Timeline: What Happened to Kelly Rothwell?
With the 35-year-old police cadet missing without a trace and no leads to her whereabouts, Patch recreates a time line of her disappearance and the events that followed.
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It has been nearly a month since the Indian Rocks Beach resident Kelly Rothwell disappeared.
There have been no sightings, cell phone calls or credit card purchases that would suggest Rothwell is safe or even alive, since the 35-year-old Indian Rocks Beach woman dropped out of sight on March 12.
As family, friends, associates and police investigators hunt for Rothwell, Patch has created a timeline that marks her disappearance and the events that have followed.
It shows how quickly friends, her immediate family and investigators responded, when Rothwell -- who has been described as dependable -- disappeared.
Rothwell's absence was first noticed when she failed to meet some friends from the police academy for a Saturday night out. She was not at her desk at the St. Pete Police Academy on Monday morning.
The timeline also shows how the departure of David Perry, Rothwell's live-in boyfriend, for New York coincided with her disappearance.
Perry, a 46-year-old retired New York State prison guard, first refused to talk with investigators, but then said last week he does not know what happened to her.
1:30-3:38 p.m., Saturday, March 12th: Rothwell has lunch with friend Donna Scharrett at Chili’s Restaurant on Rt. 19, Clearwater. She leaves the restaurant,telling Scharrett she's headed to her Indian Rocks Beach condominium to break up with live-in boyfriend David Perry. A time stamp on Scharrett's lunch receipt shows the two settling up and heading out at 3:38 p.m. Rothwell drives away in her Subaru.
4:30-5:30 p.m., March 12th: Downstairs neighbor Ken Williamson and his wife hear a loud pounding noise on the floor of Rothwell's condominium, which is directly above the unit where he and his wife live. The pounding sounds like something being dropped on the carpeted floor, Williamson said. It is followed by the sound of a vacuum cleaner running in Rothwell's master bedroom.
6:30 p.m., March 12th: Rothwell is a no-show for a planned get-together at Caddy's, on Sunset Beach, that include some of the cadets at the St. Petersburg Police Academy.
6:30 p.m., March 12th: Scharrett gets a text from Rothwell’s phone, advising that she will call later. Scharrett recalls there are misspellings, which are unusual for Rothwell.
Before midnight March 12th: Perry, Rothwell's live-in boyfriend, leaves Indian Rocks Beach for Elmira, NY. Perry leaves behind many belongings.
10 a.m., Sunday March 13th: Bill Nobles, a police cadet and classmate of Rothwell, calls Scharrett, asking if she has seen Rothwell, who did not show up for the party at Caddy's.
10:15 a.m., March 13th: Scharrett tries Rothwell's cell phone several times, with no answer. Scharrett is worried about her friend's safety, since Rothwell had disclosed that she and Perry have had "domestic" problems. Scharrett calls Nobles back, and he advises her to call the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and ask for a "House Check" for her friend. She contacts the Sheriff's Office, which dispatches a patrol car.
11 a.m., March 13th: Scharrett hears back from the Sheriff's Office that no one is at the condominium and that vehicles belonging to Perry and Rothwell are not in their assigned parking spaces at the condominium complex.
Noon, March 13th: With the help of neighbors who have a key, deputies enter Rothwell's condo and find no one at home.
Early afternoon, March 13th: Rothwell's green Subaru is found a couple miles from her house, parked near a Holiday Inn.
9 p.m., March 13th: Homicide Detective Michael Bailey, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, goes to Scharrett’s home and takes a statement from Rothwell's best friend.
Monday, March 14th: Rothwell does not show up at the St. Pete Police Academy. Prior to this, she has never missed a day of class.
March 14th: David R. Perry, Perry's 21-year-old son, shows up at the condo and tries to remove a cardboard box, which detectives take into their possession and have at this time.
March 15th: Florida detectives make contact with Perry in Elmira, New York, but the retired corrections officer refuses to talk with investigators or to allow New York police to search his car.
Monday, March 21: Nancy Rothwell, Kelly's mother, meets Scharrett at her daughter's condo. She tries to assist in the search for her daughter.
Tuesday, March 22: William Constantine, a close friend of Scharrett, meets Nancy Rothwell at Kelly’s condo. Constantine is a psychic and medium who offers his assistance at no charge to the Rothwell family.
Wednesday, March 23rd: TV's Nancy Grace interviews Rothwell’s neighbor, Ken Williamson, her sister Kristen and psychic William Constantine. The case starts to get national attention.
March 24th: Perry surrenders his car to New York detectives. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office executes a second search warrant of the Indian Rocks Beach condominium that Rothwell shared with Perry.
10:30 a.m., Sunday, March 27th: Detectives with Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Homicide Division, learn David Perry has returned to Florida and is cleaning out a storage locker at a local storage facility. They approach him and ask him to provide a DNA sample. Perry refuses.
Friday, April 1st: New York attorney Thomas Reilly tells the Associated Press that his client, David Perry, did nothing wrong and does not know the whereabouts of Kelly Rothwell. He also asserts his client’s right to refuse to speak to police.
April 1-3rd: Perry is seen driving a gray rental car near his home at 1708 W. Church St., in Elmira, NY.
Wednesday, April 6: Kelly Rothwell is still missing. Friends and loved ones keep vigil for Rothwell via the Facebook Page titled: "Help Find Kelly Rothwell."
Wednesday, April 13: St. Pete Police Academy is scheduled to graduate its spring class of recruits. Rothwell's name is listed among the students, with the notation: "Not in attendance." There will be a candlelight vigil and prayer circle to honor Rothwell following the 6 p.m. graduation ceremony.
diana hartman
12:10 am on Thursday, April 7, 2011
Lots of info here. Would like to know what 3 hour time period David Perry provided for his timeline of events and how it corresponds to this article. Guess the police already checked Sun-pass or EZ- pass records if he had an account to see if it corresponds. Perhaps if color photos of her vehicle and his vehicle were posted, it might jog people's memories of the day Kelly went missing. I am still struck by the comment David Perry. made to police that she failed to show up at a friend's house that I had read on another article when in actuality she was to meet with friends at Caddy's. Regarding getting DNA from David Perry, I guess they could have found his hair on sheets in their condo--or from hair in the condo bathroom drains. I will do more research tomorrow after going through your article more thoroughly and going through other articles on the internet.
Leigh Clifton
8:00 pm on Friday, April 8, 2011
Diana,
Kelly failed to show up to Caddy's on Saturday night.. she was set to meet up with some of the cadets to celebrate their upcoming graduation on April 13th.. One of the cadets , Bill Nobles called Donna on SUNDAY morning to tell her that Kelly never showed up at Caddy's for the party.
Anything else you may have read is erroneous.
Leigh Clifton
Patch Reporter
mark harris
8:59 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2011
With out a body or clear evidence of a crime i,d say it is still a missing person. I would also say let the police investigate this. That is their job and they are professionals. Nancy Grace is an entertainer. I agree that it is very odd that the estranged boyfriend is not cooperating with the police. I would submit that normal human behavior would cause a person to want to cooperate fully if they were innocent and really had nothing to hide. It would allow the police to clear that suspect and move on to focus the investigation. This includes a polygraph. do we as citizens have the right to not cooperate with police? Absolutly. Do we as friends and family have an obligation to help the police determine what happened to a missing loved absolutly. I believe the second outweighs the first. I hate to see any tragedy happened to law enforcement officers of which this young lady was by all accounts on the verge of becomming. lets let the cops do their job. They will find the truth. Thats whythey became cops.
diana hartman
1:00 am on Saturday, April 9, 2011
I am fully aware that missing person cases are treated differently if there is no evidence of a crime. This case is different. I believe that cell phone text messages, calls, pings etc are going to play a big part in this case. Any deleted texts can be retrieved by the cellular company or by someone specialized in cell phone forensics. Perry does have the right to remain silent-- but free speech gives us the right to comment. I had made. other postings on a prior article in which I questioned why Perry was getting a NY state disability retirement pension, and allegedly Social Security Disability benefits, too, for the past 6 years for a bad back after watching The Nancy Grace Show regarding Kelly's disappearance.He seemed able bodied to me based on witnessees saying he vacuumed frequently -- plus jogged, kayaked, and did other water sports. Most likely he got state disability benefits before getting the more lucrative state disability retirement benefits. Websites and addresses to report alleged fraud would involve 3 different agencies. On the 'Find Kelly Rothwell' website on Facebook, I saw that others also questioned his disability--including some former co-workers at the Elmira Correctional Facility. If he committed fraud to get benefits, that's a crime. Kelly's disappearance has brought her family,colleagues, friends, and strangers together from close and far away. Let's do all we can to find her.
Aiyana Baida
8:04 pm on Sunday, April 10, 2011
Thank you for your comments. Please keep continue to post your thoughts on this case. We are committed to bringing you the most updated information on Kelly Rothwell's disappearance.
diana hartman
4:45 am on Monday, April 11, 2011
I am still following Kelly's disappearance in the media. It is also possible --and most likely probable-- that Mr. Perry got Workers Compensation from NY state either before or instead of getting state disability benefits after he was allegedly injured while working as a corrections officer. He then got a retirement disability pension and also supposedly Social Security Disability benefits afterwards. Has anyone from your inewspaper contacted the authorities in New York to inquire about the circumstances of his retirement on disability --and what his disability was? Sounds like it to me that. he is not only in trouble regarding his suspicious activities regarding Kelly's. disappearance-- but also for possibly receiving government benefits he was not entitled to receive since witnesseses have described him as very able bodied. Most likely New York State wil be tightlipped due to confidentiality and won't release any information. However since he had been a public employee, I think we have the right to know this information.
Dierdre Hanshaw
2:20 pm on Tuesday, April 12, 2011
I just wanted to let you all know that all of us here in Telluride, CO that knew Kelly are thinking about and very much appreciate all of what your doing to find her. She is an amazing person, and left behind a lot of friends here that care about her. Please keep up the posts.
Leigh Clifton
3:59 pm on Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Hi Dierdre,
thanks for your kind words.. It seems that Kelly has touched SO many lives.. I feel like I know her well.
In the course of interviewing people for the stories, what emerges is a portrait of a smart, talented, caring woman.
Her sisters are traveling down from Baltimore to attend the Cadet Class 177 graduation Wednesday evening and I will be covering it for Patch.com. She will be honored at the ceremony. Please stay tuned to Patch; I will be writing more articles on Kelly which I hope you will find interesting and informative.
Kindest regards,
Leigh Clifton
Article Author
Patch.com
diana hartman
12:22 am on Monday, May 2, 2011
This is a corrrection to my post of April 7, 2011 in which I indicated that I was struck by a comment Mr.Perry made to police that Kelly failed to show up at a friend's house and he didn't know where she was. According to an article dated March 17, 2011 on abcnews.go by Jessica Hopper, Mr. Perry made that statement to Kelly's sister, Lauren, after she phoned him after the Rothwell family was notified on Monday, March 14th that Kelly was missing. The article is not clear as to whether Lauren spoke to Mr.Perry on March 14th-- but my assumption was that it did. According to the timeline article in Largo Patch, the Florida police did not make contact with Mr. Perry until Tuesday, March 15th. If Lauren had the conversation with Mr. Perry on the 14th, how did he know she was missing? Also, Kelly had failed to show up to meet with friends at Caddy's. Mr. Perry's statement to Lauren that Kelly failed to show up at a friend's house was not true. Have more to say, but I just wanted to correct my earlier post for now.
diana hartman
1:42 am on Monday, May 2, 2011
I am wondering if Donna Scharrett saved the peculiar text message that was allegedly to sent to her by Kelly at 6:30 pm on March 12, 2011. The text had mispellings and was not written in the usual way. If she did not save it, her cellular company can probably give her a copy of it. That text and its mispellings then can be compared to mysterious and sometimes obnoxious text messages that have appeared on websites for Kelly-- that I understand have been copied and forwarded to the police. Of course, using the internet leaves a trail. Although I had been able to post on the Bring Kelly Home website up until an hour or so ago, I now see that there is no box for me to do any further posting. For unknown reasons, I never got a box to post on Kelly's Fan Club site when I tried to leave messages there. Still don’t know why. Have more to say in my next post.
diana hartman
2:20 am on Monday, May 2, 2011
After originally hearing about Kelly missing while watching the Nancy Grace Show and hearing the details, my original thought was that she had been placed in a dumpster at the Holiday Inn near where her car was found. However, that thought changed after I learned that Mr. Perry's son also lived in Florida and worked at another hotel in the vicinity. Then I thought Kelly could have been put in the dumpster there. Of course there are many hotels and commercial dumpsters in the area-- but if someone wants to dispose of a body quickly, he will probably do it where he is familiar with the surroundings. No more news from me for now. I will probably wait to see what CUE Missing Persons search team finds out when they arrive in Florida this week.
diana hartman
4:00 am on Monday, May 2, 2011
Facebook is certainly not for me. Will take awhile to master it. Don't know how Zuckerberg made millions on a site I now consider as dumb, boring or even sinister after only trying to use it for about 3 weeks. In any event, my postings on this article and others are trying to help find Kelly. The internet can also provide clues as to what happened to Kelly if you read all of the posts. I was surprised to find out on the internet that Elmira, NY has a Social Security Office located there. I am wondering if anyone has reported Mr. Perry to the Social Security Administration or to the State of New York for receiving disability pensions for his alleged bad back. Anyone who can jog for miles daily, kayak, vacuum continuously, etc is not disabled to me.
Linda Stovall
9:23 pm on Monday, May 2, 2011
Official Website For Kelly Rothwell
http://helpfindkellyrothwell.com/
Submit a Confidential Tip
http://helpfindkellyrothwell.com/submit-a-tip/
Investigative Agency
Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
727-582-6200
If you have any information on this case please contact CUE Center For Missing Persons at (910) 343-1131 -24 hour tip line (910) 232-1687.
kuaitzudog
6:21 pm on Wednesday, May 11, 2011
posted in local paper, the Corning Leader (Corning,NY) on 05-10-11..
David Perry received more than $107,000.00 in worker's compensation benefits by faking an on the job injury at Elmira Correctional Facility. He then received $400.00 a week in disability retirement. The article states stopping the fraud will save an estimated $300,000.00 in future payments.
Aiyana Baida
1:26 pm on Thursday, May 12, 2011
Thanks for posting that. We have a story on the Rothwell case and how Indian Rocks Beach residents reacted to the media frenzy coming up later today.