MURDERED: Kelly Bergh Dove

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It’s 2:31 a.m. on June 18th, 1982. A police car pulls under the gas pump awning of the Imperial gas station in the dead of night with its patrol lights rolling silently beneath rooftop domes. Not much happens in the small town of Harrisonburg, Virginia—in the early 1980s, the population was barely above twenty-five thousand residents. But tonight, something suspicious has been going on at the Imperial. Three separate 911 calls have been made by the same female employee from this gas station in the span of about three minutes, and a patrol officer is finally responding to the disturbance—something about obscene phone calls and some weird guy hanging around the store and harassing the girl who made the calls.

The officer walks into the convenience store where all is quiet—eerily quiet. As far as he can tell, the place is empty. But there’s nothing to indicate any kind of struggled has occurred. The store is neat and orderly. There’s an open magazine on the counter. A partially smoked cigarette smolders in an ashtray. On the surface, everything looks fine. The way someone might have left things if they’d popped out for a bathroom break. But something feels … off. The police officer is aware of the 911 calls and how distressed the young woman had been on the phone. A cursory search of the premises reveals no cars in parking lot, and nobody present anywhere inside the store. And most puzzling: There’s a purse sitting behind the front counter, with money still in it. Something is not right, the officer thinks to himself. So, he calls it in.

That purse belonged to Kelly Bergh Dove. And June 18th is the night she seemingly vanished into thin air. Panicked and fearing for her life, she called authorities from the Imperial gas station multiple times. And in the few minutes it took that police officer to arrive, she had disappeared for good. Here one moment. Gone the next. What happened at the Imperial that night? Who was the strange man hanging around, making Kelly feel unsafe? What did he do? Where did he take her? What happened to Kelly Bergh Dove?

**Kelly Bergh-Dove top row, second from right with her family.**

If you or someone you know have information about Kelly’s case, contact Detective Brooke Wetherell at 540-432-7788. You can also email at Leslie.Wetherell@harrisonburgva.gov. Those who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Solvers at 540-574-5050.

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