Quincy man out on parole dead following Lewis County shootout, wife remains missing

LaBELLE, Mo. — A Quincy, Ill., man, released from the Illinois Department of Corrections in July after serving nine-and-a-half years of a 23-year sentence for home invasion with a firearm, is dead following a confrontation with law enforcement officers on Friday in Lewis County.

At approximately 2:54 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 20, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the Missouri State Highway Patrol regarding a barricaded subject at a residence in LaBelle.

Chadwick Kelly, 33, was holding a woman in the residence against her will. Kelly’s wife, Britney Kelly, had been reported missing by Quincy Police earlier on Friday, but the woman held captive in the residence was not his wife. It also was determined that Kelly was wanted by Illinois authorities for a felony probation warrant and reportedly armed with a gun. The female victim eventually escaped from the residence and had visible injuries.

Negotiators and Special Weapons and Tactical Teams (SWAT) from Troop F (Jefferson City), and Troop C (Weldon Spring) responded to assist with the incident. During the negotiations, Kelly fired numerous rounds from inside the residence toward officers.

At about 10 p.m., Kelly ran from the residence armed with a gun. Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol fired their weapons. The Lewis County Coroner responded to the scene and pronounced Kelly dead.

Kelly was released from the Lawrence Correctional Center in July, where he was serving a 23-year 6-month sentence for home invasion with a firearm. He was on parole after serving less than 10 years of the sentence and had violated parole.

Kelly pled guilty to one count of home invasion and was sentenced to 23 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections by Judge Scott Walden in January 2015. He was one of two men who entered a residence at 900 Locust on the morning of July 21, 2014. He found a gun inside the residence and threatened one of the residents with the gun.

After the alleged incident, the two men went across the street to the Illinois Veterans Home campus. A manhunt ensued that closed off part of the campus and put the site into lockdown for a few hours. Kelly eventually was apprehended five days later by the U.S. Marshals Service in Paris, Tenn.
 

Meanwhile, Quincy Police have issued a missing person report for Britney Kelly, 32. She is 5-foot, 1-inch tall, weighing about 135 pounds with blond hair and blue eyes.

She was last heard from on Dec. 14 in St. Charles, Mo., and was reportedly with Chadwick Kelly at the time. Search warrants have been issued to learn her whereabouts, and the search continues.

The Quincy Police Department is working with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department, St. Charles Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol in this investigation. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Britney Kelly is asked to call the Quincy Police Department or the St. Charles Police Department.

All inquiries on the La Belle incident should be directed to the Missouri State Highway Patrol or the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department.

The La Belle investigation is ongoing by the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control.