College Student Kelly Nolan Vanishes

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22-year-old Kelly Nolan was last seen by her friends at a downtown Madison bar.

On Friday, June 22, 2007, 22-year-old college student Kelly Nolan headed out to a bar in downtown Madison, Wis. with some of her friends. After spending the day with her younger sister, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student met up with a few of her friends outside her apartment, and made plans to go to a downtown bar.

Police say the four girls spent their night at a bar called State Street Brats. But around 11:30 p.m., Kelly separated from her friends and left the bar. Nobody knows for sure whether she left with somebody, or if she left the bar by herself. The last contact anyone had with Kelly, according to police, was when she made an early morning phone call to her sister on Saturday, June 23, 2007.

The Trail Goes Cold

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The Madison Police Department has released this picture showing a purse similar to the one Kelly was believed to be carrying the night she disappeared.

Since that day, family members, friends, and police have struggled to figure out what happened to Kelly after she left the bar that Friday night.

Although police have spoken with people who encountered Kelly that night, and have reviewed surveillance video from inside the State Street Brats bar, they have not yet discovered any substantial leads. They are still hoping that someone will come forward with the information necessary to help them solve this mystery.

Family members told police they didn't notice anything different about Kelly's personality or activities in the days leading up to her disappearance. Everyone is still completely surprised by what happened that night, and is desperate for answers.

In an effort to help in the search for their loved one, Kelly's sister and some of her friends worked together to create a profile for Kelly on Facebook, a social networking website. The page is kept current with all the latest updates in Kelly's case, and has multiple pictures, as well as a link to a Missing Person Poster. Kelly's family is encouraging people to print the posters out and put them where anybody might see them.

Reward Offered As Search Continues

Family and friends continue to search for any clue in the disappearance of Kelly more than two weeks after she was last seen. Police say they are still trying to piece together the events of the night of June 22, hoping that they will find something to offer them some information. People have continued to come forward to report that they saw Kelly on the night in question, but so far police have learned little helpful information.

According to police, there is still no reason to suspect foul play, but they also are not ruling out any possibilities. Her family and the police continue to remain quiet about many aspects of the case, saying they don't want to interfere with any part of the investigation.

In the hopes of bringing more attention to the case, and encouraging more people to speak up, a $10,000 reward is now being offered to anyone who provides information that either brings Kelly back home or leads to the conviction of anybody involved in her disappearance.

Early-Morning Search Leads To Body

An early morning search on July 9 led police to a body. Although the body has not been identified, and police are not even revealing the gender of the body, they are saying that the body is now the subject of a homicide investigation. A spokesman for the police department was very careful to say that the homicide investigation was not necessarily related to the case of Kelly Nolan.

Madison police, along with the FBI, the Dane County Sheriff's Office, the Fitchburg Police Department, and numerous retired detectives and police officers searched an area in Oregon, Wis., about 11 miles from Madison, where Kelly was last seen.

The search began at about 5 a.m., and Joel DeSpain of the Madison Police Department said that this was not the first seach for the Kelly Nolan case. However, information received by the police department over the past 10 days led them to perform an article search in this specific area. Police will not say what exactly led them to concentrate on this area, but did say that the attention from the national media had brought in many tips.

Search For College Student Ends Tragically

On Tuesday afternoon, a body that was found on private property about 11 miles from Madison, Wisc., was removed from the scene and taken to the morgue. A preliminary autopsy was performed, and Coroner John Stanley announced late Tuesday that the body was that of missing 22-year-old Kelly Nolan. Although a preliminary autopsy was confirmed, the coroner said it will probably be several more weeks before all test results come back and a cause of death is determined.

Joel DeSpain, spokesman for the Madison Police Department, told AMW that a lot of evidence was recovered from the scene, and some of the leads are looking pretty good right now. Unfortunately, it will take some time before anything else can be known for sure. A $10,000 reward is being offered for anyone providing information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Kelly Nolan. Stay tuned to amw.com for all the latest details.