Renovo Woman Remains Missing
Husband Taken Into Custody in New York State
RENOVO – The husband of a missing Renovo woman was taken into custody in New York state on Friday and was being returned to Clinton County Friday night, this in the wake of a report of a ransom note and a kidnapping.
While the search continued Friday for Kelley Jo Snyder, 34, of Renovo, there were major new developments in the case including the arrest of her husband William “B.J.” Snyder, detained by police in Horseheads, N.Y.
State police at Lamar reported a ransom note showed up Thursday in the mailbox at the Snyder home on Fourth Street in the borough; the note, police said, indicated that Mrs. Snyder was alive and seeking $60,000 for her return.
B.J. Snyder told police he did not know how the note got into the mailbox. This morning he notified police he had received an email from the alleged kidnappers, directing him to a restaurant or his wife would be killed.
According to police, Snyder did not give them the email but said instead he was going to the restaurant. Later, police confirmed, he was picked up by New York state police. Local state police followed with an arrest warrant, charging Snyder with “tampering with or fabricating physical evidence” and the process began to return him to Clinton County.
According to the police criminal complaint, Snyder received an email “from the alleged kidnappers and then left the state . . . with the phone which he received the email on and did not provide a copy of the email” to the police.
Meanwhile state police made a Friday search of Kelley Jo Snyder’s house and car. Officers declined further comment other than to say they are still calling the matter a missing person case.
Kelly Jo Snyder has been missing since Easter Sunday when she left her Fourth Street home to buy two cans of sweet potatoes at the nearby Dollar General Store and has not been seen since. Her husband earlier this week said he didn’t think much about it at first, thinking she probably ran into a friend and was talking. As time went on, he began calling her friends to see if she was visiting. None said they had seen her. He called the state police and reported her missing. Tuesday he told The Record, “I honestly have no clue.” He had been among the searchers looking for Kelley Jo until he traveled to New York state today where police took him into custody.
