Tomorrow Never Came: The Kelcey Fike Case.

Kelcey Renae Fike

She was fun, silly, energetic, happy, and shy, yet feisty. Anyone that met her couldn't help but love her. She had a distinctive laugh and a goldfish tattoo on her back. Kelcey was a free spirit who liked art, dance and music.

Kelcey was born on March 26th, 1987 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona to Mary Jo and Randy Fike.

21-year-old Kelcey was excited about her new job and she had met the love of her life, Alex Young. He was a reservist for the National Guard. After a year of dating, Alex gave Kelcey a diamond promise ring and then the couple temporarily moved into a mobile home in Kearney, Nebraska.

Monday, June 16th, 2008, Alex was out of town when Kelcey came home from work around 5:30 p.m. Around 9 p.m., she took her basset hound, Dante, for a walk. Then Kelcey prepared for an upcoming trip as she talked on the phone to her mother. They ended the conversation with "Love  you, i'll talk to you tomorrow." But, tomorrow never came for Kelcey.

At around 4:30 the next morning, Kelcey's mobile home was ablaze, with her inside. As the smoke alarm in the trailer pierced  the air, all her neighbors could do was call her name and Dante's. By the time the firefighters showed up, the flames were too hot to attempt a rescue. 

When the fire was out and the smoke cleared, Kelcey's body was found on the floor, outside the master bedroom, where the fire had started. Dante was found in the living room, deceased.

Kelcey's trailer was old with a faulty furnace, so it was initially believed that the furnace had caught fire. However, as investigators took a closer look, they noticed that both the front door and the back door of the trailer were unlocked; making it possible for an intruder to enter. Additionally, investigators noted that Kelcey’s body did not appear to be badly burned by the fire. She also had bruises on her upper torso, her arms and her nose had been broken.  There was trauma to her lip as well as her cheek, she had blunt force trauma to her head and she had been manually strangled as well as with a ligature. They also found someone else's DNA on her body, suggesting that someone probably tried to sexually assault Kelcey and she fought back. Authorities now realized they had a murder on their hands that was fueled by a lot of rage. Someone wanted to make sure that Kelcey was dead and used the fire to try to cover it up.

Since it is common practice to look at those that were closest to the victim first, authorities looked at Kelcey's boyfriend, Alex. He was quickly ruled him out since he was far away from the crime scene at the time of the murder.

Investigators looked hard into Kelcey's past, but didn't find anyone that seemed to dislike Kelcey, let alone do the unspeakable things that were done to her. Even her exes seemed to still be on good terms with her. Police just couldn't figure out who would want to kill Kelcey or why. They were pretty sure it was someone that knew her well. Unless you were familiar with where Kelcey lived, her trailer was pretty hard to spot shoved between two businesses. Neighbors also didn't hear Dante barking at all, so he must have knew the perpetrator. There was also the unlocked door and the utter rage of the crime that made it seem personal.

Investigators were able to dig up surveillance footage from across the street from Kelcey's trailer. It showed a car leaving the trailer court the morning of the murder at 4:39 a.m., which was 10 minutes before the fire was reported. Police have not yet been able to identify the vehicle, but it is theorized that it might be a dark colored sedan.

Lab technicians are trying to separate the Kelcey's DNA from that of her killer. The DNA was meshed together by the firefighter's hoses. 

For now, there is nothing else to go on and Kelcey's case remains unsolved.

There is a $30,000 reward in place for any information leading to the capture and conviction of a suspect in Kelcey’s death.

If you have any information, contact Buffalo County Crime Stoppers at (308) 237-3424

I have to wonder if authorities looked into the employees of business on either side of Kelcey's trailer.