Woody Kelly arrived at the boating dock in his typical jovial mood. It was June 8, 1985, a beautiful late spring day in Antioch, Illinois, a town of 14,000 people in the northeast corner of the Illini state, approximately halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. The forty-two-year-old investment counselor wanted to take the Piscator, a forty-two-foot boat he had recently purchased, on a test run in the waters of Lake Michigan. He twice refused the offer of unrelated boat mechanic Dave Kelly to accompany him.

Carrying only his brown-leather briefcase, Woody Kelly boarded the boat and departed the dock at approximately 3:00 p.m., saying he was taking his new toy to Waukegan, twenty miles away. He told his wife Ann he would be home by 6:00.

Six hours later, the boat was found, engine running, drifting offshore on Lake Michigan. A police officer canvassed the craft but found no sign of Woody. It appeared he had fallen overboard and succumbed in the waters. A week long search conducted by the Coast Guard, however, failed to find him.

Woody Kelly’s body never surfaced; the evidence that did surface suggested his disappearance was voluntary as over $6 million dollars of his investors’ money had also disappeared.

 

Woody Kelly

When Woody Kelly moved with his wife Ann and three children to Antioch in 1975, he quickly ingratiated himself into the community. He became active in the Lions and Rotary Clubs and worked to raise money for a number of charitable causes, particularly those involving children.

Active In Antioch

The investment counselor promised clients a 16 to 19% interest on his investments and, for a time, he delivered. For the first few years, investors made money, which meant Woody Kelly made money– lots of it. His reputation spread and he attracted more clients, all willing to give him their savings and let him take it from there.

Woody Kelly’s business flourished and he had no qualms about showing it. He bought four luxury cars, two airplanes, three different homes, and six boats. Perhaps he would have been viewed as ostentatious if he were not so generous; he took his friends and investors on trips on his yacht and invited them to his luxurious lakeside home as well as his vacation homes. As long as he was making his clients wealthy, it was kosher for Kelly to flaunt his wealth.

Soon, however, cracks in Woody Kelly’s façade began appearing and it was probably no coincidence that they, unlike Woody himself, were surfacing at the time of the supposed ill-fated boat ride.

Money Maker

The supposed financial whiz had done away with diversifying his clients’ portfolios. All of the investors’ eggs had been tossed into one basket: Woody Kelly’s pocket.

The same week Kelly disappeared, a client filed a civil suit against him, charging him with improper business practices. An investigation and audit conducted on his business determined $6.5 million of investors’ money was missing. In the aftermath, some investors lost their homes and other properties as a result of Kelly’s pilfering their money.

Money Taker

Ann Kelly was granted a no-fault divorce after her vanished husband’s cons came to light. In 1994, nine years later, the remarried Ann Proctor petitioned the Lake County, Illinois, Court to have Woody Kelly declared legally dead. Such a judgment would have enabled her to collect on his life insurance policies, amounting to $450,000.

The Jackson National Life Insurance Company successfully fought the claim, arguing evidence existed suggesting Woody Kelly was still alive. Lake County Judge Emilio Santi denied Ann’s petition, saying her former husband’s vanishing was too suspicious and that two sightings of him had been reported by acquaintances after his disappearance.

The first sighting, at Tampa, Florida’s Busch Gardens Amusement Park, in December 1990, was later determined to be of man resembling Kelly. The second sighting, in Waukegan, the town Kelly said was his destination on the day of his disappearance, was from a man who served in the Army Reserves with him. Waukegan Fire Battalion Chief James McGrain is certain Kelly waved at him as their respective vehicles were stopped beside one another at a stoplight. Although a local volunteer fire fighter later said he it was he who had waved at McGrain, the Chief remained convinced it was Kelly who had done so.

Not Declared Dead

Woody Kelly’s fate is still the source of gossip in Antioch. He was overweight and out of shape, so it is conceivable he could have had a medical malady and fallen overboard. Or, knowing the law was closing in on him, he could also have decided to take his own life. Some suspected that he had been killed by a former partner-in-crime. Another theory is that a lover picked him up by seaplane or other boat and they either flew or sailed to parts unknown to live on the pilfered riches.

Authorities believe Woody Kelly did not perish after stealing his clients’ money and that he faked his death. Instead of lying at the bottom of Lake Michigan, law enforcement believes he is still laying low, in hiding and living off the money he stole from his investors. Only $68,000 of the over $6.5 million stolen has ever been recovered.

Investigators continue to follow up on leads regarding Woody Kelly’s whereabouts, saying the most frequent tips they receive are of him living a luxurious life either in the Caribbean or in South America. They have never found any evidence, however, supporting those claims.

Thirty-nine years after his boat was found drifting on Lake Michigan, the question remains . . . where is Woody Kelly?

Where’s Woody?

Woodruff “Woody” Scoval Francis Kelly, Jr. is wanted on eighteen counts of fraud. When last seen in 1985, he was five-feet-eleven-inches tall and weighed two-hundred pounds. He had blue eyes, brown hair, and a pudgy frame; if still alive he is likely quite heavy.

Woody Kelly would now be eighty-two-years-old. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Antioch, Illinois, Police Department at (847) 395-8585.

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SOURCES:

• Chicago Tribune
• Daily Herald Arlington, Illinois
• Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
• Unsolved Mysteries