What Happened to Kellisue Ackernecht?

March 18, 2009

It has been nearly six months since police in Johnstown, N.Y., opened a case into the disappearance of a local mother, and they are still no closer to determining what happened to her.

By all accounts, Sept. 30, 2008, began just as any other work day for 35-year-old Kellisue Ackernecht, a shift supervisor at the Rite Aid pharmacy in Amsterdam, N.Y. Kellisue attended to her duties; and at about 9:40 p.m., she locked up the store and presumably left for her Main Street home in nearby Johnstown. Unfortunately, Kellisue never made it home.

About four hours later, investigators found Kellisue's 1998 Saturn sedan engulfed in flames at West Montgomery and Chestnut Streets, an area that local residents refer to as "Frog Hollow"—and only a few blocks away from the home Kellisue shared with her husband, Jayson Ackernecht, 35, and her 10-year-old daughter. No human remains were found either inside the vehicle or in the immediate area.

At about 2:30 a.m. the police awakened Jayson to inform him of the fire. When questioned, he alleged that he had not seen his wife since she had left for work the previous day.

When police interviewed neighbors in the area where the car was found, several reported having heard loud noises like gunshots around midnight.

"I heard the gunshot; I jumped out of bed, looked out my window, and I looked up and down," local resident Doris Stewart said in an interview with WTEN.com.

Investigators made note of the sounds; however, they remain skeptical that the noises were gunshots, speculating instead that what the neighbors heard might have been the tires popping on the burning vehicle.

In an effort to locate Kellisue, Johnstown police conducted a foot search of the Frog Hollow area, while a state police helicopter scanned the ground from above. The St. Johnsville Dive Team was also brought in to assist, and the group spent several hours searching the banks of Cayadutta Creek. Despite the massive amount of manpower put into the initial search, police found nothing of interest.

In order to get a better understanding of the vehicle fire, investigators recreated it, using a similar car. The test indicated that the fire had started in the engine compartment, but it remains unclear whether the fire was caused by mechanical error or human intervention.

Police say they have no suspects in the case and no information to support the idea that Kellisue was the victim of a crime. The relationship between Kellisue and her husband, a salesman for Wilde Fire Equipment Co. in Mayfield, was reportedly strained; however, officials say he is not considered a person of interest in the case.

"Jayson's been very cooperative," City Police Chief Gregory Horning said in a December interview with Leaderherald.com. "She'll turn up. All our hopes and prayers are with the Ackernecht family. We hope we'll find her alive someplace."

Jayson Ackernecht managed to stay out of the media spotlight in the weeks immediately following his wife’s disappearance; however, he eventually agreed to give an interview to Fox23.com.

"I would never harm my wife. I had nothing to do with this at all," Jayson said, adding, "We think she just took off and left with somebody else. Who? We don’t know yet."

Investigators have long since given up ground searches for Kellisue, but the family continues to organize them regularly.

"We are hopeful we find something, some information that we can pass on to the police. At least try to get some sort of closure," Ackernecht's brother, Chris Clouston, said in an interview with Capitalnews9.com. "We would like to find a happy ending. We would like to have her come home."

Recent media reports have suggested that the search and recovery group Texas EquuSearch will be launching a full-scale search for Kelly in April; however, a spokesperson for the organization told Investigation Discovery that a date has not yet been set. Members of the group confirmed that they have been approached by a family member, but also said that they require cooperation from local law enforcement; to date, their call to the investigating agency has not been returned.

Meanwhile, Kellisue's family has planned a spaghetti-dinner fundraiser for May 4 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Lombardo's Restaurant in St. Johnsville. All proceeds from the event will go to a fund that has been set up for the search effort.

Kellisue M. Ackernecht is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 135 pounds. She has brown eyes and short, curly brown hair with red highlights. She was last seen wearing tan slacks, a black shirt, new white sneakers, tan stockings, and brown glasses. According to her husband, she was supposed to take medication for depression, but she had stopped taking it for some weeks before her disappearance.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Johnstown police at 518-736-4021.

For more information, please visit: Findkellisue.wordpress.com.

Photo Credits: Contributed

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission from Discovery Communications. All quotes must include a link back.

Comments

[helenhudson]

Prayers to Kellisue's family.

[Joe]

Six months later and they still have no leads? Maybe this woman left and just didn't want to be found?

[BeckyM]

First question - any connection between husband and LE? Sounds like more head in the sand thinking from LE.

[Heather]

I live in the outer regions of Johnstown. Local law enforcement is weird around here, the ones that live down the street cause more problems than anyone else in my small neighborhood. They ruled the husband out as a suspect almost immediately and have seemed to do little to search for her. They have refused to admit that it might be a crime (as though cars burn up and the occupants go missing so frequently) but still treat is as though she ran away.

I do hope she is alive and well somewhere, but from the start have doubted she is. If someone did murder her and move the body she will probably never be found. We are close to the Thruway, which would allow someone to move a body and come back quickly and then set the fire. There is also a lot of wooded land out here that would be difficult to search. Either way...I hope Kellisue's daughter will one day know what happened to her mother.

[BeckyM]

I've lived in a lot of small to mid-size towns, Heather, and I feel your pain about LE in them. Too much reality in Barney Fife...

[kalley]

Thank you for this article! Everything helps.

[Lee]

Interesting that her husband works for a fire equipment company.Again this woman is tall, IMO an unlikely target for an unknown abduction. I am hoping she ran off somewhere but why burn her car up a few miles from home when no one would have realized she was even missing yet? I would think she would have used it to get as far away as possible if she had taken off....THEN set fire to it. "Ran off with somebody else" but you don't have a name to give? Wishful thinking, sounds like a line from Drew Peterson!

[DeeP]

I hope for the childs sake the truth prevails.