Fulton County cold case: Johnstown mom still missing after 16 years

JOHNSTOWN, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- This past Monday marked 16 years since a Johnstown mother, Kellisue Ackernecht, went missing after work. With little evidence other than Kellisue's husband's puzzling burning car, police said the night remains a mystery.

Around 9:35 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2008, Kellisue Ackernecht locked the doors and shut the lights at the Amsterdam Rite Aid where she worked as a shift supervisor. She walked out into the parking lot with a female coworker before they parted ways to their cars. According to police, that coworker was the last person to see Kellisue.

She never returned home. Instead, around 1:58 a.m. on Oct. 1, 2008 police found a burning car near an area known as 'Frog Hollow' in Johnstown. Officers identified that the car belonged to Jayson Ackernecht, Kellisue's husband. It was the vehicle that Kellisue used to drive to and from work.

Police said Jayson submitted a missing persons report the next morning around 5 a.m. Since then, Johnstown Police Chief David Gilbo has been searching for answers.

“There were no footprints in the dew or anything," said Chief Gilbo. "Back to Kellisue’s house and there were no footprints there either."

Chief Gilbo has followed 467 leads to date in this case. Some of those starting with the burning car, begging the question on whether or not it was intentionally set on fire.

“That car burned for over 45 minutes in a residential area," said Chief Gilbo. "Why you would do that, makes no sense from a criminal standpoint of if you’re trying to get rid of something."  

Chief Gilbo said officers looked through the entire car and couldn't find anything other than some documentation that identified it belonged to Kellisue's husband. He also mentioned that police know her body wasn't burned in the car because there were no human bone fragments found in the car, and no traces of a burnt body.

Throughout the years, officers have conducted two controlled vehicle burns to better understand where the fire could've started, and how. Ultimately, they still have no definitive answer. However, Jayson told police that the car was experiencing overheating trouble and Kellisue was trying to figure out where that was coming from.

“There's so many scenarios in 16 years that I’ve run through in my head that we’ve tracked down," said Chief Gilbo.

With no footprints, no reports of anyone seeing her, the possibilities are widespread. Chief Gilbo said its possible something bad happened to Kellisue on her drive home and she could be dead. But its also possible that she got into another car, and could still be alive today.

“I’ve worked every other cold case we have in this county and right now there's four I think, we still have, and this is the most aggravating because there is nothing to start with, nobody’s ever said to me I saw her that night," said Chief Gilbo.

Chief Gilbo believes if this had happened today, there's no way police would have missed it.

“In today’s society we’ve got cameras all up and down Main Street, we would've seen her driving in the city either coming in or at some point," said Chief Gilbo.

Over the last 16 years, police have gathered 52 pieces of evidence, conducted over 300 police interviews, and printed dozens of flyers with the help of Kellisue's daughter, Ashley.

Chief Gilbo said the search is not over. The most recent lead the police department received was just three days ago. His goal is to bring Ashley some closure.

“We’re doing as much background as we can, the problem is that there's probably two to three people in this community that know exactly what happened," said Chief Gilbo. "We’re trying to get information to narrow down who those two or three people are.” 

According to police, Kellisue was scheduled to work at Rite Aid the next morning, Oct. 1, 2008, at 8:30 a.m., and even made plans with her assistant manager to have McDonalds breakfast together. Kellisue would be 51 today.

Anyone with information on Kellisue's disappearance is asked to contact the Johnstown Police Department at (518) 736-4020 or email: crimetip@cityofjohnstown.ny.gov.