Concerns grow for Kim Kelly-Oberhauser, missing from Lowell

LOWELL, Mass. — Six weeks after Kim Kelly-Oberhauser was last seen, concern grows about her fate.

“There are a lot of puzzling things about her disappearance,” Barbara Kloczkowski said.

On January 22, Kelly-Oberhauser’s black Range Rover was found submerged in the Merrimack River. Kim had been missing for four days, but she was not inside her vehicle. She is still missing.

And now, Kim’s friends said in their first interview, they fear the worst.

“I feel like she has fallen off the face of the earth and there’s no investigation continuing anywhere,” Jacqueline Smith said.

Kelly-Oberhauser was last seen on January 18 in Lowell at about 10:45 p.m. driving her Range Rover.

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In a statement, Lowell Police said: “We have conducted a thorough investigation, which remains ongoing, as efforts to locate Kim Kelly-Oberhauser continue. We have no indications of foul play at this time.”

“I don’t see how they could say they don’t think it was foul play if they don’t have a body or any evidence of that fact,” Kloczkowski said. “How can they come to that conclusion?”

At the time of Kim’s disappearance, her personal life was in turmoil. Kim had recently separated from her husband and she had just moved into an apartment complex across the street from where her Range Rover was found.

The fact that Kim was not in that Range Rover when it was recovered haunts her friends to this day. They don’t think she drove the SUV into the Merrimack River.

“She would not be suicidal,” Lynn Smith said. “And if she was, she would not be in the car. That is not Kim.

“Kim did not drive that car; Kim did not put that car in the river. And it still boggles me as to how the car got there and who put it there,” Lynn Smith added.

So, where is Kim Kelly Oberhauser? No one knows. Her friends said, at the time she disappeared, Kim seemed happy. They are urging authorities to not give up.

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“You can’t assume there’s no foul play without a body. I think they should keep pushing this until they find her. She deserves to be brought home,” Jacqueline Smith said.

Clearly, Kim’s friends are not giving up either. They are holding a vigil for Kelly Oberhauser on Sunday, March 21, at the UMass Lowell Boathouse on Pawtucket Boulevard in Lowell.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Kim Kelly Oberhauser, call Mass State Police or Lowell Police.

Cox Media Group