Who was Kelsie Schelling and what happened to her? Details explored on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode 

Oxygen's Dateline: Secrets Uncovered latest episode investigates the murder of a 21-year-old pregnant student, Kelsie Schelling in 2013.

Kelsie Schelling was a college student living in Colorado who had dreams of pursuing psychology before she went missing one day after work and never returned. Almost three years after her disappearance, the police arrested her boyfriend, Donthe Lucas, who was the primary suspect in his girlfriend's disappearance.

Even after catching and putting Schelling's murderer behind bars, the police could not find her body, which remains a mystery till now.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will air on January 22, 2025, at 8 pm EST on Oxygen, and will investigate this incident of the tragic death of the 21-year-old:

"Kelsie Schelling disappears one night after leaving work, leading family and investigators on a four-year hunt to find the pregnant 21-year-old; cell phone records reveal what happened to Kelsie."

More on Schelling's case on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered in our story.

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Dateline: Secrets Uncovered - Exploring Kelsie Schelling's relationship with her boyfriend

Schelling met her boyfriend Lucas in Northeastern Junior College, and the two quickly started dating after they met in 2010. But soon after this relationship began, she discussed with her friends how Lucas was physically abusive to her. As seen in the Dateline episode, Schelling was vocal about the problems within her relationship with Lucas.

In 2012, Schelling and Lucas both left college in between, and Kelsie's mother noted that her daughter revealed that she was pregnant. It was noted that Lucas was not thrilled about her pregnancy and did not want this responsibility yet.

On February 3, 2013, Schelling was working a job at Floor & Decor, and her boyfriend texted her to drive to his grandmother's house in Pueblo as he had a 'surprise gift' for her.

The police found Schelling's abandoned car near Pueblo, and earlier video footage also showed an unidentified man driving her car at a Pueblo Walmart.

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Dateline: Secrets Uncovered -- Kelsie's boyfriend was charged with her murder after three years

While Lucas was the prime suspect in Kelsie's murder, there was no evidence linking him to her disappearance before the video footage, In addition, as confirmed by Kelsie's family on Dateline, Lucas made up stories about Kelsie wanting to go to California, which made the police look in that direction.

While Kelsie's family confirmed that Lucas had murdered their daughter the police could not charge him due to insufficient evidence.

After almost three years, Lucas' new girlfriend contacted the police to report that he admitted to being the unidentified man who was driving Kelsie's car in the footage. This gave the police a warrant to open his text messages, which confirmed that he was constantly in touch with Kelsie in February 2013 and asked her to come to his grandmother's house in Pueblo, where he murdered her.

Assistant District Attorney Tony Marzavas told Dateline:

“He was not interested in being a father or being connected to Kelsie in that particular way...He was very hesitant to have her go through with the pregnancy.”

He was charged with her murder and given life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Kelsie's body remains a mystery till now:

“I really did not gain any comfort or peace; it’s a hollow victory… I didn’t get her back, and that’s what I wanted the most.”, Kelsie's mother

Catch the full episode on Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen.

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