The Night Shift Mystery: What Happened to Kelly Dove?

It was 2:27AM on June 18, 1982, when police in Harrisonburg, Virginia, received an unsettling call from 20-year-old Kelly Dove. A young mother of one, Kelly was working the night shift at the Imperial gas station on South Main Street when she reported receiving an “obscene” phone call that left her feeling alarmed.¹ Calm but clearly uneasy, she asked officers to come to the station to check on a man she had seen loitering outside earlier that night.

“This guy came in earlier,” Kelly explained during the call. “He was kind of dressed improperly, but I kind of ignored him. I think it was that guy because he drove through the parking lot a few seconds before I got the call. Could you, you know, have somebody kinda keep an eye out on me?”² Kelly’s mother, Rachel, later said of the call: “She sounds nervous, but not panicky nervous.”

Kelly believed the man, whose behaviour had unsettled her, might have been the caller. Moments after she hung up, she made another call to the police. This time, her voice carried a heightened urgency. The same man had returned, she reported, and he was driving a silver-grey car.

Officers immediately responded to Kelly’s calls and arrived at the Imperial gas station within two minutes of the second call. When they got there, however, Kelly was gone.

The service station was eerily quiet, with no signs of struggle or disturbance. Her purse and keys were left untouched—the keys still sitting in the office cash register. The till had not been emptied, ruling out robbery as a motive, and the magazine Kelly had been reading lay undisturbed on the counter, as if she had simply stepped away for a moment.

The scene was baffling. Kelly’s sudden disappearance seemed to have happened in an instant, without anyone noticing. Her sister, Rose Parnell, later described the unsettling nature of the aftermath: “It looked like somebody, pardon the expression, just went to the toilet.”

The search for Kelly began almost immediately. Police announced that they were looking for the man Kelly had described, whom they believed was responsible for her abduction. He was described as being approximately 25 years old, 5’10” tall, weighing about 150 pounds, with shoulder-length blonde hair. He had been driving a silver, late-model car, possibly a Ford.

Kelly’s husband, Dale Dove, was devastated but determined to do something. Speaking to The Daily News Leader, he described driving around the area in search of his wife, though he knew the odds were slim. “I know it’s a wild goose chase,” he admitted, “but it’s better than sitting around,” he said.³

Kelly’s sister Debbie Parnell, who also worked at the service station, revealed that the women had dealt with inappropriate and obscene behaviour during their night shifts on multiple occasions. “We get those all the time,” she said. But nothing had ever escalated to this extent. The family was desperate for answers and left no stone unturned. Debbie mentioned they had even used a four-wheel-drive vehicle to scour the surrounding mountains for any trace of Kelly.⁴

The Night Shift Mystery: What Happened to Kelly Dove?

Despite their efforts, days turned to weeks without any leads. Lt. Hubert Myers told reporters that police had learned “nothing, absolutely nothing” that could help locate Kelly. On June 29, in an attempt to encourage tips from the public, an anonymous individual offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Kelly’s abductor.⁵ Unfortunately, however, nobody could offer any further insights.

The community remained on edge, disturbed by the brazen nature of Kelly’s abduction and the lack of evidence or witnesses. Police speculated that the same man may have visited another convenience store about half an hour before Kelly disappeared, raising concerns that he had been scoping out potential victims. According to a clerk at a Hop-In convenience store, a man driving a similar vehicle drove by three times slowly at about 2AM. She said that a man driving the same vehicle had exposed himself to a female employee about two weeks earlier.

While police initially believed that the man who exposed himself at the gas station was the same individual who abducted Kelly Dove, their perspective began to shift by late July 1982. Lt. Hubert Myers offered a nuanced take, explaining why the theory might not align with the evidence. “It doesn’t fit the pattern,” he stated. “An exhibitor wants to be seen and not caught. An obscene caller wants to be heard and not caught. The abductor doesn’t fit either of those descriptions.” Myers also noted that Kelly’s disappearance was unprecedented in the area: “We’ve had women abducted and raped and let loose, but never anything like this.”⁶

By this point in the investigation, police had received an overwhelming 500 to 600 tips from individuals who believed they had seen Kelly or encountered someone who had exposed themselves. Detectives diligently followed up on each lead, but every single one proved to be a dead end. Frustrated but undeterred, detectives even turned to unconventional methods in their search for answers.

In a move that marked a first for the Harrisonburg police, they consulted a psychic. The psychic claimed to see visions of roads, a residence, and a burial site—details that matched areas within Rockingham County. She further suggested that the abductor drove a refrigerated truck and might have recently injured his knee. While some of the descriptions led detectives to specific areas for searches, they yielded no new evidence.⁷

Despite the passage of time, investigators clung to hope. Lt. Myers expressed cautious optimism, stating, “We will find her sooner or later. We’re hoping she’s alive, but as every day goes by it’s a strike against us.”⁸

One alternative theory briefly considered by detectives was that Kelly had left voluntarily, but her family firmly rejected this idea. Her husband, Dale Dove, was adamant that Kelly would never abandon her life and responsibilities. “There’s no way she would have gone off on her own,” he said. “Not with the money and cigarettes there and the magazine open—and her little girl.” Dale believed that the abductor must have been armed to have overpowered Kelly, describing her as “a right smart scrapper” who wouldn’t have entered a vehicle willingly.

Kelly’s mother also weighed in, voicing her heartbreak and frustration. After listening to Kelly’s final call to police, she believed the abductor had already entered the store before Kelly hung up. She criticized the initial police response, stating, “I felt like they should have been more concerned about her and gone on the first call instead of waiting for the second one. If they had, she would have been saved.”

As weeks turned into months and months into years, hope began to dwindle. In 1995, more than a decade after Kelly’s disappearance, her sister Elaine reflected on the enduring pain of uncertainty. “You don’t get your hopes up,” she admitted. “At first, we did. But after such a long time, you don’t.” The family had come to accept the likelihood that Kelly was no longer alive.

Even as time marched on, Harrisonburg police continued to pursue leads. Each year, they followed up on two or three reports of unidentified bodies across the United States, comparing dental records in the faint hope of finding Kelly. Yet none of these efforts ever bore fruit.⁹

In 2007, more than 25 years after Kelly Dove’s disappearance, Lt. Kurt Boshart, spokesperson for the Harrisonburg Police Department, reaffirmed that her case remained open, though classified as cold. “Kelly is still a missing person,” he stated, underscoring the department’s commitment to keeping her file active despite the lack of recent developments.

Kelly’s sister, Elaine, expressed deep frustration with what she perceived as a lack of progress. “I feel like they’ve forgotten her,” she said. “I know they’ve got other cases, but I feel like her file has been put back in a box to collect dust.”

The family also shared a lingering grievance about the handling of the investigation in the critical hours following Kelly’s disappearance. When they arrived at the scene around 4AM on June 18, 1982, they were shocked to find that police had not cordoned off the area. Customers had reportedly wandered in, unsure whether the store was open or closed. Such oversights fuelled the family’s sense that crucial evidence might have been lost or contaminated in those early hours.¹⁰

Despite decades of heartbreak and unanswered questions, Kelly’s family has never stopped seeking justice. They continue to advocate for public attention to her case, hoping someone might come forward with the key piece of information needed to solve the mystery.

Anyone with information about Kelly Dove’s case is encouraged to contact Detective Leslie Wetherell at 540-432-7788 or via email at [email protected]. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through Crime Solvers at 540-574-5050.

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