Who Killed Kellie Poppleton? Deputies Are Still Searching For Answers Decades Later

FREMONT, CA — Authorities are again asking for help solving the case of a 14-year-old Fremont student who was found dead in the East Bay more than forty years ago.

Kellie Jean Poppleton's body was found lying on the side of Kilkare Road in Sunol on Friday, Dec. 2, 1983, according to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.

Kellie, a student at Conrad Noll School in Fremont, had last been seen on the corner of Darwin Drive and Fremont Boulevard, authorities said.

Witnesses at the time told authorities that they saw a Black Pontiac Trans near where her body was found, authorities said. Authorities did not provide details about Kellie's death.

"On the Case with Paula Zahn," an American true crime documentary series that explores unsolved or cold cases, featured the 14-year-old's death in an episode in 2022.

The episode, titled "A Spiderweb of Tragedy," suggests Poppleton had been badly beaten and had a necktie placed tightly around her neck when authorities found her.

Alameda County Sheriff's Office Detective Ed Chicoine said in the episode that her death was ruled to be caused by asphyxiation due to strangulation and that she had also suffered several head wounds.

"Not one of those wounds seemed like it was necessary," Chicoine says in the episode. "It screamed of a vengeance, a extreme sense of hatred."

"A Spiderweb of Tragedy" can be found on HBO (Season 24, Episode 14).