St. Pete woman vanishes without a trace, family hoping for tips: ‘Please come forward’
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The family of a St. Petersburg woman said she disappeared without a trace. Now, Kelli Fisher’s family and police are asking the community for help.
"We deserve to have answers. We deserve to have answers about her whereabouts," Fisher’s sister, Latifa Jackson said tearfully during a press conference at St. Petersburg Police Department’s headquarters on Tuesday.
"I’m standing here to be a voice for my sister. It has been two weeks," Jackson said. "If anyone knows anything, please come forward."
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St. Pete police said the 42-year-old left the home on Prescott Street South that she shares with her aunt in her aunt’s car on July 16. Fisher’s family said it’s normal for her to borrow the car, but it’s abnormal for her not to tell them her whereabouts.
Her aunt reported Fisher missing on July 17 when she didn’t come home. The next day, police found the car in an abandoned lot about a mile and a half away near 28th Avenue South.
The driver’s door was slightly open, and detectives found three cellphones and a small amount of cash inside the car. None of the items are connected to Fisher, Major Shannon Halstead with SPPD said.
Police are currently getting subpoenas for the cellphones.
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"It's suspicious that the door was left unlocked, that there was a small denomination of currency left inside the vehicle," Halstead said. "Normally, if there's a theft or something, someone would take items of value like that."
Then Sunday, there was a kitchen fire in Fisher’s home next door to her aunt’s where she also spends time.
"It certainly adds to the suspicion," Halstead said.
Police said they don’t think Fisher was home during the fire, and neighbors said they haven’t noticed anyone at that home since Fisher disappeared.
With no suspects or persons of interest, police and Fisher’s family are at a loss as to what happened to this mother and grandmother. They said Fisher wouldn’t hurt a fly, and would give anyone a place to stay who needed it.
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"She's not the type of person that would not communicate with somebody in the family," Johnny Murray, Fisher’s brother, said. "The fact that she's been gone for this long, this is not her. It's a situation where something happened. We don't know what happened."
Fisher’s family said she suffers from some mental health issues, but it’s unlike her to not let anyone know about her whereabouts, especially her aunt.
Police said she was involved in a minor dispute with a man and a woman on the Fourth of July over $40, but they talked to them and said they didn’t have any information to help them in this case.
"We've checked toll records. We've checked SunPass records. We have done everything that we traditionally do in a missing persons case, and we need some assistance," Halstead said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the St. Petersburg Police Department at 727-893-7780 or call 911. You can submit a tip anonymously by texting SPPD to TIP411 (847-411).
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