NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — It has been a little more than two years since anyone has last seen a Nassau County mother whose disappearance remains a mystery.
Friends and family said 47-year-old Katherine Melissa Bodden-Gelario, who went by Melissa Bodden, would never leave home without saying goodbye to her two sons and elderly father.
“At this point, you know we all want closure for Melissa,” Bodden’s close friend Melissa Durham said. “I don’t know what happened to her, but after two years, I can’t imagine she just ran away.”
Friends and Bodden’s father suspected her boyfriend, Jerry Salis, had something to do with her going missing.
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They said he was the last person to see her. However, police never named him as a person of interest. He was also never charged with any crimes related to her disappearance.
“I want answers,” Melissa Durham said. The close family friend spoke with Action News Jax reporter, Meghan Moriarty on Thursday. “(I) was really good friends with Melissa’s brother. I met him when I was 11-years-old, and so our families have been pretty intertwined.”
The Nassau woman was reported missing on Christmas day in 2019. She was last seen near her boyfriend’s home in Northwest Jacksonville. Her disappearance prompted searches in both counties, but nothing ever turned up.
“We’ve gone through swamps. We’ve gone through tick-infested forests,” Durham said. “I mean we’ve gone anywhere and everywhere.”
The day before Bodden was reported missing, Salis was arrested and charged with armed burglary, grand theft auto, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of drugs.
An arrest report from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reveals Salis was accused of stealing from A1 Septic Service. When officers and a bounty hunter went to his home, Salis “ran from them on a red side-by-side and also threw a gun down while they were chasing him through the woods.”
After pleading guilty, Salis was sentenced on Tuesday to 16 years behind bars for those crimes.
“I think my goal with speaking to you (Moriarty) today is to see if there’s anybody out there that does know anything about what happened, or about where Melissa Bodden is,” Durham said.
If you know anything about Bodden’s disappearance or have seen her please call 904-630-0500, Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS or email JSOCrimetips@jaxsheriff.org. You may also reach out to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office.
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