Carlos Watts Jr is an alleged killer from Michigan who has been charged with the murder of Heather Kelley
According to police reports Heather Kelley was reported missing in December 2022. Heather vehicle was later found abandoned and set on fire. Kelley who was the mother of eight children remains have not been found
Now police in Michigan have charged her boyfriend Carlos Watts Jr with her murder
Carlos Watts Jr who is a convicted felon was just released from prison six months before the disappearance of Heather Kelley. The two would begin a relationship soon after his release
Carlos Watts Jr is currently in jail on other charges
Carlos Watts Jr News
Carlos Watts Jr., 38, has been charged with the murder of a Portage mother who went missing in December 2022.
Heather Kelley, 35, is a mother to eight children and was last seen in December 2022. Her car was later found abandoned. It had been set on fire, and investigators found her clothes and blood inside.
The Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office shared additional details about those charges Wednesday morning and disclosed the FBI and other federal investigators have assisted in the case.
Investigators have not recovered Kelley’s remains, but feel they have enough probable cause to charge the man she had been in a relationship with.
“It’s the evidence in total in this case,” Prosecutor Jeff Getting said about why his office decided to charge Carlos Watts Jr. in her killing.
If convicted of open murder, he faces life without parole.
Watts Jr. is currently in federal custody for an unrelated case. Court proceedings to bring him back to face these charges are pending.
Watts Jr. had been previously convicted of drug and gun charges and began his supervised release from prison in July 2022.
During the second half of 2022, Watts Jr. had a relationship with Kelley. According to court documents, the two planned to move in together and Watts Jr. tried to support her and her children while they were together.
Kelley was last seen leaving her home at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. Police said she was last heard from about an hour later when she called her children around 10:20 p.m. and said she would be home shortly.
Kelley never returned home and her truck was found abandoned near the intersection of Sprinkle and E. Michigan the next day, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities asked the public to keep an eye out for her and indicated there was evidence she may have been the victim of a violent crime.
On Feb. 8, 2023, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office said the case transitioned to a homicide investigation.
Authorities have not shared how Kelley died.
The Sheriff’s Office also said the person of interest in the case, who has been confirmed to be Watts Jr., was in custody elsewhere on an unrelated charge.
Carlos Watts Jr More News
Recently released federal court documented say the boyfriend of a missing mother of eight from Portage murdered her hours before he escaped from a halfway house.
Carlos Watts Jr. has not been charged in the disappearance of Heather Kelley, 35, but on Tuesday, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office announced it will provide an update on the case at a Wednesday morning press conference.
Kelley’s body has not been found but investigators believe she was killed.
missing Portage mother
Recently released federal court documented say the boyfriend of a missing mother of eight from Portage murdered her hours before he escaped from a halfway house.
Portage Police Department / U.S. District Court – Western District of Michigan Southern division
By: Marisa Oberle
Posted at 9:30 PM, Jan 09, 2024
and last updated 10:16 PM, Jan 09, 2024
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Recently released federal court documented say the boyfriend of a missing mother of eight from Portage murdered her hours before he escaped from a halfway house.
Carlos Watts Jr. has not been charged in the disappearance of Heather Kelley, 35, but on Tuesday, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office announced it will provide an update on the case at a Wednesday morning press conference.
READ MORE: Prosecutors to deliver update on missing Portage mother Heather Kelley
Kelley’s body has not been found but investigators believe she was killed.
READ MORE: Disappearance of Portage mother of 8 now considered a homicide case
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In a memorandum filed on Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan, which charged Watts with felony escape last year, rejected claims made by him in recently written letters to the court that said he ran away from the Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program, a halfway house, during his parole because of threats from Kelley’s brother, who is referred as “TK” in the document.
Federal prosecutors argued Watts did so to escape prosecution.
“Hours before his escape, defendant was involved in the murder and disappearance of TK’s sister,” wrote prosecutors. “Defendant’s escape from KPEP was not done to avoid a harm from TK, but to avoid the ensuing police investigation. Defendant was escaping criminal liability for murder.”
They added, “Defendant had alternative legal options other than escape if he did feel threatened by TK.”
Watts is scheduled to be sentenced in the case on Friday.
Other documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office allege his ankle monitor went offline for eight hours the night Kelley vanished. Analysts also reportedly found Watts’ DNA on clothing by Kelley’s vehicle, which KCSO found abandoned and burned out a day after she was reported missing.
