Right now, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office is putting a lot of effort into searching for a woman named Kelly Barlow. She has been missing in Lee County since August 8, 2023, and the authorities are working intensively to find her.
Woman Missing in Lee County
Kelly Barlow is 40 years old. The last time she was seen, she was near Donnellson, Iowa, on Highway 2 between Fort Madison and Donnellson.
Her family is really concerned because she hasn’t been eating properly, and they’re worried that she might have become lost during a storm on August 8th. She has been missing since that day.
According to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office, Kelly Barlow was last seen walking westbound on Highway 2 by Appleberry Orchard on Monday evening around 5:30 p.m. https://t.co/KcYraYdpOX
— KWQC TV6 News (@kwqcnews) August 10, 2023
Authorities, Family, and Friends Unite in Search
The police, Kelly’s family, and her friends are all working together to search for Kelly. They’re using tools like drones and dogs to look for her everywhere in Lee County.
Kelly’s mom, Vernie, is very concerned. She just wants to know that her daughter is alright. Although Kelly sometimes goes for walks to clear her mind, it’s unusual for her to be gone without talking to her mom for so long. The search for Kelly is still going on, and her family is really hoping she’ll be found safe and sound.
“Well she had left her home, she left her phone with her friend, so he could use the hotspot on it she’s like, ‘I’ll be back in a few minutes…’ [and] never came back,” Vernie said.
Kelly lives in Fort Madison, Iowa. Now that almost a week has passed since she went missing, her family has asked the local police and 10 other groups for help in searching. Sheriff Stacy Weber from Lee County mentioned that they’re using drones, dogs, and special vehicles called UTVs to try to find Kelly Barlow.
“We covered the entirety of Highway 2 from Fort Madison to Donnellson in about 2 hours which is pretty incredible,” Weber said.
Local Support and Tips: Community Contributes to the Search
Weber said it’s not unusual to see Kelly walking around the county, so it’s not surprising that some locals are already sending tips to help with the search.
“She’s been seen a couple places and we’ve checked those places,” Weber said. “We’ve recovered some of her property, but nothing to lend us to the belief there’s any foul play at this point, we don’t know that.”
Officials don’t think there was foul play at this point. Vernie said that when Kelly first went missing, she thought she had gone to a friend’s house and stayed for a while.
“We have contacted everyone that we can think of and everyone has contacted someone else and someone else has contacted, it’s all over facebook, social media,” Vernie said. “Everybody knows, you know, if you see Kelly, let us know and no one has seen her, no one’s heard from her, and that is way, way off for her.”
Even though no one knows where Kelly is, her mother is only interested in one thing.
“Just make sure she’s okay, she doesn’t have to come back if she doesn’t want to if that’s the case, but just let us know she’s alive, she’s alright, we just want her to come home,” Vernie said.
Weber said that the sheriff’s office will continue to search until late Friday night. Weber said that if Kelly isn’t found this weekend, he’ll ask the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation to join the search on Monday.
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