Missing wife believed to be killed by husband is found dead in Missouri, cops say
A monthlong search for an Illinois woman believed to have been killed by her husband ended when her body was found in Missouri, authorities said.
Britney D. Hoffman-Kelly was last seen with her husband, Chadwick Kelly, on Dec. 14, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and KSDK. Her body was found in rural Marion County on Jan. 23, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
On Dec. 19, she was reported missing as authorities went looking for Kelly who was wanted by the Illinois Department of Corrections on a felony probation warrant, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Kelly, from Quincy, Illinois, was believed to be in Missouri, deputies said. Then, on Dec. 20, deputies in Lewis County received an emergency call about a woman in distress in LaBelle.
At the scene, they found Kelly’s car, deputies said in a news release. The woman inside was held against her will by Kelly, according to deputies, and she escaped the residence with injuries.
Kelly barricaded himself in the home and was armed, Lewis County deputies said. He fired multiple shots at officers before running out of the home, troopers said.
Officers then shot and killed him, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Family members told KMOV that Hoffman-Kelly dated the man for years before Kelly was sentenced to prison in 2015 on a home invasion with a firearm charge in Illinois.
Kelly was later released on parole, police told KSDK.
Days before Hoffman-Kelly disappeared, she dropped her 10-year-old daughter off at her parents’ home in Illinois and would not tell her mother where she and her husband were going, according to KMOV.
LaBelle is about a 35-mile drive northwest from Quincy. Quincy is about a 135-mile drive northwest from St. Louis.
This story was originally published January 24, 2025 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Missing wife believed to be killed by husband is found dead in Missouri, cops say."
