CO KELSIE JEAN SCHELLING: Missing from Pueblo, CO - 5 Feb 2013 - Age 21 *Donthe Lucas GUILTY of murder*

Kelsie Jean Schelling
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Schelling, circa 2013; Age-progression to age 26 (circa 2017); Some of Schelling's tattoos; Schelling's car; Donthe Lucas

Missing Since: 02/05/2013
Missing From: Pueblo, Colorado
Classification: Endangered Missing
Sex: Female
Race: White
Date of Birth: 02/18/1991 (28)
Age: 21 years old
Height and Weight: 5'2 - 5'4, 120 pounds

Clothing/Jewelry Description: A black coat with a fur-trimmed hood over a light gray jacket, black Victoria's Secret workout pants, tan UGG's boots and stud earrings. Carrying a black and pink Victoria's Secret bag containing personal belongings, including a day's worth of clothing and personal hygiene items.
Medical ConditionsSchelling was eight weeks pregnant at the time of her disappearance; the baby's due date was September 13.
Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Schelling has the following tattoos: a Chinese symbol on the back of her neck, cursive writing on the inside of her left arm, a green skeleton key with the word "love" high on the left side of her chest, the Roman numerals XCI high on the right side of her chest, and a fleur-de-lis symbol on the right side of her ribcage. Photos of some of her tattoos are posted with this case summary.

Details of Disappearance
Schelling was last seen in Pueblo, Colorado on February 5, 2013. The previous day she got an ultrasound confirming her pregnancy, and sent the pictures to family members and her boyfriend, Donthe Isiah Lucas, who was the father of the unborn child.

A photo of Lucas is posted with this case summary. He called Schelling and asked her to come from her hometown in Denver to his home in Pueblo, two hours' drive away, that evening after work. He said he wanted to talk privately and he had something to give her. She left at 8:30 p.m. and apparently did arrive for the meeting.

She sent Lucas text messages saying she was waiting for him at the agreed-upon location, asking where he was at, and ultimately threatening to go home without seeing him because she was getting tired. Schelling was driving a black 2011 Chevrolet Cruze LTZ with the license plate number 023-WRL when she went to meet Lucas; a photo of the car is posted with this case summary.

Lucas was interviewed by police on February 15. He said he met Schelling as planned and drove her in her car to different locations. He said she felt sick, so he took her to Parkview Medical Center in the 400 block of west 16th Street, and stayed in the car while she went inside to get medical attention.

Afterwards they went to the Canon National Bank, where Schelling allowed him to use her debit card and withdraw money from her account. He then took her to Wal-Mart, where they got into an argument and she told him she had to go back to Denver because she had to work the next day.

Police arrested Lucas after his interview and charged him three counts of identity theft and one count of theft of less than $500 for using Schelling's card, but the charge was later dropped.

There is no record of Schelling getting treatment at Parkview Medical Center, and surveillance video at the hospital didn't show her coming inside. Surveillance footage at the bank showed Lucas driving up and withdrawing money from a cash machine, but the video did not show Schelling inside the car.

Security footage from a local Wal-Mart showed the car being driven into the business's parking lot at 12:05 a.m. on February 5. The tape showed Lucas getting out of Schelling's car and walking to his mother's car in the same lot, but there was no sign of Schelling and her car was left in the lot overnight.

An unknown male wearing a hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses, and gloves picked it up at 7:20 a.m. The vehicle was found abandoned at St. Mary Corwin Hospital in Pueblo on February 14, nine days after she was last seen; security footage showed someone driving it into the parking lot there at 5:30 a.m. on February 7. The unidentified driver locked it and walked away. Some items missing from the car when it was found included a black rosary, a metal sign reading "Love", a tie-dyed teddy bear and the car keys, which may have had a keychain reading "Love".

Schelling met Lucas while they were both attending Northeastern Junior College. She eventually transferred to Vanguard University in California and he transferred to Emporia State University in Kansas, where he was on the basketball team. He dreamed of playing basketball professionally.

Schelling moved back to Denver at the end of her first semester at Vanguard and got a job at the Floor & Decor store in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Lucas went to visit her over Christmas break, and this was when she became pregnant.

Schelling told her mother Lucas wasn't happy about the pregnancy; sometimes she was afraid he would abandon her and the baby after it was born, and other times he threatened to take the baby away from her.

In November 2017, Lucas was arrested on aggravated robbery charges unrelated to Schelling's disappearance. In December, while still in custody for the robbery, he was charged with first-degree murder in Schelling's case. Police stated her body has not been found, and the charges were the result of evidence accumulated over their nearly five-year investigation. He is awaiting trial.

Schelling left all her belongings behind at her apartment and gave no indication that she planned to walk out of her life, and her phone battery died on February 7. There hasn't been any activity on Schelling's bank accounts, cellular phone or social media pages since her disappearance. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

Investigating Agency
Pueblo Police Department 719-553-2470

Source Information
NamUs
Facebook Page for Kelsie Schelling
Denver Westword Blogs
ABC 7 News
The Pueblo Chieftain
The Flathead Beacon
KOAA 5
The Denver Post
KRDO
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Pueblo Crime Stoppers

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The defense chose not to call any witnesses. Will this be a reason that Lucas can get a retrial down the road?
I don't know but I wouldn't think so. The only way I know of would be for him to claim incompetent counsel and even then, they probably had a reason they called none. In Frazee, I was surprised they called few. In our case, there were a number of experts for the defense that never testified that actually were there to do so. I suspect it was because their first one was, imo, decimated. Nicely so, but still did not stand up to cross. Unless a judge refused to allow certain witnesses...? That could possibly be appealed...?

All that said, it's a great question and I would like to know the answer to that myself.
 
Law enforcement agencies in Pueblo and the family of Kelsie Schelling will come together on July 4 to dedicate a park bench in her honor.

The bench dedication will that place at 11 a.m. at City Park, adjacent to the kiddie rides. Law enforcement in the area encourages the public to attended and show support for the Schelling family.
 

Kelsie Schelling, and hundreds more people, still missing on Colorado Missing Persons Day Friday​

A well-known southern Colorado murder victim is still missing on the 7th annual Colorado Missing Persons Day, along with hundreds more.

11 News checked in with the family of Kelsie Schelling, who went missing on February 4th, 2013, in Pueblo and still has not been found. Her convicted murderer was found guilty last March.

“I’m just struggling. I am so grateful for the verdict, so much hard work went into it. But, my goal has always been to be able to bring Kelsie home. When that didn’t happen, when that information didn’t come forth during the trial, that was just really hard,” said Laura Saxton, Kelsie’s mom.

Saxton created Colorado Missing Persons Day in 2016, to honor the hundreds of lives that still have not been found for six months or more. This year will be the first year Kelsie’s family has justice during Colorado Missing Persons Day, although they still have not found Kelsie.

“Now, we do have the justice piece and I know there are going to be a lot of families there that don’t have that. They don’t have their family member back and they don’t have the justice piece either,” said Saxton.
 

Kelsie Schelling’s mother speaks one year after guilty verdict​

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 marks one year since a local man was found guilty in the disappearance and murder of missing woman Kelsie Schelling.

On March 8, 2021, Donthe Lucas was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

In a message posted to Facebook, Schelling’s mother, Laura Saxton, described the feeling of semi-justice.

“I still feel like it’s a dream, or maybe more of a nightmare, but we got the verdict we hoped for,” Saxton wrote. “The problem is, we didn’t get Kelsie back, so it was a pretty hollow victory.”

Saxton went on to explain the challenges she has faced since that monumental verdict.

“Yes, I am so very grateful that justice was served. Some families don’t even get that. We didn’t for 8 years. The loss of Kelsie is something I will never ‘get over’.”

You can read Saxton’s full message here.
 

Pueblo man convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 2013 plans to appeal his case​

More than one year after being found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in 2013, a Pueblo man plans to appeal his case.


He was found guilty despite Schelling's body still missing, without identifying a murder weapon or a definitive crime scene. Prosecutors instead used evidence such as surveillance video and text messages during the trial.

One day after he was sentenced to life in prison for Schelling's murder, Pueblo District Attorney Jeff Chostner told KRDO he expected an appeal to be filed in the case.

Now, court documents obtained by 13 investigates indicate a plan to appeal.
 

Friday’s Colorado Missing Persons Day marks 11 years since Kelsie Schelling’s disappearance​

Colorado Missing Persons Day is on Friday, Feb. 2. 11 News checked in with the family of a well-known murder victim, Kelsie Schelling.

Kelsie went missing Feb. 4, 2013. She was pregnant at the time and still has not been found. Donthe Lucas was convicted on her murder in March 2021 after a lengthy investigation.

“Obviously things have changed in some ways. We finally got the justice side of it taken care of, but we still don’t have Kelsie back,” said Kelsie’s mother, Laura Saxton, as she reflects on the years since the trial. “Right now I’m taking care of myself from all of the years that I didn’t take care of myself.”

“Going through the holidays is always very difficult, and then coming up upon the anniversary date of her going missing and the date of her death, and then after that her birthday is in February, also. Those few months there are pretty rough for me; just one day of a time basically,” said Saxton.

“I want to be able to bury Kelsie, I want to have some place to go to take her flowers and to sit with her. ... There’s no greater pain than that, to not know where she is, and to think of her discarded as trash is just so hard to cope with that, because that’s not what she deserved,” said Saxton.
 

Donthe Lucas murder conviction in Kelsie Schelling case upheld by Colorado appeals court​

A Pueblo man who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2021 in the murder of pregnant 21-year-old Kelsie Schelling has had his conviction upheld by the Colorado Court of Appeals.

Donthe Lucas, 31, appealed his conviction on the grounds that the Pueblo court in which he was tried improperly admitted evidence of "other acts" not related to Schelling's murder and of canine decomposition detection. Lucas's appeal also claimed misconduct in the prosecuting attorney's closing remarks.

However, in a 24-page opinion obtained by the Chieftain, the appeals court found that despite Lucas's arguments, he received a fair trial and his conviction was upheld.
 

‘You don’t want their memory forgotten’: Tuesday marks Colorado Missing Persons Day​

Hundreds of families in Colorado grapple every day with one of the worst situations a family can face: a missing loved one.

Tuesday, many of those families, as well as state leaders and law enforcement, will gather at on the Colorado Capitol steps to remind each other they are not alone.

Colorado Missing Persons Day was established in 2016 by a grieving mother to remember and honor all missing persons in the state.

“I know a lot of people who have lost their children, and it’s awful for any parent. I mean, it is absolutely horrible. But to not have their remains back, to not be able to go through that part of the grief process, to be able to lay your child to rest or whatever your belief is with that,” Laura Saxton told 11 News last year.

Saxton’s 21-year-old daughter Kelsie Schelling disappeared on Feb. 4, 2013. And while her boyfriend was eventually convicted in her murder -- a measure of justice that took nearly a decade -- Schelling’s remains have never been found. Compounding Saxton’s grief: her daughter was 8 weeks pregnant when she vanished.

“I want to be able to bury Kelsie, I want to have some place to go to take her flowers and to sit with her. ... There’s no greater pain than that, to not know where she is, and to think of her discarded as trash is just so hard to cope with that, because that’s not what she deserved,” Saxton said.

Colorado Missing Persons Day falls in early February on or around the anniversary of Schelling’s disappearance. For anyone wanting to join this year, it will begin at 8 a.m. in the House Committee room, before moving to the House chambers at 9 a.m. for the reading of the resolution.

At 10 a.m., attendees will gather on the west steps of the Capitol for a prayer vigil and to read the names of the missing.

“I think that’s one of the things that if you have a missing child or you know your child has died, you don’t want their memory to be forgotten that you almost just want to shout it from the rooftops, ‘please don’t forget my child,’” Saxton said.
 

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