For Marie Smith, the realization that her daughter Kassanndra Cantrell were lacking for greater than two days used to be nearly greater than she may take.
Marie Smith: I known as everyone … any one I may suppose of, and no person had heard from her. … I used to be … hoping that she could be alive someplace (emotional).
Marie Smith: I by no means concept … that I’d be the individual sitting right here … speaking about my daughter. … I sought after her discovered.
Kristi Sinclair: I do not even understand how to provide an explanation for how wrenching it’s.
Smith’s shut pal, Kristi Sinclair, says it used to be agony.
Kristi Sinclair: This cannot be going down. This is not actual. … she misplaced her telephone. She misplaced her automobile. She had no cash. … I do not know. … Anything however what you do not want to take into consideration, the rest however that (emotional).
As Kassanndra’s circle of relatives and pals grappled together with her disappearance, police were given to paintings. Pierce County Sheriff’s Detective Franz Helmcke used to be assigned to the case. His first step used to be to communicate to those that knew Kassanndra absolute best.
Natalie Morales: How did Marie describe Kassanndra?
Det. Franz Helmcke: Normal.
Natalie Morales: Responsible.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Yeah. Responsible. She would name and let her know the place she used to be going.
Kassanndra Cantrell/Instagram
Detective Helmcke realized Kassanndra used to be shut together with her circle of relatives and just right about staying in contact. She loved making YouTube buying groceries movies and beloved being on degree. She’d even as soon as joined a native manufacturing of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the place folks act along the film. Smith says it used to be a easiest have compatibility for her daughter.
Marie Smith: She used to be with a staff of individuals who have been … a little wacky like her.
Cheri Mueller: She used to be just right. … She used to be simply lovely.
Cheri Mueller, the display’s manufacturer, remembers Kassanndra’s herbal skill.
Cheri Mueller: She used to be enjoying a personality by way of the identify of Janet Weiss … She additionally realized the personality of … Columbia.
By all accounts, at the time of her disappearance, Kassanndra used to be a glad 33-year-old, and now not somebody who would run off.
Det. Franz Helmcke: This wasn’t the — the standard … lacking person who used to be going to come house in a — in a couple of days.
Detective Helmcke canvassed the house round the place Marie and Kassanndra lived and discovered, on a neighbor’s safety digicam, a clip of Kassanndra’s white Mazda on the morning of August 25. It used to be observed leaving the community.
Natalie Morales: Did you notice any video of the automobile coming again?
Det. Franz Helmcke: No.
As the hours ticked by way of and not using a signal of Kassanndra, her circle of relatives and pals attempted to stay hopeful. It used to be in particular tough for Kassanndra’s dual brother, Rob. Growing up, the two have been inseparable and would keep up overdue at evening to watch frightening motion pictures.
Natalie Morales: She used to be by no means scared of that stuff?
Rob Cantrell: No.
Natalie Morales: No? Wow. She’s tricky —
Rob Cantrell: We laughed at maximum of it.
Natalie Morales: OK. She’s a tricky woman, then.
Rob Cantrell: Yeah.
As they were given older, their shared hobby for motion pictures advanced into amassing memorabilia. They even dreamed of opening their very own collectibles store.
But as shut as they have been, Rob could not consider the place his sister went, and he used to be full of regret about their remaining dialog.
Rob Cantrell: We have been having an issue … she sought after to in fact come over on the twenty fifth … however I disregarded her.
The twenty fifth of August 2020 – the day Kassanndra went lacking.
Natalie Morales: That’s a giant be apologetic about I consider nonetheless for you.
Rob Cantrell: Yeah, as a result of then she most definitely would have informed me what she used to be doing that day. And I’d have … a minimum of recognized … the place she had long past.
Kassanndra’s circle of relatives and pals arranged searches.
Natalie Morales: I will be able to’t consider what that should really feel like to be in the market looking out and — and understanding what you may be able to be searching for.
Kristi Sinclair: You put it in the again — you do not take into consideration that. … simply lend a hand me to find a clue, lend a hand me to find a clue.
KIRO
And then, 3 days after Kassanndra vanished, police discovered her white Mazda unlocked with the keys nonetheless inside of.
Det. Franz Helmcke: It used to be … nearly beneath Interstate 705 … which … is going into the middle of the downtown Tacoma.
It’s an commercial house the place teams of homeless folks frequently camp.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Her automobile’s in the house. … did one thing occur down right here?
Natalie Morales: Strange position for a younger woman to park a automobile then —
Det. Franz Helmcke: Yeah.
Natalie Morales: — and then move lacking.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Yeah.
Natalie Morales: Are alarm bells going off, then?
Det. Franz Helmcke: Yeah, yeah. Increasingly.
Marie Smith: She had obviously gotten in a position to move someplace. … Where did — the place did she move? Who did she move to see?
Detective Helmcke had ordered an emergency hint on Kassanndra’s mobile phone to check out and to find her remaining recognized location. And he came upon her telephone remaining pinged about 2 miles south of a tower on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound.
Det. Franz Helmcke: One of the first issues I did used to be simply get on Google Earth and strike an arc from that tower to see the place — the place it lands. … and it — it confirmed as touchdown … round this coastline at Owen Beach or Point Defiance Park.
CBS News
Natalie Morales (at Owen Beach): And when you find yourself … seeing this massive frame of water, you considering, “we’re just never gonna be able to find this”?
Det. Franz Helmcke: Yeah.
A SECRET REVEALED
Investigators chasing that remaining ping from Kassanndra’s mobile phone knew it used to be someplace in the huge waters of the Puget Sound which is just about 100 miles lengthy.
Natalie Morales: What’s the subsequent step about attempting to get well that?
Det. Franz Helmcke: We debated about that as a result of … it is a needle in a haystack … it is a … large frame of water.
But Detective Helmcke had a start line. He knew somebody most likely had tossed the telephone into the water from Owen Beach. Finding it used to be a longshot, however Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke used to be up for the problem. He introduced the Pierce County Metro Dive Team out to the seashore on a summer time day.
Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke: We were given fortunate with the tides that day. The tide used to be extraordinarily low, so it made our seek house a little much less.
Van Dyke had a plan to dramatically scale back the house the place the telephone could be. First, he requested participants of his crew to throw stones from the seashore to simulate how a long way somebody may throw a mobile phone.
Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke: If you image throwing one thing from right here, it limits the distance that I’d have to seek for what you threw.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
The dive crew then shaped a line, necessarily growing an underwater dragnet.
Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke: We had a boat out in the water and … a line of folks on snorkel that day, simply having a look down.
They have been informed that Kassanndra’s telephone had a case adorned with glitter. The dive crew used to be in the water for little greater than an hour when extremely …
Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke: One of the guys on the line mentioned, “Hey, I think I got it.” They noticed a sparkle. … “I think I got the phone” and it used to be the telephone.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
The telephone used to be despatched to a specialist to decide if any information might be recovered. The hunt to to find Kassanndra used to be intensifying as detectives realized extra about her.
Natalie Morales: She felt like she may … let you know just about the entirety about what used to be occurring in her existence, proper?
Alexandra McNary: (Laughs) Yes.
Natalie Morales: Even her inner most, darkest secrets and techniques, she would let you know first.
Alexandra McNary: Yup.
Alexandra McNary
And a month prior to she disappeared, Kassanndra confided a secret to her absolute best pal.
Alexandra McNary: She texted me a sure being pregnant check and mentioned, “I think I might be preggers.”
And the day she used to be intended to meet McNary, however by no means confirmed up? It used to be going to be her first ultrasound. For Det. Franz Helmcke, studying Kassanndra were pregnant at the time of her disappearance modified the entirety.
Det. Franz Helmcke: This is what’s now piquing my — my hobby.
Natalie Morales: Normally in a scenario the place a pregnant woman disappears … you take a look at who the spouse is first.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Correct.
Kassanndra had additionally informed her mom she used to be pregnant however did not supply main points.
Det. Franz Helmcke: I ask Marie … “did she tell you who the father was?” … and she says, nicely, it used to be some man … she met on-line or thru a courting app.
Marie Smith: She informed me … it used to be now not anyone that she used to be in fact seeing. … and that he did not even dwell in the house.
It used to be no secret Kassanndra used to be actively courting, the usage of apps like Tinder. And Smith informed detectives about an previous boyfriend Kassanndra used to be nonetheless in contact with, Colin Dudley. The two had dated again in 2006 whilst in the Rocky Horror appearing staff. The display’s manufacturer, Cheri Mueller.
Sue Evans
Cheri Mueller: Colin performed a personality known as the Criminologist on degree. Outside of the degree, when he wasn’t appearing, he used to be the head of tech. And he sort of ran the solid.
But after courting for a number of months, Dudley and Kassanndra broke up. Colin began a courting with every other solid member, Rebecca, and the two in the end moved in in combination. Steve Ammann frolicked at their house incessantly to play a recreation known as Dungeons & Dragons.
Natalie Morales: Explain what Dungeons & Dragons is … it is not a board recreation, proper?
Steve Ammann: No, now not a conventional board recreation. Uh, it is extra of a theater of the mind-type gameplay. … doing issues that you would not usually do in actual existence … position play a wizard, a rogue, a fighter.
The recreation at all times happened in Dudley’s basement.
Steve Ammann: Colin used to be sort of the Dungeon Master of it. The one that ran the display.
And Ammann preferred being round him. Dudley used to be fast to lend a hand if somebody wanted cash, he says, and he nonetheless recollects the foods Colin cooked for recreation nights.
Steve Ammann: He used to be a chef by way of occupation, so it used to be great meals.
In 2014, after Dudley’s father died, he rekindled a friendship with Kassanndra.
Marie Smith: She confident me … you recognize, that she used to be simply there to be a pal. … She’s like … “He’s got a girlfriend.”
According to Smith, Kassanndra and Dudley would every now and then watch motion pictures or seize a chew to consume. At some level, McNary says, despite the fact that Colin used to be residing with Rebecca, his courting with Kassanndra as soon as once more became romantic.
And Kassanndra informed McNary that Colin Dudley used to be the father of her child.
Alexandra McNary: She used to be very excited. She mentioned, you recognize, names and video games she sought after at the child bathe … She — she had an Amazon registry already made.
Kassanndra’s most effective hesitation: whether or not she will have to inform Dudley. He used to be with Rebecca and had discussed he did not need to have youngsters. But McNary says Kassanndra did inform Colin she used to be pregnant, and he used to be tremendous with it.
Alexandra McNary: She known as me … and she mentioned, “Well, I told him.” … and “it went better than expected.” … He used to be calm and mentioned now not to fear about it, and that they’d communicate.
Detective Helmcke puzzled if Dudley knew the place Kassanndra used to be.
DET. FRANZ HELMCKE: We’re simply attempting to follow up with individuals who knew Kassanndra, you recognize … puts she likes to move that shall we possibly glance.
Colin Dudley sat and talked with Detective Helmcke on his entrance porch – and the dialog used to be recorded.
DET. FRANZ HELMCKE: This is a recorded remark … we’re going to be taking from Colin Patrick Dudley.
Det. Franz Helmcke: So, you recognize, we simply sort of start with simply easy, hi there, let us know about … you and Kassanndra. … “How did you meet?”
COLIN DUDLEY: I met her at “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” … we have been in a courting for a couple of months and then we broke up in 2006.
Det. Franz Helmcke: I then began sort of operating some of this stuff by way of him that — that individuals have been telling me.
DET. FRANZ HELMCKE: Talking to folks, speaking to Kassanndra’s circle of relatives and some of the pals … They reported that she used to be about 10 weeks pregnant … and what we now have been listening to is that she’s been telling folks that you’re the father.
COLIN DUDLEY: No manner. No. Hell no.
Dudley used to be adamant. He and Kassanndra weren’t in a courting, and he used to be maximum without a doubt now not the father of her kid.
Det. Franz Helmcke: I requested him, are you positive? You know, no — no one-night stands? No, you recognize, hookups after the truth or the rest like that? No, completely now not, he says.
In truth, Dudley insisted he hadn’t observed or spoken to Kassanndra since they broke up again in 2006, apart from as soon as, when he bumped into her at the mall.
DET. FRANZ HELMCKE: You have not had any – no touch together with her. No messages? Or no Facebook or the rest?
COLIN DUDLEY: No.
Helmcke believed Dudley used to be mendacity. But may he end up it? It became out a clue to discovering the resolution used to be in Smith’s forms.
THE MAN IN THE HAT
Detective Helmcke believed Colin Dudley used to be mendacity when he mentioned he had now not observed or spoken to Kassanndra for years. But it used to be Kassanndra’s mom Marie Smith who equipped some evidence. She were combing thru Kassanndra’s previous telephone expenses, the place she spotted a thriller quantity that saved reappearing.
Marie Smith: We did not know … whose it used to be … as it did not have a identify connected to it.
Natalie Morales: Going again how a long way in the previous?
Marie Smith: Oh, we appeared again … months and months, you recognize … way back to shall we see that this quantity saved stoning up.
And the remaining time it popped up, Smith informed Detective Helmcke, used to be the morning Kassanndra disappeared.
Det. Franz Helmcke: I mentioned, “OK, so what — what’s that number?” And she tells me … And … I in an instant understand it’s Colin’s.
Helmcke sought after forensic investigators to take a nearer take a look at Dudley’s telephone, which Detective Helmcke had taken after they’d met on Dudley’s entrance porch.
Det. Franz Helmcke: I informed him … I’ve a warrant to snatch your telephone. I learn him the warrant. Grabbed the telephone … and we left.
Investigators later got the telephone data for each Kassanndra and Dudley’s telephones. They have been became over to Detective Ryan Salmon, the mobile phone forensics analyst for the sheriff’s division. Salmon spotted one thing curious: the identify “Kassanndra” by no means gave the impression in Dudley’s telephone.
Natalie Morales: What identify used to be he the usage of for Kassanndra?
Det. Ryan Salmon: He had it below Velma.
Natalie Morales: Why Velma?
Det. Ryan Salmon: We realized later thru … Kassanndra’s mom that she had long past as Velma from “Scooby Doo” as a Halloween … gown.
And it is most likely, Salmon mentioned, that Colin Dudley didn’t need his live-in female friend to know he used to be nonetheless in contact with Kassanndra. Even with out the information from her water-logged telephone, Salmon used to be ready to see when and the place she and Dudley interacted just by having the ones telephone data.
Det. Ryan Salmon: It’s … extraordinarily useful … in figuring out the place anyone used to be … right through a essential period of time … folks have a mobile phone with them nearly all day, on a daily basis.
The telephone data confirmed Kassanndra’s white Mazda using to the spot the place it used to be discovered. But had Kassanndra or somebody else parked it there? Detective Helmcke knew the town’s gentle rail gadget used to be close by and requested their safety folks if they might to find any photos of Kassanndra’s automobile. What they discovered proved an important.
Det. Franz Helmcke: “We have the video you want. … you need to get down here and look at it.”
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
The movies have by no means been proven publicly. In one video from a shifting gentle rail teach taken the overdue morning of August 25, Helmcke may see a man in a black hat strolling clear of the place Kassanndra’s automobile used to be parked. Then, a other digicam presentations that very same man from a a lot nearer attitude.
Det. Franz Helmcke: He’ll move proper in entrance of this digicam. … So, he comes strolling throughout and you’ll be able to see –
Natalie Morales: Fedora.
Det. Franz Helmcke: — all black, the blue gloves, then the fedora … And he simply sits down at the prevent.
The time used to be 11:50 a.m. The man sits for 4 mins and then assists in keeping strolling.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Now he will get up, continues strolling …
PCSD
His face, lined by way of some sort of masks, is tricky to see however, in accordance with his construct and gait, Helmcke suspected that Colin Dudley used to be the man dressed in that fedora. The detective were informed that Dudley frequently had requested — demanded even — that individuals name him “Hat” or “Hat Man.”
Alexandra McNary had heard all about it from Kassanndra.
Natalie Morales: Was he at all times dressed in a hat?
Alexandra McNary: He would put it on and transfer into his personality of the Hat Man and most well-liked to be known as the Hat Man. The personality used to be mainly the primary personality from “Clockwork Orange.” Very darkish, deliberately so. Morally doubtful.
Natalie Morales: Did you notice the safety video in any respect of the man in the hat?
Alexandra McNary: I — did get to see it.
Natalie Morales: Did you take a look at it and say, “that’s Colin?”
Alexandra McNary: Well, who else would it not be?
In that video from the gentle rail gadget, the man in the hat assists in keeping strolling — proper into the Tacoma Dome Station parking storage, most effective blocks clear of the place Kassanndra’s automobile used to be discovered. Helmcke requested safety workforce at the storage if that they had any photos. The resolution used to be a resounding “yes.”
Det. Franz Helmcke: They to find him strolling into the parking storage to a truck.
Det. Ryan Salmon: You can see him the usage of … a remote-control opener, will get into the truck … And then as he exits the parking storage, you’ll be able to see beautiful obviously in the video the registration code which comes again to Mr. Dudley.
That used to be Colin’s Chevy truck, proving, the detective mentioned, that the man in the video and Colin Dudley have been one and the similar.
Detective Helmcke used to be satisfied that Colin had achieved one thing to Kassanndra, and he sought after to get into Dudley’s area—in an instant.
Det. Franz Helmcke: We shouldn’t have a frame. We shouldn’t have … any true proof that … Kassanndra is useless. We’re nonetheless hoping … possibly she is tied up in the basement.
Six days after Kassanndra Cantrell vanished, a SWAT crew burst into Colin Dudley’s area.
“THE MAJOR BREAK IN THE CASE”
Authorities have been out in drive when they raided Colin Dudley’s area, however they discovered no signal of Kassanndra.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Kassanndra used to be … now not discovered inside of … however Colin … used to be detained quickly for us to do the fingerprints and DNA.
Investigators seized a number of pieces from the area, together with Colin’s Chevy Colorado truck and a black fedora.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
DET. FRANZ HELMCKE: I do not know if it is the similar one he is dressed in in the video or now not … there have been a large number of spaces that they known in the basement the place there used to be imaginable DNA, blood proof … And they mentioned that the cadaver canine confirmed explicit hobby in the basement … in particular a brown settee in the basement.
Det. Helmcke believed one thing horrible had came about to Kassanndra. Dudley had stopped speaking to investigators, however his live-in female friend Rebecca Fischer, a wood worker, agreed to sit down down for an interview.
DETECTIVE: Do you suppose he could be succesful of hurting Kassanndra?
After a 13-second pause:
REBECCA FISCHER: Physics would say sure, he is were given measurement and power on her. I don’t believe he would … No, he would now not.
And investigators may now not end up in a different way. Dudley used to be loose to move.
Natalie Morales: Why can not you arrest him?
Det. Franz Helmcke: Well … he is in charge of one thing. But … what’s he in charge of?
Det. Helmcke sought after to know each and every transfer Dudley made on August 25, the day Kassanndra went lacking. And he mentioned it was clean that Dudley had hatched a well-thought-out plot to get rid of Kassanndra.
Det. Franz Helmcke: He had deliberate this, and he most definitely used to be beautiful meticulous in his making plans.
In his police interview, Dudley mentioned that early on the morning Kassanndra disappeared, he’d visited Costco.
Det. Ryan Salmon: So, the first prevent he makes is at a Costco gasoline station.
That used to be at 6:31 a.m. Then he went to a moment Costco to select up provides for what he had informed detectives used to be a “spring cleaning.” Investigators subpoenaed receipts and the retailer equipped video. Surveillance cameras select up Dudley in the retailer round 7 a.m.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Natalie Morales: This is the place he mentioned he stopped as a result of he wanted provides for his spring cleansing.
Det. Ryan Salmon: Correct. Yes.
Natalie Morales: The video is so crystal-clear.
Det. Ryan Salmon: We suppose that is most definitely the rubbish sacs.
Store data display that Dudley bought a field of heavy-duty trash luggage.
Natalie Morales: Goes again to his area.
Det. Ryan Salmon: Right.
Detectives say then Dudley dropped off the provides at house and drove to the Tacoma Dome Station parking storage arriving at 8:17 a.m.
Det. Ryan Salmon: We have surveillance video for that, too, which presentations that truck once more … Now, in the again, you’ll be able to see a motorcycle. … And then you’ll be able to see him get out and placed on a helmet and get on a motorcycle and trip it away.
Dudley left his truck in the storage and started pedaling house. It’s about a 20-minute trip. Investigators consider he sought after to be house by way of 9 a.m. as a result of, because it seems, he and Kassanndra had made plans to meet at his area.
Sure sufficient, textual content data display that Kassanndra used to be outdoor Colin’s area at 8:49 a.m.
Det. Ryan Salmon: She mentioned, “I’m a bit early, that ok?”
Natalie Morales: And he says?
Det. Ryan Salmon: He says, “Yep, come on down.” And the ones two messages have been each deleted out of his telephone.
Natalie Morales: And, so, the two telephones are then pinpointed in that very same location at the area for a couple of hours.
Det. Ryan Salmon: Right.
For a little greater than two hours, neither telephone confirmed any motion, and it used to be right through this era of time investigators consider Colin Dudley most likely killed Kassanndra Cantrell.
Natalie Morales: It … presentations you the quantity of premeditation –
Det. Ryan Salmon: Right.
Natalie Morales: — that went into making plans this.
Det. Ryan Salmon: Right.
It seems, investigators say, that round 11:40 a.m., Dudley became off his mobile phone as Kassanndra’s telephone presentations it shifting clear of the area. Det. Salmon says that is as a result of Dudley had her telephone with him as he drove her automobile to the spot the place he deserted it close to the gentle rail station.
Natalie Morales: He turns his mobile phone off, however does not flip her mobile phone off and is using round with it? What used to be he considering?
Det. Franz Helmcke: Apparently … he wasn’t — he wasn’t considering nicely sufficient … now not as good as he concept he used to be.
Det. Ryan Salmon: You’ll see Kassanndra’s automobile –
Natalie Morales: Is that it proper there?
Det. Ryan Salmon: Yep, that white one coming down.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
And then you definitely see Dudley in the hat strolling clear of her automobile. Remember how he paused for a few moments and sat down? Det. Salmon believes he used to be accumulating himself after murdering Kassanndra.
Det. Ryan Salmon: I feel he’s simply bodily drained as a result of of most definitely how violent the incident used to be.
Detectives say Dudley then retrieved his truck from the storage the place he had stashed it previous that day, drove to Owen Beach and tossed Kassanndra’s telephone into the Puget Sound.
Natalie Morales: And what time more or less used to be … that remaining ping?
Det. Franz Helmcke: It used to be round 12:45 p.m.
But whilst investigators had came upon her telephone in the water, they nonetheless hadn’t discovered Kassanndra. They had no concept what Dudley had achieved together with her, however they did have his Chevy Colorado truck, and Helmcke had an concept.
Det. Franz Helmcke: As an investigator, I’ve been uncovered to … other applied sciences … and we knew automobiles had … digital … proof contained in them.
Almost each and every automobile or truck has reams of information that may be extracted.
Det. Ryan Salmon: So, that is the place the main destroy in the case, you recognize, got here thru.
Natalie Morales: You can flip your mobile phone off and now not essentially be ready to monitor. But you’ll be able to’t flip your automobile’s black field off.
Det. Ryan Salmon: Exactly.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
Helmcke were given a warrant to take away the truck’s black field—necessarily a pc that tracks and data just about each and every transfer a car makes. He reviewed the information which showed a lot of what they already knew from the telephone data. But there used to be one thing new that stuck everybody’s consideration. The truck’s black field had a file of Colin Dudley’s actions on August 26 — the day after Kassanndra visited his area.
Natalie Morales (having a look at a track): And that is the subsequent morning.
Det. Ryan Salmon: Correct. So, now, we are at 6:00 a.m. … And then, of path, we spotted the place the car stops … that there is a massive, wooded ravine.
On Sept. 22, 2020, Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke rushed to that ravine, which is 8 miles from Dudley’s area. It used to be just about a month since Kassanndra had long past lacking.
Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke: I, uh, were given there first and appeared over the hillside, and, uh, you must obviously see that there used to be, uh, a … rubbish can midway down the hill. … you must see that the rubbish can had, uh, a bag liner and, uh, some ropes round it …
He additionally noticed blood.
Natalie Morales: So, you obviously at this level knew you had stays?
Det. Sgt. Brent Van Dyke: Oh, completely.
Helmcke, additionally at the scene, sought after to make a fast id and he knew that Kassanndra had a unique tattoo.
Det. Franz Helmcke: I requested them to take a image of it. So, they took a image and got here strolling up the hill.
Helmcke known the tattoo in an instant. Kassanndra Cantrell used to be useless. Helmcke’s middle sank when he thought of calling Kassanndra’s mom.
Det. Franz Helmcke: So, I known as Marie and … I informed her that I had information that I wished to proportion together with her.
Marie Smith: My first query used to be, “is she OK?” (emotional)
Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.
Marie Smith: And he mentioned … “No, I’m sorry, she’s not.”
Kassanndra’s dual brother Rob overheard that telephone name.
Rob Cantrell: The moment I heard her screaming, I knew that that they had discovered her.
Colin Dudley used to be arrested that evening and later charged with first-degree murder.
Investigators felt that they had constructed a sturdy case, so sturdy that they made up our minds now not to check out and retrieve the information on Kassanndra’s waterlogged telephone.
The case barreled towards trial for 2 years, and then Kassanndra’s pals and circle of relatives heard that prosecutors have been making an allowance for making a plea maintain Dudley. They may now not consider it.
Marie Smith: It used to be premeditated … it used to be actually cold-blooded.
Kristi Sinclair: I haven’t any phrases.
Natalie Morales: So much of anger, despite the fact that.
Kristi Sinclair: So much.
HONORING KASSANNDRA
Alexandra McNary: She used to be an optimist. … She by no means misplaced that even up till the finish. I consider that she entered his area hopeful.
Hopeful that Colin Dudley used to be getting at ease together with her being pregnant. Instead, investigators consider he brutally murdered her. An post-mortem printed precisely how brutal.
Det. Franz Helmcke: There have been fractures, main fractures to her cranium.
Natalie Morales: So, hit over the head. Many instances.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Cause of demise used to be blunt drive trauma.
Investigators say they have been by no means ready to establish a murder weapon. But they did to find the ones lines of blood — most likely Kassanndra’s — in Dudley’s basement.
Det. Franz Helmcke: Basement ground, partitions, a stainless steel desk and the laundry room sink.
Police suspect Colin wiped clean the basement more than one instances after killing Kassanndra and saved her frame there in a single day, prior to dumping her in that ravine the subsequent morning. And they consider Colin’s live-in female friend Rebecca used to be house right through some of that point.
Det. Franz Helmcke: And fascinated with, you recognize, Rebecca’s there in the area, too.
Natalie Morales: That used to be my subsequent query. Was there any concept that she had to were concerned?
Det. Franz Helmcke: There used to be — I imply, some folks concept that.
Investigators faced Rebecca.
DETECTIVE: Did you will have the rest to do together with her disappearance of Kassanndra on any degree?
REBECCA FISCHER: Nope.
Det. Franz Helmcke: We didn’t to find any information that … she knew that it went on, that she had the rest to do with it. … They saved separate spaces of the area. And so, I may see, you recognize, her doing her personal factor and … now not taking place the basement.
But Rebecca did verify to police that Colin by no means sought after to be a father.
REBECCA FISCHER: He does now not need to be a dad.
Pierce County Deputy Prosecutors Brian Wasankari and Patrick Vincent went to paintings on proving Dudley’s guilt.
Brian Wasankari: I assumed this used to be a very sturdy case, a minimum of circumstantially. I imply, oddly, it is not one in which we had a nice deal of bodily proof. … It used to be a case that trusted necessarily digital data.
Like that video of Colin leaving Kassanndra’s automobile, the ones telephone data putting Kassanndra at Colin’s area the morning she disappeared, and the information appearing Colin’s truck the place Kassanndra’s stays have been in the end discovered. For the prosecutors it gave the impression of a lot, however they have been involved in convincing a jury at trial.
Brian Wasankari: We shouldn’t have an eyewitness, we shouldn’t have a murder weapon, we shouldn’t have a confession.
So, when the protection presented to settle for a deal, the prosecutors negotiated. Eventually, Colin Dudley agreed to plead in charge to murder in the first diploma for killing Kassanndra. The prosecutors introduced the deal to Kassanndra’s circle of relatives. They have been livid.
KIRO
But on Nov. 14, 2022, Colin Dudley officially entered his in charge plea.
JUDGE: With regard to the rate, Murder in the First Degree, how do you plead, in charge or now not in charge?
COLIN DUDLEY: Guilty.
He used to be sentenced to 26 years in jail.
Kristi Sinclair: I haven’t any phrases that will even surround the frustration, anger, unhappiness, heartache.
Kassanndra’s circle of relatives and pals had sought after a trial the place the complete tale used to be informed. They also are disappointed that somebody in charge of murdering a pregnant woman would most effective get 26 years in jail.
Natalie Morales: Do you suppose the gadget is damaged?
Kristi Sinclair: Very damaged in this example. … How is it that anyone can do what he did and now not have to spend his existence in jail?
It used to be a sentiment Steve Ammann shared. He felt betrayed by way of his one-time pal and had even written a letter to the pass judgement on announcing, “He should not be out at all. He won’t learn from this.”
Colin Dudley most likely gets out. And with just right conduct, he might be loose once more as early as 2044.
Marie Smith: He will have to by no means see the gentle of day once more.
Natalie Morales: Because when he will get out, he might be in his early 60s.
Marie Smith: Yeah. … and he is nonetheless were given all that point to dwell.
Kassanndra’s circle of relatives needs to be sure that no person else suffers the manner they are saying they have got. They would love a regulation in Washington State that if somebody is in charge of knowingly killing a pregnant woman, they’d robotically get a existence sentence.
Rob Cantrell: No chance of parole. You die in prison. … Until there may be any kind of resemblance of justice, I’m now not letting this move.
And whilst the circle of relatives wages that battle, Kassanndra’s dual brother is attempting to honor his sister in alternative ways she would have beloved.
Natalie Morales: You did, despite the fact that, after all open that dream that you just had in combination, your individual retailer.
Rob Cantrell: Yes. I were given a giant mural of her putting in the window and then footage right through the retailer of her. It’s a residing tribute to her.
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The retailer isn’t a long way from Kassanndra’s grave, the place he and his mother move to talk over with her.
Marie Smith: You know, say hello, stay her gravestone blank. … bringing her flora.
Natalie Morales: Do you suppose what existence might be like together with her now if she had had the likelihood to dwell her existence and be a mother?
Marie Smith: Yeah. I take into consideration it a lot as a result of she had all of those plans …She had all of those candy plans. (emotional)
Marie says her daughter lived existence to fullest, immortalized by way of that particular tattoo she had of her favourite quote.
Marie Smith: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.”
Marie Smith: she at all times had one thing up her sleeve. She would spring little surprises on me … and that is what I leave out maximum. It’s simply a glad presence.
Kassanndra Cantrell’s circle of relatives has filed a wrongful demise lawsuit towards Colin Dudley.
It is scheduled to move to trial in August 2023.
Produced by way of Betsy Shuller, Paul La Rosa and Lauren Clark. Greg Fisher is the construction manufacturer. Morgan Canty is the affiliate manufacturer. Doreen Schechter is the manufacturer/editor. Joan Adelman and Marlon Disla are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior manufacturer. Nancy Kramer is the govt tale editor. Judy Tygard is the govt manufacturer.