NORTH UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Flowers and candles with heartfelt messages that read, “Rest in paradise pretty girl,” and “I will always love you,” now mark the area where Kaitlin Whoolery, 17, was found nearly two weeks ago.
“She’ll be missed,” said Shannon Harden, Whoolery’s cousin. “We didn’t expect to find her like this. We just want answers, honestly. We deserve answers.”
A tip led detectives behind an abandoned home on Hogsett Lane in North Union Township where the teenager’s buried body was discovered.
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Sunday afternoon, Whoolery’s family and friends released balloons, lit candles and made a memorial on the secluded property to remember her and say goodbye.
“She had so much life to live,” Harden said. “She just loved laughing, dancing, music.”
Whoolery’s family had been searching for her for months. She disappeared after she left a group home nearby in Uniontown and went for a walk on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 23, 2023.
Ashley Tarr said she feels lost without her best friend.
“She was my other half. We were together 24/7,” Tarr said. “I just can’t believe she’s gone. It just hurts me knowing that my best friend’s gone.”
Whoolery’s heartbroken grandparents said they’ve raised her since she was a few days old.
“She was a good girl,” said Whoolery’s grandfather Billy Kopocko. “She loved to have fun. She loved the outdoors. We used to go boat riding, camping and stuff.”
Whoolery’s family is now hoping people come forward with information on what led to her death. They said she would’ve turned 18 in August.
“She should be here,” Harden said. “She shouldn’t be on a T-shirt.”
Investigators are still trying to figure out how Whoolery died, which they said could take some time.
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