It seems the stuff of urban legend. Someone leaves their house with only the clothes they are wearing, walks away or gets into a car and drives away—never to be seen again.

But it does happen, as it did with Norma M. Maynard, a 61-year-old Boone, Iowa, woman who disappeared on February 3, 1979. And it occurred in the early morning hours of Wednesday, May 18, 2005, when 83-year-old Helen Jean Kelly drove away from her home at 3646 Court Street in Sioux City, Iowa, without her purse, and disappeared.

Helen Kelly

Descriptions of Helen—a Caucasian female with grey hair and brown eyes who was 5-feet-5 and weighed 115 pounds—and her car—a gold 2000 Honda Accord with Iowa license plate 953EDK—were released to the media.

Tips of sightings came in but did not lead to Helen’s recovery. In July of 2005, a boat ramp on the Sioux City side of the Missouri River was checked by the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, but there were no signs of Helen or her Honda.

Helen was born August 26, 1921 in Sioux City, Iowa, the last child of 10 in the Josephine “Jessie” Marie Hensler and Anton “Anthony” Braunger family. He father was a German butcher who came to the United States and built a large and lucrative meat market in Sioux City.

In 1947, she married Arthur Lennon Kelly, the former publisher of the Sioux City Tribune and later the General Manager of KTRI radio station. They had two children—Anne Kelly Krause and Anthony “Tone” Kelly—and four grandchildren.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Sioux City Police Department at 712-279-6440 or Crimestoppers at 279-258-8477 (258-TIPS).

Below are side, front, and rear views of a gold 2000 Honda like the one Helen Kelly was driving.