GRAND HAVEN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – It was a murder that shook our West Michigan and remains unsolved; Who killed 60-year-old Janna Kelly?
March 13th, marks the fifth anniversary of the discovery of Janna Kelly’s body, months after she went missing.
Detectives are still investigating and her family is still waiting for justice.
Hundreds of people have been interviewed in this murder case through the years but no arrests and as long as one of West Michigan’s most wanted remains on the loose, Kelly’s family lives with an open wound.
One of those is Amanda Kozlowski, Janna’s niece.
Two weeks ago Amanda gave birth to a baby girl.
“My daughter will never get to know her (Janna) and she was an amazing woman,” Amanda said. “I think about how excited my aunt would be to meet her.”
Kelly went missing from home in Grand Rapids in December of 2007.
Her coat and purse turned up at a car wash, two days after that her car was found near her home.
It would be months before Kelly’s body would be found in a field in Grand Haven Township.
Lt. Mark Bennett with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department said, “There was some attempt to disguise or hide the body. There was also an attempt to start a fire near the body.”
For the next five years detectives would fill books with information, building possible leads but they still haven’t found a murder weapon or made an arrest.
During that time, Kelly was laid to rest and life went on.
“You miss her,” said her niece. “Time doesn’t heal that. Any time I’m in a grocery store or any place that is real public I think if I’m passing a person that is responsible.”
Amanda said an arrest would take those thoughts away.
To keep her aunt’s case active, the family started a Facebook page calledJustice for Janna Kelly.
Amanda said, “I think it’s just going to take that one piece of information that someone may have, that someone may think it’s nothing to just really solve this case.”
