Kelly Morrissey: The Search for Kelly Morrissey Continues 26 Years Later

BACK TO THE FUTURE: HOW MORRISSEY WOULD HAVE APPEARED AT AGE 34, FROM AGE-PROGRESSED COMPUTER ENHANCEMENT DONE IN 2002.

What really happened to Kelly that June night? Most people involved in the investigation strongly believe she was murdered, even though no body was ever found.

When Kelly was first reported missing, I was a freelance writer for numerous publications, including POLICE magazine and The New York Times. All my instincts told me it was going to be a good story, but convincing editors was not that easy. Later, when two more teenaged girls were found murdered—Theresa Fusco also of Lynbrook and Jacqueline Martarella of neighboring Oceanside, both bodies were found nude, both were strangled and both were located not far from each other—the interest grew, and so did the interest from my editors. Still, since this was a local story, it didn’t get as much play as I hoped it would. But I promised myself that I would never give up.

Twenty-six years later, Kelly has once again become a picture on a police missing person’s poster being distributed to the media. Last week, Nassau County police announced her case reopened. Officially, Nassau County police are saying the renewed interest is based on Internet chatter surrounding her disappearance that was recently posted on the Facebook page of Hot Skates in Lynbrook, the roller rink where Theresa worked and Kelly and her friends hung out. Det. Lt. John Azzata, head of the Nassau Homicide Squad, announced that after they identified the chatter, he decided that it was a good opportunity for the department to go public again with the case.

“Hopefully, with the passage of time, someone will come forward,” he says, adding that a witness might have been afraid of someone or didn’t think information they had was pertinent when the stories first made headlines nearly a quarter-century ago.

The renewed public campaign also comes on the eve of a civil trial brought by three men who knew Kelly and were convicted of the rape and murder of Theresa, yet were later released after the convictions were overturned based on new DNA evidence.

The Press has learned that one of these men, John Kogut of Island Park, was recently incarcerated again, this time in New Jersey for burglary. Kogut, who goes by the alias “Lurch,” dated Kelly, and according to her diary entries, was angered when she tried unsuccessfully to break off their relationship.