A 37-year-old Tacoma, Wash., man was arrested Tuesday, hours after the body of his pregnant ex-girlfriend was found at the bottom of a cliff in a nearby city, authorities say.
The woman, identified as Kassanndra Cantrell, 33, of Parkland -- about 10 miles south of downtown Tacoma -- had been missing for nearly a month, Q13 FOX of Seattle reported.
“This is a sad ending but this is the ending we expected,” Det. Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, told the News Tribune of Tacoma. “At least now we can get closure for the family.”
Marie Smith, the victim’s mother, recalled the last time she saw her daughter.
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“She said, ‘I love you.’ I said, ‘I love you too,’ and that was the last time I talked to her,” Smith said, according to KREM-TV of Spokane.
The suspect, who was not immediately identified, was expected to face first-degree murder charges, Q13 FOX reported.
The investigation had focused on the boyfriend almost immediately. The woman had been reported missing by family members two days after leaving the family’s home Aug. 25. They had become concerned when Cantrell missed a scheduled ultrasound appointment regarding her pregnancy, the newspaper reported.
Cantrell’s body was found in University Place, a small city about 6 miles west of downtown Tacoma.
Authorities said their investigation led them to an intersection in University Place, where they found the woman’s body about 100 yards down the cliff, the News Tribune reported.
The location was determined from GPS data obtained from the boyfriend’s truck, authorities told Q13 FOX.
Previously, investigators had obtained security-camera video showing the boyfriend arriving at a Tacoma parking garage in Cantrell’s Mazda 3 sedan and leaving in a truck, the News Tribune reported.
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Divers also recovered Cantrell’s cell phone from waters off Owen Beach, about seven miles north of where the body was found.
On Tuesday, crews used ropes to recover the body from below the cliff, according to the newspaper.
After the body was found, SWAT team members arrested the boyfriend at his home and prepared to book him into the Pierce County jail, Q13 FOX reported.