Lenexa (Kansas) police reopen 40-year-old cold case: the murder of Joyce Welch, who disappeared after leaving a bar on July 4, 1986. Her body was found in a field two years later.
On July 4, 1986, at around 10:30 p.m., 39-year-old Joyce Welch walked out of Charlie's Bar and Grill in Old Town Lenexa, Kansas, near the corner of Santa Fe Trail Drive and Pflumm Road. She'd had three beers, and friends said she planned to walk the two miles to her home in Shawnee, just north of Lenexa. She originally planned to get a ride home with a friend, but that friend had already left by the time she was ready to leave. A friend, Elaine Parker, told The Star a year after her disappearance that they'd gotten into a small disagreement at the bar, and Parker left without Welch. "I could kick myself a thousand times for not going back in there and making her go home with me," she said. (It's unclear if Elaine Parker was the friend who was originally going to give her a ride home.)
The next day, when she hadn't returned to pick up her car from a friend's house, the friend called Shawnee police. (There is some confusion on this part: The story from the Johnson County Post indicates her purse was found a few blocks away on July 5th, and she was reported missing to the police on July 7th. But an article from The Kansas City Star on July 24th indicates her friends called police on the 5th and says a tip called in to the TIPS hotline the weekend of the 19th and 20th is what placed her near Charlie's a few hours after 10:30 p.m. on the 4th. That Star article also mentions that a passerby found something of hers a few blocks away in a parking lot, but police did not identify what it was they'd found; presumably this is referring to the purse. The article on the first anniversary of her disappearance states her driver's license and sandals were what was found.)
At her home, detectives found unsigned birthday cards and her beloved pet parakeet, Beany. Relatives said she loved Beany so much, she would save all the feathers he would drop. Police said she had plans for lunch dates the following week. She had been an administrator at a retirement home and was attending classes at Webster University to earn her master's degree in psychology.
Police polygraphed several of her acquaintances, but no one appeared deceptive. In September 1986, a man Welch was dating was charged with making a terroristic threat against for calling her and threatening to damage some of her property earlier that year. Although police questioned him after her disappearance, they said they had no evidence he was involved in it, according to the Kansas City Times.
(I found the Times article and was able to find the case online: State of Kansas vs. JOSEPH B KELLY, case number K0050832. He was originally charged March 20th and appeared in court September 10th. At a hearing on October 7th, the judge sustained a motion from his defense attorney to dismiss the case. There is no further mention of him in the stories I could find.)
Joyce G. Welch was born May 3rd, 1947. She was 5'4" and weighed 115 pounds. At the time of her disappearance, she was divorced, and she had no children.
Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to contact the Lenexa Police Department at 913.825.8169 or the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers TIPS Hotline at 816.474.TIPS (8477).
Sources:
Article from the Johnson County Post: https://johnsoncountypost.com/2026/06/26/lenexa-police-ask-for-help-cold-case-murder-289641/
Lenexa Police Cold Cases: https://www.lenexa.com/Government/Departments-Divisions/Police/Police-Cold-Cases
Google Maps directions between Charlie's Bar and Grill and the approximate location where her body was found: https://maps.app.goo.gl/q1eBNjmFP6nkgEeeA
Google Drive link to NewsBank clippings from The Kansas City Star and The Kansas City Times: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16JVHEf92UozTGilXyUG5tGm97g_ogFvC?usp=sharing