Updated: Sex offenders led police to remains expected to be missing KY disabled woman
There’s a “strong likelihood” that authorities found the body Monday of a Kentucky woman who had been missing for nearly four years in Nicholas County.
Kentucky State Police found human remains in a wooded area while executing a search warrant on Hovermale Lane in Nicholas County Monday. They searched the property after receiving a tip on the whereabouts of Lori Feltz, a 58-year-old Carlisle woman who went missing in December 2016, according to KSP.
“Based on the accurate information that we had about her general location, there’s a strong likelihood that it’s going to be her,” Trooper Cory Elliot told the Herald-Leader. An autopsy scheduled for Tuesday afternoon was expected to confirm the body’s identity, but Elliott said authorities needed further analysis.
Kathy Bauer, Feltz’s sister, also said on social media that the remains were believed to be Feltz.
The discovery came just over a week after two “parties of interest” — Brendan Camous, 27, and Clinton Peterson, 29 — in the case were arrested in Kentucky for failing to register as sex offenders, according to the El Paso County sheriff’s office in Colorado. The El Paso sheriff put out information to locate them. It was believed they were homeless and in Colorado at the time.
Camous and Peterson disclosed the location of the body, according to Elliott. After their arrests, both were ordered to detention pending trial and were put in Central Kentucky jails, according to federal court records. Both men were wanted on felony charges, including failure to register as sex offenders.
“They actually were the ones that provided the tip; that they knew where the deceased person was on a farm which they had been camping in while trying to keep from being apprehended,” Elliott said.
Camous and Peterson are still persons of interest in the case and not suspects, Elliott said. They told police that they found the body four to six weeks after Feltz went missing, according to Elliott. They have not been charged in Feltz’s disappearance, Elliott said.
Bauer told the Herald-Leader that she hoped the family would get answers after Camous and Peterson were apprehended. Peterson’s mother, Penny Snapp, lived near Feltz. In initial searches after Feltz disappeared, a sheriff’s deputy talked with two men who he now believes were Camous and Peterson, though he did not know at the time that they were fugitives, case affidavits say.
The same property that police searched on Monday was also searched on Sept. 18, the day after Camous and Peterson were arrested. But nothing was found, KSP said.
During the second search, authorities found several articles of clothing, KSP said. Hovermale Lane connects to Hick Hardy Road, which is where Feltz lived and where she was last seen, according to KSP.
Bauer said Feltz was “beautiful and sweet.”
“She was very trusting and very happy,” Bauer said. “She deserved better.”
According to the affidavit in Peterson’s case, Peterson was convicted in 2013 of sexual assault of a child in Colorado after he took pictures of sexual conduct with a 3-year-old child. According to the affidavit in Camous’ case, Camous was convicted in 2014 of sexual assault of a child in Colorado after he had sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl.
Peterson and Camous were living together in Colorado when they allegedly stopped reporting to probation officers and had warrants issued for their arrests in early 2015, court documents show.
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 9:05 AM.