Last week, the search for a missing pregnant woman in Washington has officially ended.
A body believed to be Kassandra Cantrell, 33, was found in a ravine last Tuesday — almost a month after she vanished a day before her sonogram appointment, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. Police have since charged her ex-boyfriend with the crime.
Cantrell was officially reported missing on August 27. And one day later, her white Mazda was discovered in abandoned downtown Tacoma, near an overpass on Interstate 705. The keys were still inside. And according to her mother, that detail was disturbing.
“I told police, ‘There is no reason for her to ever be in that area,'” the mother recalled. Cantrell’s family also urged how there was no way she would skip her first ultrasound appointment.
Surveillance footage recovered from the area where Cantrell’s car was found showed a person walking from her car to a nearby parking garage, and then climbing into truck and driving away. When investigators ran the license plate on the truck, they traced it back to a familiar name: Colin Patrick Dudley, 37…Cantrell’s ex-boyfriend. And it should be noted, they did not end things on a good note.
Police obtained a warrant to search Dudley’s home on September 1, where he was living with his new girlfriend. They additionally seized a truck he was seen driving away in on the surveillance video — which led to the incriminating clue: where he had driven in the hours after Cantrell disappeared.
According to GPS data from inside the truck, investigators were led to a wooded area on Chambers Creek Road. It was in that spot along with the help of a search and rescue team that Tacoma Police found a body.
“At approximately 2:00 p.m., our detectives found a set of human remains that were wrapped and disposed of over a steep hillside along Chambers Creek,” said Pierce County Detective Ed Troyer, reports Fox 13.
Records show he has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held at the Pierce County Jail.
An update was shared on a GoFundMe page created by her twin brother Robert last week.
“It is with a sad heart that I write this,” reads the update, which was written by Robert’s wife, Angela. “Kassanndra has been found, but not in the way we had hoped. I would like to help the family by changing the original search funds to memorial funds. No parent expects to have to bury their child and not under these circumstances. It is my hope that we can raise money to help lay Kassanndra to rest with all funds raised.”
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While an official confirmation is still pending from the medical examiner, a high-angle ropes operation was then employed to recover the remains which are believed to belong to Cantrell. A short time after, a SWAT team arrested Dudley at his home.
“This is a sad ending but this is the ending we expected,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Troyer said, reports The News Tribune. “At least now we can get closure for the family.”
Cantrell had dated Dudely years ago, according to Smith, claiming he was a “jerk,” and broke it off. She then revealed how the two recently gotten back in touch and had even been spending time together. Smith revealed how Cantrell had been withholding the identity of her baby’s father until her death. That being said, following her disappearance, a friend informed Smith how Cantrell had confided in her that Dudley was the father.
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