A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Police taking a closer look at famous missing person case that inspired ‘The Bluegrass Conspiracy’ book


By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today

One of Kentucky’s most famous missing persons cases, which was featured in a book and newspaper series, has gotten renewed interest and police are asking for the public’s help in ending the mystery.

Melanie Flynn, a member of a prominent Lexington family that included a state senator and major league baseball player, was last seen in early 1977. Her disappearance was featured in the book “The Bluegrass Conspiracy,” published in 1989 about central Kentucky’s drug trade. She was also the subject of a series in the Lexington Herald-Leader that same year called “Birds of a Feather” about local law enforcement officers and others in central Kentucky involved in the drug trade.

Photographs of Melanie Flynn are from NamUS, which stands for National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

The search for Flynn, who was 24 at the time, had grown cold over the years, but tips to police have prompted new efforts.

Lexington and Kentucky State Police began a search last Friday after they received information that Flynn’s remains may be buried somewhere near Murphy’s Landing, an area along the Kentucky River and U.S. 68 at the Jessamine and Mercer County line.

Investigators are seeking photos of the area from the 1950s through 1970s that may show what buildings or other structures were there at the time and are asking members of the public who have photos from that time to contact them.

Lexington Homicide Lt. Albert Johnson told the Herald-Leader they began the search after an elderly person in another state provided new possible information about her body’s whereabouts, given to him by a key figure in the investigation, who Johnson would not name.

That source told police Flynn’s body was placed in Murphy’s Landing and mentioned “a septic hole.” The KSP told Lexington police another elderly man, who was on his deathbed, passed along similar information about the body’s location, according to the newspaper.

Photos can be emailed to policepio@lexingtonpolice.ky.gov. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Lexington Police by calling 859-258-3600.

Flynn’s father was former Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council member and one-time state Senator Bobby Flynn. Her brother, Doug Flynn, played for the Cincinnati Reds.


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