GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. (WCTV) – Money is now being offered for information in the 2025 death of an 18-year-old, which the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office is now calling a homicide.
Crime Solvers is now offering up to $5,000 for information on the death of Patrick Kelly Jr.
His family says they want people to remember him as a loving, spiritual and resilient man who cared about his family and others.
Kelly’s family says words can’t explain how difficult this past year has been for them and hopes this reward will help them finally get justice and closure.
“No mother should have to go through what I’m going through,” Crystal McMullen, Kelly’s mother, said. “So, it would mean the world to me and my family if we got justice.”
GCSO said Kelly was found dead after being reported missing last year in Tallahassee.
TPD reported him missing on April 7, 2025. They said he had last been seen two days before in the Jackson Bluff Road area.
About a week later, GCSO said his body was found at the Ochlocknee River boat ramp in Midway.
Initially, TPD said they suspected no foul play. However, the sheriff’s office now says his death is considered a homicide.
Kelly’s grandmother, Alice Lewis Kelly, shared how difficult this has been for their family.
“In my mind, the tragedy of his life being lost in a situation where he was not a swimmer, he wasn’t a person that was in trouble with anything, and he was getting ready to graduate from school, and he ended up in a river on Palm Sunday,” Alice said. “So, three days his body was in the water. And it came up out the water. So, in my mind I was thinking about the birth of Jesus Christ and about the life of Jesus Christ.”
WCTV has reached out to the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office asking why they now believe this is a homicide. They declined to share more details, citing their active investigation.
“It would be the will of God, it would be a great thing to have closure to this situation because this is a tragedy,” Alice said. “No one was planning and would never thought it would happen to our family but someone, as far as the life of him being him as young as he is, 18 years of age, it’s just been devastating for us.”
Those with information are asked to contact Crime Solvers at 850-574-TIPS.
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