OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – A teen girl missing for decades -- family and friends holding onto hope that answers will still come. A grief that doesn’t go away.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026, marks 44 years since Kellie Marie Brownlee was last seen. The 17-year-old girl disappeared on May 20, 1982.
Kellie had skipped school to go to the mall to submit job applications. A friend’s mother saw her at the Twelve Oaks Mall at around 11 a.m. that day.
She was last seen wearing white pants, a halter top with another shirt over it, and high-heeled shoes.
Kellie’s friend, Carrie Oswald, opened up to Local 4 about their friendship and her grief.
“Kellie was a bouncing person with joy. When she walked in a room, you knew. She was laughing, bubbly, big smile. Back then, it was big hair 80s. She just glowed, and her philosophy, which I’ve said many times, was live, love, and laugh. She just cared tremendously about everybody in her circle,” Carrie said.
The two met in high school when Carrie was a freshman and Kellie was a sophomore. Her favorite memories of her friend were going to the arcade, listening to Ozzy Osbourne, and grabbing coffee at the Big Boy.
Even though it’s been over four decades, Carrie still hopes they’ll find answers in this case.
“It would bring peace. It would bring a lot of closure to a lot of us who continue to look for her and hope and pray that someday she will be found. Is that ever gonna happen? I don’t know, but it’s a grief that doesn’t go away. It subsides once in a while, but it comes right back at you,” Carrie said.
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Possible ties to suspected serial killer?
In May 2018, officials searched a wooded area in Macomb Township for the bodies of missing persons they believe could be connected to suspected serial killer Arthur Ream. It was the same area where police previously found the body of Cindy Zarzycki, a 13-year-old girl who disappeared from Eastpointe in 1986.
During the May 2018 search, Local 4 learned that authorities were investigating whether Ream was a serial killer linked to the disappearances of Kimberly King, Kim Larrow, and Brownlee.
Carrie does not believe Arthur Ream was involved.
“At one point, I did think Arthur Ream was involved. I actually went up to Michigan, to the Macomb County dig site. I don’t really think it was him,” Carrie said.
---> Previous coverage: Novi teen linked to suspected serial killer last seen 40 years ago at Twelve Oaks Mall
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the West Bloomfield Police Department at 248-975-9200.
If you have a missing persons case you’d like Local 4 to cover, reach out to Kayla Clarke at kclarke@wdiv.com, or the Investigators at Local 4 at Local4Investigators@wdiv.com.