Post by Scumhunter on Feb 22, 2019 4:40:09 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: Broward County Crime Stoppers)
From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:
Relatives of great-grandmother Emma Kelsoe spent the weekend remembering her, two years after she died in a hit-and-run crash outside of her Davie home, a killing that remains unsolved.
Kelsoe’s survivors and Broward County Crime Stoppers are offering a $25,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest of whoever struck her down and left her to die.
“Regardless of whether or not they find the person who did it, the way she died is just horrific,” said Sue Kolcz, one of Kelsoe’s four adult children. “She had such bad wounds that they weren’t able to do an open casket.
“We never got to say our goodbyes,” Kolcz said. “That was a hard, hard way to end it when it’s your mother.”
And so the family drives from South Florida to visit the grave of Kelsoe at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, where the matriarch is buried next to her late second husband, Clifford Harmon Kelsoe, a U.S. Air Force veteran who worked in construction after his service in the Korean War.
They’ll bring flowers, light a candle and, Kolcz said, “Just sit there, pray and talk to her. My mom was still so healthy, she drove herself everywhere. The very last day of her life, she was out there gardening and doing laundry. She was very active and healthy for her age.
“It was too soon,” Kelsoe said.
About 6:40 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2017, Kelso was out walking Rondo and talking with her neighbor. The women were strolling in a bicycle lane when a car went off the road in front of their houses, in the 8500 block of Southwest 18th Street. The community is south of State Road 84 and east of South Pine Island Road.
Also killed was Rondo, a beloved Chihuahua who Kelso was caring for while her granddaughter, who owned the dog, was in law school. Kelso and Rondo both died at the scene. Injured that afternoon was a neighbor at the Park City Estates mobile home park, who survived.
Soon after the crash, police released video of a dark-colored sedan of an unknown late 1990s model that did not have tinted windows. The video showed that the car appeared to turn around and drive past the crash site before leaving the neighborhood. It did not leave behind debris may have had damage to the front end.
Davie Police consider the fatal crash to be a cold case.
“There was a suspect, however it was determined he was not involved with this incident,” Davie Police Sgt. Mark Leone said Friday. “We’re asking for the public’s help, to close this case out and allow the family closure, too.”
The Kelsoe clan has longtime ties to Broward County: Emma Kelsoe was a homemaker who loved to shop and dance. She lived in Davie for 50 years. Kolcz, 59, also of Davie, worked at Motorola in Plantation for 35 years as a lab technician and machine programmer. Her brother Jesse Butler lives in Hobe Sound; sister Mary Foster is in Ohio and brother Mickey Butler lives in Georgia.
There are also eight grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren who survive Kelsoe.
The family has shared Kelsoe’s story and memories of her on a Facebook page, Justice for Emma Kelsoe & Rondo. It includes a video of Kelsoe wearing a white dress and dancing with enthusiasm to a live country band during her 79th birthday party.
“We’re keeping her in their minds and hearts,” Kolcz said about Facebook readers.
About the reward that is being offered for a year, with $22,000 coming from the family and $3,000 from Crime Stoppers, Kolcz said, “We hope that someone comes forward. If there’s an arrest, that $25,000 can be theirs.”
She said for the family, “knowing a person is arrested and off the street who won’t hurt anybody else will bring closure. And we want to have someone to forgive. It would help us heal.”
Broward County Crime Stoppers can be reached at 954-493-8477. The organization accepts anonymous tips by phone and online, at browardcrimestoppers.org.
www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/davie/fl-ne-davie-emma-kelsoe-hitrun-reward-20190201-story.html
Thoughts? As of this posting date (2/22/2019), Emma's case is still listed as unsolved on Broward County Crime Stoppers: browardcrimestoppers.org/crime/vehicular-homicide-of-emma-kelsoe
Also, I found the Facebook page that the article referred to: m.facebook.com/emmakelsoe.rondo/
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