Orthneil Kelley still goes to the shady cemetery grass to visits his mother’s grave. He’s 39 now. But, he was just 4 years old when he lost her.
It was 1979, when Charolette Kelley was strangled at her Plant City home. After 35 years, her cold case finally has been closed.
The Plant City Police Department announced Aug. 26, that the U.S. Marshal Service arrested Nathaniel Bigbee, 63, in connection to her murder. Kelley shook hands with detectives and smiled at the press conference.
He still will visit his mother’s grave. But now, he’ll have very different news for her.
“She did it,” Kelley said. “She made it happen — that she can get closure. She can rest.”
Kelley was at home with his 7-month-old brother, Antwan, when his mother was murdered. He doesn’t remember much of it — except for holding his baby brother in his arms.
Police said neighbors heard the boys screaming and crying. When they went to investigate, the 25-year-old mother was nowhere to be found.
Two days later, her body was discovered by children playing in a nearby canal.
The police department investigated the case and found drops of blood on Charolette Kelley’s bedding. To police, it indicated foul play. It was these very drops of blood that would help solve the case more than three decades later.
Detectives took DNA samples from the bedding and sealed them into evidence at the station. The evidence had remained there in a time freeze, until technology could help solve the case. That came in 2012, when they reopened it.
“Keep in perspective that this crime occurred in 1979,” said Plant City Police Chief Ed Duncan. “Evidence was collected … that was how we were able to draw on that.”
Bigbee was arrested Aug. 25, in Columbus, Miss. Detectives said he was visiting family in that area but lived in Tampa. Bigbee had been a suspect in the case since the beginning. He also had been interviewed by detectives several times before the arrest.
When he submitted a DNA sample to police, they were able to link him to the crime.
“We believe it was a sexual battery crime — an attempt — that ended her life,” said Robert McLellan, a Plant City detective.
Police said Bigbee and Charolette Kelley were mutual acquaintances. Orthneil Kelley and Bigbee had limited contact in the years after the murder. Police do not know when Bigbee will be brought back to Tampa.
“He took something from me that I never got to enjoy,” Kelley said. “He took my mother away from me. … I wish I could have had my mother around, like I’ve seen so many others.”
Kelley wasn’t told much about the case when he was young.
“But I didn’t ask, either,” Kelley said. “They kept us sheltered and let us live our lives … the first few years were the toughest … kids can be cruel at that age — a lot of name-calling.”
Still, growing up without a mother didn’t hold him back. He completed a successful 20-year career with the U.S. Navy and now works at MacDill Air Force Base. He had known the case was reopened in 2012 and was in contact with detectives throughout the two years.
“Cold cases are very much on the forefront of what we do,” said Troy Walker, assistant special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “Your loved ones are never forgotten.”
The police department partnered with the FDLE and the U.S. Marshals Service to help solve the case. Bigbee will be facing a charge of first-degree murder in an attempt of sexual battery.
“You can run, you can run, you can run, but you can’t hide for too much longer,” Kelley said. “Don’t give up hope that that closure’s coming. Honestly, I never really lost hope.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.