PORTAGE, Mich. — Carlos Watts Jr., 38, has been charged with the murder of a Portage mother who went missing in December 2022.
Heather Kelley, 35, is a mother to eight children and was last seen in December 2022. Her car was later found abandoned. It had been set on fire, and investigators found her clothes and blood inside.
The Kalamazoo County Prosecutor's Office shared additional details about those charges Wednesday morning and disclosed the FBI and other federal investigators have assisted in the case.
Investigators have not recovered Kelley's remains, but feel they have enough probable cause to charge the man she had been in a relationship with.
"It's the evidence in total in this case," Prosecutor Jeff Getting said about why his office decided to charge Watts Jr. in her killing.
If convicted of open murder, he faces life without parole.
Watts Jr. is currently in federal custody for an unrelated case. Court proceedings to bring him back to face these charges are pending.
Watts Jr. had been previously convicted of drug and gun charges and began his supervised release from prison in July 2022.
On Dec. 12, 2022, while staying at the Kalamazoo Probation Enhancement Program (KPEP), Watts Jr. was caught on surveillance footage taking a pair of scissors from the desk and cutting off his ankle monitor.
He took all of his belongings and left KPEP through an emergency door without permission, violating his term of custody in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as ordered by the court.
KPEP notified law enforcement of the escape and on Dec. 14, 2022, police found Watts Jr. at a house in Battle Creek. He barricaded himself in the house before eventually surrendering to the police to be arrested.
Watts Jr. was charged with escape for this incident.
During the second half of 2022, Watts Jr. had a relationship with Kelley. According to court documents, the two planned to move in together and Watts Jr. tried to support her and her children while they were together.
Kelley was last seen leaving her home at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022. Police said she was last heard from about an hour later when she called her children around 10:20 p.m. and said she would be home shortly.
Kelley never returned home and her truck was found abandoned near the intersection of Sprinkle and E. Michigan the next day, the sheriff's office said.
Authorities asked the public to keep an eye out for her and indicated there was evidence she may have been the victim of a violent crime.
On Feb. 8, 2023, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office said the case transitioned to a homicide investigation.
Authorities have not shared how Kelley died.
The Sheriff's Office also said the person of interest in the case, who has been confirmed to be Watts Jr., was in custody elsewhere on an unrelated charge.
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