Family, advocates call for renewed investigation into 2014 killing of Dallas woman D'Lisa Kelley
More than 12 years after D'Lisa Kelley was found dead in a Dallas home, relatives and advocates are calling for Dallas police to renew efforts to find her killer.
The Dallas-based civil rights group Next Generation Action Network (NGAN) is holding a news conference on Friday morning with members of Kelley's family, asking the Dallas Police Department to reopen its case. Friday would have been Kelley's 37th birthday. She was pregnant when she was killed, and left behind a 2-year-old son.
"D'Lisa's family deserves answers, her son deserves the truth, and the Dallas community deserves to know that every available step is being taken to identify and prosecute the person responsible for her murder," NGAN said in a statement.
The murder of D'Lisa Kelley
Kelley's grandmother was the last person to see her alive on the afternoon of Friday, March 7, 2014. Dallas police said she was on her way to a wake.
Just after 6 p.m. that evening, Kelley's sister received an apparently unintentional phone call from Kelley and could head a disturbance involving an unknown male voice.
Soon after, Kelley's phone sent her sister a text message saying she would call. That was the last thing anyone heard from her.
Two hours later, Kelley's grandmother called 911.
Over the next few days, police searched for Kelley through her cell phone records and gathered evidence, but did not find her. On Tuesday, March 11, DPD held a news conference asking the public for information as the investigation expanded.
Some anonymous tips came into police that placed her at a gas station on Sunnyvale Street near East Overton Road on the day she disappeared.
On Friday, March 14, police said a body matching Kelley's description had been located at an abandoned home on Presidio Avenue, less than two miles from the gas station.
Police criticized for handling of the case
In the wake of Kelley's murder, family members said DPD mishandled the case, acting with no urgency for several days following her disappearance.
In recordings of 911 calls obtained by her family and CBS News Texas at the time, the grandmother can be heard claiming that Kelley "was screaming for her life. Somebody was beating her and we don't know who has her." In another 911 call, a sergeant can be heard dismissing the family's concerns saying "well, sounds like she's missing before. That's how she got in that situation."
A week after Kelley's body was found, DPD launched an internal investigation. Sgt. Kevin Wasnell, who oversaw the 911 call center, was placed on administrative leave for five days, but later returned to regular duty.
Inspiration for Texas CLEAR Alerts
Kelley's case was among those that led the Texas Legislature to create a new alert for missing, endangered adults modeled after the Amber Alert for children and Silver Alert for seniors.
The Texas Department of Public Safety implemented the CLEAR Alert in 2019. In addition to being an acronym for Coordinated Law Enforcement Adult Rescue Alert, CLEAR also honors victims of violence: Cayley Mandadi; D'Lisa Kelley; Erin Castro; Ashanti Billie and the Rest.
