- A family member speaks out about her 13-year-old niece who disappeared from her home in Summit Township more than 40 years ago.
- The man accused of murdering her is only now facing justice here in Jackson.
- What took authorities so long?
13-year-old Kelly Jean Harris disappeared from her Lincoln Court home here in Summit Township the morning of Saturday, August 11, 1984. Now, more than 40 years later, authorities are finally pressing charges.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
"What was Kelly like?" I asked her aunt Anne Harrell.
"She was quiet."
Memories from Anne Harrell....describing her niece, Kelly Jean Harris:
"When she was at my house, the kids could be outside playing — she might go out there five or ten minutes, but she's coming back in."
Memories of decades ago...and one weekend that changed it all.
On August 11, 1984, Anne had planned a trip to Chicago with her immediate family. Kelly didn't go.
"I didn't have enough room in my car. But I wish I'd have squeezed her in there — at least she'd have been alive," says Harrell.
Police records show Kelly's mother reported her missing that Saturday morning when she came home from a morning shift.
That's where the investigation began.
"The mom's boyfriend — whether or not they were married, I don't know — was kind of looked at as a suspect all along," says Jackson County Undersheriff Jeremy Barnett.
That man is Kelly's stepfather Leonard Hugall. Anne remembers friction between Hugall and Kelly's mother, Carol.
The two later split up. And despite suspicions from family or law enforcement, the case went cold.
Fast forward to 1993. Hugall went to prison for kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in Florida.
"We were under the belief that he was never going to get out of prison," explains Barnett.
In 2006, police documents show that Hugall confessed to killing Kelly Harris after having "non-consensual sex" with her. The problem, says Barnett: "Her body was never located."
Police records show Hugall was brought to Michigan in 2007 to point out where he had buried it — in this wooded area off Wickwire and Browns Lake Roads just north of Jackson College. But Kelly's body was never found.
Barnett says: "You have to get them legally declared deceased."
When authorities in Jackson found out Hugall was up for release in Florida, they reactivated the case when the court did make that determination.
"After she was declared deceased, the medical examiner did rule that a homicide," says Barnett.
Barnett believes the prosecution now has a good case against Leonard Hugall, and a probable cause conference is scheduled in Jackson County Court on October 8th — a chance for closure more than 40 years later.
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