Account
Dec 12, 2008
Dec 18, 2023
Kelly
Dove
62
20
60 inches
100 lbs
120 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the predawn hours of a Friday in Harrisonburg, Virginia, 20-year-old Kelly Bergh Dove was working her shift as a clerk at the Imperial Gas Station on South Main Street. It was June 18, 1982, and the young mother was on duty alone. The quiet of the early morning was shattered at 2:27 a.m. when a distressed Kelly phoned the Harrisonburg Police Department. She reported receiving an obscene phone call and noted the presence of a suspicious individual outside the station. Only two minutes later, her fear evidently escalating, she called dispatch a second time. During this call, she mentioned the person was connected to a silver-colored vehicle, possibly a Ford. A patrol officer was immediately dispatched to the scene, arriving at 2:31 a.m. to find the gas station empty. Kelly Dove was gone. Her purse had been left behind, but there were no overt signs of a robbery or a struggle, deepening the mystery of her sudden vanishing. The immediate aftermath of Kelly's disappearance left investigators with very few leads. They learned that she was last seen wearing cream-colored slacks, a light-colored top with pinstripes, and her Turner Ashby High School class ring. She also wore contact lenses and had a small scar on her right wrist. The scene itself offered little in the way of physical evidence. The absence of a struggle and the fact that her personal belongings were still there suggested she may have been coerced or tricked into leaving the station. The police focused on the details Kelly provided in her brief, urgent calls—the obscene caller, the suspicious person, and the silver car. Authorities worked to identify the individual and vehicle she described, but these leads did not immediately result in any concrete answers or suspects. For decades, the disappearance of Kelly Bergh Dove has remained an open wound for her family and the Harrisonburg community. The investigation has continued over the years, passed down through generations of detectives, all hoping for the one tip or piece of evidence that could solve the case. Various theories have been considered, ranging from a random abduction to an encounter with someone she may have known. Despite the passage of time and the extensive efforts of law enforcement, no arrests have ever been made, and Kelly's fate remains unknown. The overview of this case is one of haunting uncertainty; a young woman vanished from her workplace in a matter of minutes after reporting a threat, leaving behind only a chilling pair of phone calls and a family left to wonder what happened in the darkness of that early morning.
Jun 18, 1982
Harrisonburg
Virginia
Rockingham County
22801
6927
Harrisonburg Police Department
Harrisonburg
Virginia
Harrisonburg City
22802
Chris Rush
Lieutenant
101 N. Main Street, Virginia
5404372600
Local
Law Enforcement
1982-681146
Harrisonburg Police Department
4082
Brown
Brown
Brown
06/24/2026
