The Last Snow Day: What Happened to Kelly Hollan?
A 6-year-old went out to play in the snow and vanished; nearly four decades later, what happened to him is still a mystery.
Kelly Hollan had an unexpected day off from kindergarten on February 12, 1982. Knotts County, Kentucky had been hit with a heavy snowstorm and school had been canceled as a result. After he ate breakfast, he begged his mother, Judy Moore, to be allowed to go out and play in the snow. Judy initially told him no; Kelly had asthma and she didn’t think it was a good idea for him to go out in such cold weather. Eventually she gave in to his pleas, though, and helped him put on snow boots and his heavy winter coat. After cautioning him not to leave the yard, she sent him outside at 11:00 am.
Judy had been a very young mother. She dropped out of school when she was just 14 years old and married Bobby Hollan. By 1974, the couple had two children, Robert and Margaret. A third child had been born premature and only survived a few weeks. Neither Bobby nor Judy had a job; Judy said she had epilepsy that prevented her from working. The state of Kentucky removed Robert and Margaret from the home, ruling that Judy wasn’t taking adequate care of them. Her parents stepped in and took custody of both children, but it wasn’t long before Judy got pregnant again. Kelly was born in November 1975; the state of Kentucky doesn’t appear…