20 years on: what happened to missing Kellie?
Missing Kellie Pratt. Pic issued by police in 2000.
Twenty years after a woman went missing from the streets of Norwich a new appeal has been launched to help try and solve the mystery of what happened to her.
Kellie Pratt missing. Photo: Bill Smith - Credit: Eastern Counties Newspapers
Kellie Pratt was last seen outside the Rose Inn pub, at the junction of Queen’s Road and City Road in Norwich, at 11.30pm on Sunday, June 11 2000.
Then aged 28, Kellie was working in the red-light area of Norwich when she vanished.
She was seen talking on her mobile phone outside The Rose Inn.
The mother of two was later reported missing by friends after she failed to meet them for a pre-arranged lift, and neither she nor her Nokia 6100 phone have ever been found.
Gloria Carpena. Photo: Steve Parsons - Credit: EDP pics © 2003 (01603) 77243
At the time of her disappearance Kellie was wearing a black mini skirt, black T-shirt and a light blue coat.
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Andy Guy, the major crime review and cold case manager in the joint Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, said: “Despite a major police investigation surrounding Kellie’s disappearance nothing has been seen or heard about her since the last known sighting. Officers took 270 statements at the time and various lines of enquiry have pursued since, but Kellie remains a missing person to this day.
“There is no doubt Kellie had a troubled and difficult life. Her association with drugs and street work left her especially vulnerable.
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“It may be the case that individuals are aware of what happened to Kellie on that Sunday evening. I accept that those involved in drugs or sex work, either as clients or working girls would not usually come forward and engage with police.
EDP 14.08.2000. Picture: Archant Library - Credit: Archant Library
“However, we can treat information within strict confidence should it be necessary to do so. It is now 20 years since Kellie disappeared, it is right that the efforts to find her and what happened to her two decades ago continue.”
Kellie’s mother, Gloria Carpena, died in Newcastle in 2015 without ever knowing what happened to her daughter.
Speaking on one of many harrowing anniversaries Mrs Carpena said in 2010 how she thought of her daughter every day, adding the “not knowing makes it harder”. She said: “Each day I think about Kellie, it doesn’t get any easier.”
Information to the Major Crime Review Team on 01953 423819.
EDP 13.09.2000. Picture: Archant Library - Credit: Archant Library
EDP front page 10.08.2000. Picture: Archant Library - Credit: Archant Library
