Body of missing pregnant woman found over cliff in University Place
The body of Kassandra Cantrell, a pregnant Parkland woman missing nearly a month, was found Tuesday over a cliff in University Place.
A Pierce County sheriff’s SWAT team arrested her 37-year-old ex-boyfriend at his Tacoma house hours after the discovery. He is expected to be booked into Pierce County Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder.
Cantrell, 33, was last seen leaving her family’s home the morning of Aug. 25.
Relatives reported her missing two days later, concerned that she’d missed her first ultrasound appointment.
Pierce County sheriff’s detectives almost immediately narrowed in on an ex-boyfriend believed to have fathered Cantrell’s baby.
They recovered surveillance video after Cantrell’s Mazda 3 sedan was found abandoned in Tacoma showing the ex-boyfriend arrive at a parking garage in her vehicle and leave in a truck.
Divers also recovered Cantrell’s cell phone in the waters off Owen Beach.
Just before noon Tuesday, the investigation led detectives to 64th Street West and Chambers Creek Road in University Place, where they found Cantrell’s body about 100 yards down a cliff.
Rescue crews used a high-angle ropes operation to recover the body.
“This is sad ending but this is the ending we expected,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. “At least now we can get closure for the family.”
Investigators, assisted by the FBI, earlier this month searched the ex-boyfriend’s Tacoma house in the 3500 block of South K Street.
The man lives there with his current girlfriend, authorities said.
When interviewed, he allegedly said he hadn’t seen Cantrell in years.
They seized his truck — the one he drove away from the parking garage where Cantrell’s car was found — and analyzed GPS data about where he had recently driven.
That led investigators Tuesday to search the area along Chambers Creek Road, where they found a woman’s body wrapped and tossed over a hillside.
Although the Sheriff’s Department believes it is Cantrell, the Medical Examiner’s Office will positively identify her after an autopsy.
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 5:41 PM.
