In January 2020, a young lady named Keeslyn Roberts disappeared from a fuel station near my home. The case remains unsolved. This post will examine the actions, and lack thereof, of those in authority, and how this contributes to the case remaining unsolved. But first, a little backstory.
As a teen, I lived in the same neighborhood as the Roberts family. Keeslyn's father, Eric, is older than I, and I don't recall the two of us having much interaction. His sister, on the other hand, is the same age and we've been friends for over 40 years. It was she who told me about Keeslyn's disappearance and the family's frustrations with the lack of police action. To learn more of the specifics of the case, numerous podcasts and news stories are available online.
To my understanding, the police reaction to the disappearance has thus far been little to no reaction.
After no word from his daughter for several days, Eric went to the fuel station where her car was parked. He then called the Gordon County Sheriff Department to report her as a missing person. Officers were sent to the scene but did no investigating; rather, they told Eric he would need to file a report with the Murray County Sheriff Department, as Keeslyn was a resident of Murray at the time of her disappearance. Imagine being a father of a missing daughter being told by police officers at the scene of your daughter's disappearance that you're talking to the wrong people and need to call authorities in a county in which the crime didn't occur.
Eric did as instructed, filing a report with Murray County, whose police department waited almost a week to assign a detective to the case. In this time, no investigation took place, nor was her vehicle processed for evidence.
More than a month later, a tip came to Eric regarding some clothing found at the site. He and Keeslyn's mother, Shannon, see the items and confirm a shirt belonged to her daughter. Police are sent to the site, the items are bagged as evidence, but inform the parents that the items will not be tested because no crime has been committed. Again, imagine being a parent of a daughter who disappeared, who learns of clothing that has been found at the site of the disappearance, can confirm that at least one item belonged to your daughter, only to be told by authorities that, while they will bag and take the items, they won't investigate further.
While Gordon County refuses to investigate her disappearance, and Murray County claiming they don't have jurisdiction, very little police work has been done. It seems cooperation between the two counties is minimal. At some point, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was contacted. Information regarding their involvement is lacking, as is a commitment of resources.
To their credit, Murray County did question Keeslyn's boyfriend in the days after her disappearance. He claimed he didn't know where she was, nor had he heard from her. To my knowledge, this was accepted and no further investigation took place.
Recall that when JFK was assassinated in 1963, upon hearing that the suspect in custody had lived in New Orleans prior to moving to Dallas, District Attorney Jim Garrison tasked a team with investigating Oswald's time in the city. Shouldn't the county in which Keeslyn lived do the same? Shouldn't the county in which her disappearance do the same? For that matter, shouldn't Gordon County treat her disappearance, now five years passed, as a crime and open a formal investigation?
When one member of a community is victimized, all members of that community become victims, and when crime occurs in a community, all in that community have lost something dear to them: the sense of safety amongst themselves. What is the message to residents when their police, whose duty is to protect and serve, fail to take the proper steps and cooperate in an investigation of what appears to be a disappearance? When investigation isn't done and opportunities are squandered? When there are more questions than answers, how are we to perceive the inaction as anything less than a betrayal of the public trust?
When official services fail in their duty, it falls to the citizenry to answer the call. Keeslyn Roberts is still missing. If anyone has any information regarding her whereabouts, please contact Eric Roberts. He can be found on Facebook, where there is a Missing Keeslyn page devoted to her case.
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