

can call police. By that

12:33

time, it's pretty late at night.

12:36

And it was nearing midnight

12:38

when she actually talked to police

12:40

for the first time reporting Kelly

12:42

as missing. So

12:44

you have a frantic mother who's

12:47

now calling authorities calling

12:49

people on the same street that she

12:51

lives on, trying to search for

12:53

her son, and troopers

12:55

are also now responding to the scene. What

12:57

happened next? So it's

12:59

about three AM when police

13:01

are actually getting out to

13:03

the house where he disappeared, where he was last

13:05

seen alive.

13:06

At that point, a trooper was

13:09

dispatch to that location, and

13:11

he arrived at around three

13:13

o'clock in the morning on

13:16

February the thirteenth. At that time,

13:18

the the trooper made contact with the

13:20

family, with the mother of the missing child who

13:22

was later discovered to be Kelly

13:24

Hollen Jr. six year

13:26

old boy who resided on

13:29

Pine Tree Hollow. And are actually

13:31

starting to search. Once the

13:33

temporary collect did initial necessary

13:35

information. He and the

13:37

rescue squad searched the

13:39

area for approximately one hour.

13:41

And

13:41

to set the scene that night, it was snowing

13:43

so hard that the rescue squad,

13:46

the professionals who are called in, in

13:48

the most extreme circumstances, we're

13:50

having trouble operating because

13:53

it was so dark, it was snowing

13:55

so hard, and the terrain,

13:57

the mountains, and the trees, and

13:59

the hills,

13:59

All

14:00

of that was just a recipe for

14:03

disaster, and they actually had to end the

14:05

search not long after they started

14:07

it that night.

14:07

And due to manpower

14:10

issues and heavy snowfall at

14:12

that time, the search was

14:14

initially caught off.

14:15

So they they ended the search, but they

14:17

picked right back up in the morning. How

14:19

many days did they search for? We don't

14:21

know exactly how many days

14:22

they searched for because record

14:24

keeping just wasn't what it is

14:26

today,

14:26

forty years ago.

14:28

What we do know is at least to the

14:30

next day, The

14:32

rescue squad was back, the street

14:34

patrol troopers all came in from

14:36

surrounding areas, and at

14:38

least fifty volunteers

14:39

gathered to search

14:42

the

14:42

entire area. They had a plan.

14:44

They knew what they were looking

14:45

for, and

14:47

they did. They they went

14:49

through with this search. Unfortunately,

14:52

they never found any sign of

14:54

kelly. And

14:54

and steel had no luck in locating

14:56

the child.

14:57

not even the the jacket that the

14:59

mom remembers zipping him up in

15:01

that had a tear at the bottom. They

15:03

didn't find any toys he was

15:05

playing with anything. According to the

15:07

records, there was literally no

15:09

sign of this child. It was like he

15:11

just fell off the face of the

15:13

earth. and there were

15:15

so many people looking for him. It was

15:17

hard to believe at the time.

15:24

I'm A.

15:27

J. Lago, an investigative reporter

15:29

in Minneapolis. My

15:33

city was on fire.

15:37

George Floyd had just been killed

15:39

days before. I can't wait on the

15:41

line to get him off the ground,

15:43

bro. When I got a tip,

15:45

if you really want to shine a

15:47

light on needless deaths, take

15:49

a look at how medical and mental health care

15:51

is provided in Minnesota jails.

15:54

I couldn't have imagined just

15:57

what? Our investigation would

15:59

reveal. I would treat my worst enemy this

16:01

way. Please for help. Don't leave me

16:04

under here. Ignored. Yes,

16:06

ma'am. There's so much pain. Ignored.

16:08

until too late. I felt like I had

16:11

witnessed a murder,

16:12

and I

16:15

resigned

16:15

to actively. Cool

16:18

and unusual. Available

16:20

now wherever you listen

16:21

to podcasts.

16:26

Do

16:32

you state and spell your first and last

16:34

name for me?

16:35

Judy, JUDY

16:38

Moore, M00RE

16:40

Now a woman with long gray

16:42

hair, Judy Moore still thinks about

16:44

that cold February day in nineteen

16:46

eighty two when her little boy

16:48

pleaded with her to let him go outside

16:50

and play in the snow. I

16:52

fixed breakfast. And

16:56

Kelly kept begging to go outside

16:58

to play. And I was

17:00

in the kitchen

17:03

washing the dishes, and then

17:05

I put on pot of

17:06

soup beans. Let them cook

17:08

so long.

17:10

And I

17:13

told him, I said, no, you can't go outside.

17:15

It's

17:15

too cold. And he

17:16

kept banging. And kept banging. I

17:19

said, Okay. But

17:22

don't go outside the yard. Judy

17:24

called her son over to help him put on his

17:26

winter coat. It's a memory, an

17:28

image that hasn't faded from her

17:30

mind in the nearly four

17:32

decades since. I've

17:33

put on his jacket.

17:36

Oh, dammit.

17:40

It had a

17:43

terror on the bottom of

17:45

the zipper And you

17:47

know what I

17:47

mean? It's about my money.

17:49

Kelly ran

17:50

outside, and Judy told me

17:52

that was the last

17:53

time. She ever saw her son. That

17:56

was

17:56

around eleven to eleven thirty,

17:58

and I was sitting on

17:59

the bed. there

18:02

there was a door that

18:05

faced

18:05

outside and it had to wind all

18:07

the way down.

18:09

I was sitting on the Beyond I was watching them. And

18:13

then my sister called

18:15

and I went up

18:16

the catalyst to answer the phone.

18:19

And when I went back, he was in

18:22

New York.

18:29

The

18:31

searches end

18:31

in nineteen eighty two without

18:33

any sign of Kelly Hollen Junior.

18:37

Eventually, at some point, the case

18:39

starts to get less news coverage.

18:41

The community starts to move on and the

18:43

case goes cold. What

18:46

happens next? exactly that. Years

18:48

go by and Kelly

18:50

becomes a memory.

18:51

Initially, I'm sure it had a a

18:53

very significant effect on

18:55

the community, a six year old child going

18:58

missing that, you know,

19:00

had to been very

19:03

devastating for the the community and for

19:05

the county. Again,

19:08

time has a way of maybe

19:10

listening that to to

19:12

many think many who were who

19:14

lived in the area, who were family, or

19:16

friends, have have passed on. But

19:19

it still has a lingering effect on

19:21

on those initially investigated it.

19:24

In in speaking with them, there there are

19:26

moments when when thoughts of this

19:28

this case comes to and

19:30

and it still it still has an impact on

19:32

on those who were involved.

19:35

Eventually,

19:35

like an all missing persons

19:38

cases, people stop

19:40

looking. And in this

19:42

case, I think that

19:44

there was sadness, but

19:46

the search had seemingly

19:49

ended, and then something

19:52

changed. And The

19:55

grand jury in

19:57

this eastern Kentucky community

19:59

was called on to hear a

20:01

case about a possible suspect

20:03

in this case. And this

20:06

possible suspect is someone we

20:08

actually talked to. We

20:10

only know that she was a

20:12

suspect because she told us she was.

20:14

Police would not, as they always

20:16

do, they would not tell us

20:18

anything about a suspect

20:21

They just told us that they had

20:23

evidence that prosecutors presented

20:25

to a grand jury, and that grand

20:27

jury decided not to bring an indictment

20:29

in the case. was kind of the beginning

20:31

and the end of

20:32

any possible criminal charges

20:36

or criminal justice. There was

20:38

a grand jury investigation

20:40

that was conducted, but there there was never

20:42

anything that led to

20:44

anyone whether family or

20:46

acquaintances being

20:48

charged or indicted in this

20:50

case. So it's it's been a

20:52

a long standing unknown. Well, this is

20:54

a big

20:55

twist, you know, for a grand jury to

20:57

be presented a case like this is

20:59

a big deal. So who is this suspect?

21:02

That is then you won't believe this the

21:05

suspect, the woman who told us she was a

21:07

suspect, was Kelly's

21:09

mom. I was just looking at

21:11

me. Well, I'm at the

21:12

only suspect.

21:13

What did

21:16

I do wrong? She told us that

21:18

ever since Kelly disappeared,

21:22

family members, community members,

21:24

city leaders, all believe

21:26

that she did something

21:28

to Kelly to make him disappear.

21:31

And when you asked her about that, what did she say?

21:34

She was completely straightforward

21:36

about

21:37

it with us. She's the one who told

21:39

us she was a suspect AND

21:41

WHEN

21:41

I ASKED HER WHAT

21:43

PEOPLE SAID, WHAT THEY THOUGHT HAPPEN,

21:45

SHE ANSWERED THAT QUESTION. I

21:48

WAS TOLD by the

21:50

police, that my sister

21:52

said that I

21:54

killed him and

21:54

she helped me bury

21:56

him. I

22:00

don't

22:00

know if that really happened,

22:02

but that's what I was told. When

22:04

I asked her

22:05

If she had anything to do with

22:08

Kelly's disappearance, she answered that

22:10

question too. Or

22:12

no.

22:14

No way. What was

22:17

going through your mind? As as the

22:19

journalist covering this case talking

22:21

to someone that that could have had a

22:23

grand jury come down with an indictment on

22:26

her being the person responsible

22:29

for the disappearance of Kelly Hall

22:31

and Junior. I'll tell you, we

22:33

knew that there were suspicions that

22:35

family were somehow involved in this

22:37

case. We had no

22:39

idea that it was Kelly's

22:42

mom, the woman who agreed to talk to

22:44

us about his disappearance, the last

22:46

woman who saw him alive. We

22:48

did not know that that is

22:50

exactly where interview was going to

22:52

turn, but she was so open

22:54

about it and so

22:56

willing to talk about it. It was an

22:58

interesting experience. we don't talk

23:00

to people who are

23:03

believed to be suspects of

23:05

some sense in a crime just

23:08

you know, sitting in a church, which is where

23:10

we did this interview just because it

23:12

was a public place. But, you know,

23:14

we're not in a jail. We're not in a courtroom.

23:17

We're just having a conversation with them, and she's

23:19

telling us that, yeah, people think I killed

23:21

my kid. It was really

23:23

interesting. Why do you think so many people

23:25

think

23:25

you killed?

23:27

I I don't know

23:28

because

23:32

I mean,

23:36

Maybe

23:36

because I was close to Kelly.

23:40

Name was jealous. I

23:42

don't

23:42

know. What

23:43

would you say to the people who still think

23:46

you killed your son? I

23:48

don't

23:48

know why I didn't.

23:50

Tell my son, I

23:52

didn't do it. And nobody

23:54

I wish I knew what did happen

23:56

to him. All I can say is,

23:58

then but

23:59

anybody that thinks I

24:00

killed my son, I

24:03

got to have mercy on them. And now this woman

24:05

is

24:05

living her life with a missing child

24:08

who now would be in his forties, and

24:10

also with the community looking at her through this

24:13

lens of having her being a

24:15

suspect, even though she was

24:17

never formally charged with anything. You know,

24:19

we met her in the heart of the small town

24:21

that she lives in. She

24:23

seemed very comfortable. She seemed very

24:25

confident. Definitely not in any kind

24:27

of hiding. but she

24:29

also told us she believes Kelly

24:31

is alive. I don't believe he's dead.

24:35

I

24:35

really don't believe he's

24:36

dead.

24:37

And she told us that she

24:40

wanted to share a message for

24:42

Kelly and she looked directly

24:44

into the camera lens and and had this message

24:46

just

24:46

for her missing son. What was what

24:49

does

24:49

she say?

24:50

Karen. No. That is so

24:53

much. Just

24:53

let me know. She said

24:56

that she loved him and

24:58

she missed him and she wanted

25:00

him

25:00

to come home. If he would only

25:03

come

25:03

to me,

25:05

see her mom. That's all I

25:06

had to ask. I won't

25:08

want nothing else from him.

25:12

So now

25:13

years later, she is, you know, living

25:16

in the same community and

25:18

has a lot of people wondering if she

25:20

ever did this to her son

25:22

and and no closure, no answers about what happened to

25:24

him. I mean, that's just gotta be such a horrible

25:27

situation to be in. Absolutely.

25:28

And and she says that has weighed

25:30

on her a lot over the years. She

25:33

said it has she struggled with

25:35

it, emotionally and

25:37

mentally. And there's no getting over it

25:39

hardly. The only

25:39

thing I've got Now,

25:41

man, this is a good of

25:43

God. because

25:45

it's hard. Very

25:48

hard. But she has really held on

25:50

to hope that Kelly is alive.

25:53

And Madison, you know as well as I do.

25:55

That's really in uncommon. in

25:58

missing persons cases. Especially,

26:00

I mean,

26:01

we're talking about forty years here.

26:04

I

26:04

don't know many other families who are

26:07

still holding out hope that their

26:09

loved one is alive. Most

26:11

families are holding out hope that they'll

26:13

find answers one day. and answers can be in the form

26:15

of so many different things that also

26:17

can be perfect.

26:19

So now we're standing here

26:21

in twenty twenty two,

26:23

when detectives look at this case

26:26

file in

26:26

in their office,

26:28

what is it labeled as? Is

26:30

it a cold case still? Is it miss

26:32

like, what is it a missing person's case? What do they

26:34

say it is? So we know that this is

26:36

most certainly a cold case. They

26:38

told us that new tips

26:40

on this investigation come in few

26:43

and far between.

26:44

So this

26:45

case has not seen a lot of action here

26:47

in recent years probably even

26:49

recent decades. It's interesting.

26:52

When we talk to detectives about

26:54

it, he's considered a missing

26:56

person but then there's these suspicions

26:58

of a possible murder

27:00

or maybe it was just an

27:03

accident. It's one of

27:03

those things. It is there is still

27:06

no way to act, you

27:08

know, determine that.

27:10

I think the officers had initially

27:13

investigated it. had their

27:15

suspicions that there was more teeth than just

27:17

a disappearance. Unfortunately,

27:19

there was never anyone to corroborate

27:21

that or or to assist in

27:23

leading them to prove that

27:26

or disprove it. So, unfortunately,

27:29

for first

27:31

and foremost, the family of of

27:33

the child of Kelly Hollen

27:35

Jr. and then those

27:37

who knew him and then those in trying

27:40

to find him to locate him. There's

27:42

just never been closure after

27:44

over thirty six years. And

27:45

they've just never been

27:47

able to him or the evidence.

27:50

But at some point, there was a

27:52

major tip that came

27:54

in.

27:54

Right. Okay. So the

27:56

case is cold. It's really unclear if

27:58

they'll ever get another tip

28:00

on it. And then detectives

28:03

do get a tip, and it takes them

28:05

back to that gravel road

28:07

up in eastern Kentucky,

28:09

deep into the mountains where

28:11

the search for any sign of Kelly

28:14

is picked up again.

28:15

What was

28:17

the tip? What did the caller

28:20

say? So the tipster in this case had called

28:22

Kentucky state police and reported some

28:24

information about

28:24

a possible gray Investigators received

28:27

information of a possible grave

28:29

at a residence or the

28:31

what was left of a residence on Pine

28:33

Tree Hollow. They

28:34

said it was on the street where Kelly had disappeared,

28:36

and troopers and detectives

28:39

swarmed to the area. Several

28:41

troopers

28:41

and detectives came to this

28:44

location, found what they

28:46

was being described as that

28:49

place of of the grave. This

28:50

was at one point an incredibly

28:53

high profile case, and

28:55

the possibility of finding answers

28:57

in it was huge.

28:59

So detectives and

29:02

the experts are all

29:05

there digging. They

29:07

set it took him several days

29:10

to excavate this entire area

29:12

looking for any signs of a grave or human

29:14

Mountains they find

29:17

nothing.

29:17

But unfortunately, through

29:19

several hours or days worth

29:21

of digging and and excavating, they're

29:24

unable to locate any any

29:26

type of remains or

29:28

any clue or instance if there was

29:30

ever any one buried there. How much

29:32

of an operation was this? I mean,

29:34

are we talking like days,

29:36

weeks of searching?

29:38

And at what point did they not

29:40

find anything? So it's almost like the tip

29:42

was unsubstantiated. Exactly. I

29:44

think at the end of it, they

29:47

weren't sure that they had made any progress or or

29:49

had any movement from where they

29:51

had started. Unfortunately,

29:53

it was a lot of time spent

29:55

on something that appeared to be a

29:57

dead end. But in cases like

29:59

this, especially when a missing

30:02

child, if there was even a possibility

30:04

that they could have found some sort of

30:06

answers here, It was something they had to

30:08

pursue all the way through. So

30:10

what's what's next? Who lives

30:12

out there now? What

30:14

detective work is still being done,

30:16

if any? Unfortunately, in this

30:18

case, like so many others in Eastern

30:20

Kentucky, new information is

30:22

really hard to come by. Many

30:24

of the people who lived there then still

30:26

lived there today, and they were tight

30:28

lipped then. That hasn't changed.

30:30

I think police believe of a tip was going

30:32

to come in this case that would change everything.

30:34

It would have already happened.

30:36

But to my knowledge, nothing

30:38

in in recent past has

30:41

has come forward to assist

30:43

with locating mister

30:47

Holland now. And

30:47

furthermore, even

30:48

if they did get that incredible tip

30:51

leading them somewhere, it would

30:53

quite literally be a miracle

30:55

if the evidence was still

30:57

there. In Kentucky, a forensic

31:00

anthropologist told me a body

31:02

and human remains can

31:04

disintegrate within about seven days just

31:07

because of

31:07

the extreme temperatures we have.

31:10

So forty years

31:12

it'd be really, really tough to

31:15

find something in this

31:16

case. It would depend if if something

31:18

had been done, if if the child

31:20

had been murdered at that time.

31:23

A lot of it would depend on

31:25

how the body was disposed

31:27

of. If if it was buried, if

31:30

it was you know, if it was placed

31:32

directly in the ground in

31:34

a well or or if it was, you

31:36

know, in a box or some kind of means

31:38

of of covering. that that would play

31:40

a factor. If if a body was

31:42

just left in open air,

31:45

then then I would imagine

31:47

that there probably no chance of you

31:49

know, through just decomposition and

31:52

and animals, wildlife, and so

31:54

forth that that that

31:56

would make it Probably nearly

31:59

impossible to locate, but a

32:01

lot of different factors obviously with that that

32:03

would come into play. does Kentucky

32:05

state police believe that he could still be

32:08

alive? That's that's

32:10

not necessarily it would

32:12

be hard to say, but I I would say the

32:15

answer to that would be until,

32:17

you know, for certain, you still have to hang on to

32:19

that one thread

32:21

of hope. that he could

32:23

still be alive with this

32:25

much time passing. The

32:27

odds aren't in favor of that, but

32:30

you still have to you have

32:32

to hang on to that possibility. Is there

32:34

a

32:34

reward? Is there any

32:36

reason for someone to come forward

32:39

with a tip actually could be

32:41

credible? Unlike so many cases today, there

32:43

is not a reward from

32:45

this one. There's,

32:47

of course, police asking

32:49

for information as they do in all of

32:51

their unsolved cases.

32:53

But

32:53

because so much time has passed,

32:56

I think a lot of the

32:59

community

32:59

involvement has really died down

33:02

people are

33:02

paying a lot less attention. to

33:05

this case. Now, what stood

33:06

out to you, Shay, the most

33:08

about this case? I know we all take

33:10

something away from you know,

33:13

cover. But for you talking

33:15

to his mom

33:16

and and being out

33:17

there, actually being on that

33:19

road where he his last scene.

33:22

What stands out to you? Without

33:24

a doubt, when I think back to this

33:26

case,

33:27

the biggest

33:29

takeaway was the conversation

33:32

with Kelly's mom, where

33:34

she talks about the fact

33:36

that people think she killed Kelly.

33:39

And she denies it, but

33:41

says that she thinks maybe, you know, her

33:43

sister might have outed her. It is so

33:45

interesting. It's so unlike

33:47

anything you year day

33:49

to day life. But it's

33:52

also really sad and

33:55

it does make you sit back and think, you know, what happened to

33:57

Kelly? This was a little six year old

33:59

boy, full of promise, a precious

34:01

little boy, and

34:03

he's gone. whatever

34:05

he could have Beyond, whatever he might

34:07

have become, if he is out there somewhere.

34:10

It's not the life that he was living down in

34:12

Hazard, and

34:14

it's illis said story. Absolutely. And I

34:16

know there's some something that

34:18

stands out to me is is

34:21

the the call that

34:22

the

34:24

mom made initially to report him missing. I'd be

34:26

so fascinated to listen to that call.

34:28

Have they opened up any evidence

34:30

they have in

34:31

this case to

34:34

you? Is there any way to, you

34:36

know, go back to those initial

34:38

moments? You're so right.

34:40

That

34:40

would be fascinating to

34:42

hear.

34:43

even just the tone of her voice exactly what

34:45

she said, but no.

34:48

And public record law in Kentucky keeps

34:51

open investigation sealed indefinitely. So

34:54

unless Kelly has ever found,

34:56

this will stay in open

34:58

investigation. So

35:00

pieces of evidence like that, we will never get to hear.

35:02

Wow. Well, I have so

35:03

many, you know, theories running through

35:06

my head right now,

35:08

of course. I've covered missing children cases too, and

35:10

it's just so heartbreaking

35:12

because they're so

35:14

young.

35:15

and And you

35:16

know, whether someone

35:18

kidnapped them or

35:20

they got

35:21

lost or something

35:23

tragic

35:23

happened, wildlife

35:24

or murder. every single

35:26

scenario is horribly heartbreaking to

35:29

to run through your own

35:31

mind. And for no answers,

35:33

forty years later is just really

35:35

heartbreaking. Definitely.

35:37

It's a sad case and it

35:39

always is whenever we We

35:41

cover this whole case. We look at every possible lead.

35:44

All of the evidence we can find. And

35:46

then in the end, sometimes it feels like you're

35:48

still at where

35:50

you STILL JUST WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED TO KELIE HOLLEN JJJJJJ

35:57

OPEN MY

35:59

DOOR and he'll

36:00

say, hi, mom, I'm home.

36:03

How

36:05

great

36:07

that will be? Beyond

36:16

Bardstown, Unsolved production

36:18

of Vault Studios in partnership

36:20

with King

36:20

five in Seattle, WHAS

36:23

eleven, and Louisville, and ABC

36:26

ten in Sacramento.

36:27

Make sure you don't miss

36:29

any future episodes by following or subscribing

36:31

to the show wherever you're listening

36:33

right

36:33

now. And to talk about these

36:36

cases with other listeners, be

36:38

sure to join our Facebook group,

36:40

unsolved insiders. Beyond

36:42

Beyond is hosted

36:44

by me, Shane McAllister and

36:46

King five Anchor reporter, Madison

36:49

Wade, Our producer is Reed Redman,

36:51

and our executive producers are Will

36:53

Johnson

36:53

and Brian Weiss. Thanks

36:56

also to investigative journalist

36:58

Andrea Ash.

36:59

Audio mixing is done

37:01

by Richard Humphreys at Tacoma Media

37:03

and Silver Spring,

37:06

Maryland.