Found Deceased WA - Cheryl DeBoer, 54, Mountlake Terrace, 8 February 2016 #2

[Itsmevkb]

The other morning I had parked my car and then was just listening to the radio for a minute and checking my email on my phone when someone knocked on my window. It scared the cr*p out of me! I didn't see them coming up to the car at all. I saw a couple other people parking and walking in the lot so I gathered my things and got out. The guy asked me if I had money so he could catch a bus. Had he had ill intentions he could have just opened my door as it wasn't locked. And, as much I think it would be hard for me to make it over the middle console and into the passenger seat, I see that going very differently if I had a gun pointed at me and was frantic to move out of the way and do as I was told (and if I weighed less!) I also could see a scenario whereby someone opens the door, catching the driver off guard as they are busy texting a friend, hits the driver hard, enough to stun them or even knock them out and then pushes the driver out of the way. My first thought would be sexual assault but I could also just see a robbery gone very wrong. Someone may have just wanted the car, forced their way in, a struggle ensued, CD gets hit and knocked out, the robber panics, drives off and as he rounds the corner by the culvert he slows, reaches over, opens the passenger door and pushes her out. By that point he probably figures the car isn't worth it as getting caught with it now leads back to at the very least an assault victim or murder victim.

I know a lot of people think this sort of thing can't happen around rush hour but honestly, I think the average person is pretty self involved and not particularly aware of what's going on around them all the time. They are rushing to work, on their phones, just thinking of all the stuff they have that day or even just day dreaming. And, even during busy times there are lulls. I know sometimes I'm walking to work and there are a bunch of people around and the next day, at right around the same time, there is no-one or very few people around.

 

[Stripehaven]

For the family's sake, I am so, so grateful to hear that Cheryl's husband did not do this. I wonder why LE waited until after the autopsy to publicly clear him?? It sounds like they knew right away. People like me were having Negative Thoughts. I am so sorry.

I am still having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around how a random attacker could have managed this. I hope there are more answers soon, for everyone's sake.

Rest in peace, dear Cheryl.

 

[Canadianmom2three]

I am so happy to come here and see the news of the husband being cleared. My gut feeling as I posted back further was that she was kidnapped by a stranger or acquaintance, but I don't know a motive besides sexual assault. If she was found clothed though.... Hummmm
I was wondering if someone needed the car for something else and when they hit her they hit too hard and she died so they hid the body? Thinking they'd just physically assault her and take the car, but it didnt go as planned?

After that maybe they took her car and then transferred her body to another vehicle and brought the car back?

I am thinking her body was placed where it was sometime later in the night.

All JMO - MOO

RIP Cheryl and thinking of her whole family

 

[Cricket99]

Marking my spot

 

[WhisperWorm]

If it isn't someone close to her, I am thinking possibly the former of your theories. The only reason I can think of for a perp to return the car near the park n ride after leaving her at the culvert would be to slow down the search for her by trying to make LE think she could've caught a bus, or because the perp wanted to jump on a bus or jump into another car (so parked her car out of range of cameras).

Something still isn't adding up.


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If the perp did remove and then return the car to the same area as it was parked earlier, they would may have seen it on the surveillance video that they used to discover that Cheryl's car did pass by it 2 minutes prior to her sending the text to her friend. If the car was moved it likely would have had to approach the library and the police station, which I would think would definitely have cameras that they would have already checked.

I also don't think Cheryl had enough time between the timestamp of the surveillance video at 7:00am and the sending of the text at 7:02am to drive two blocks, park, get out of the car and start walking in the park and then start texting her friend. I would think that in such a short timeframe she never left the immediate area of her car.

My thoughts wander to a more targeted crime. It would make more sense if the perp had his own car and knew CD's pattern of parking in that overflow area. Now, her forgetting her key card and ORCA card on that same day...? I don't know, that's just a whole other level of confusion. I suppose coincidence isn't out of the realm of possibility, but I don't like how convenient that is. A targeted crime against her specifically, where another vehicle is used to transport her and get rid of the body makes more sense to me.

On Steelmans map (I think that's the name?) they say that the location of CD's body was on the far side of the street and not in that main big culvert that we've all seen very clear pictures of. They call it the "East side" of the culvert. Right next to that is a small pull-in area that's in a somewhat brushy and less conspicuous location to remove a body from a car. For nobody to recall seeing a car parked there it must have been quickly done and a vehicle that didn't really stand out.

I've really examined the map and can't see any place else where a perp could have dropped her off at - there's just no access because the stream that feeds that culvert is basically a shallow ditch along side of Cedar Way - there are houses right next to it, and all behind it, so they would have had to have put her in the water there. I wish the ME would have shared how long she was deceased, as that would help everyone focus their memories on a particular time period.

Again, on Steelman's map at https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zAAmDUXJe_aE.knlZzA2tpxDE you can actually zoom in and see where a white utility truck is pulled into that makeshift parking space. It's really just a few steps from the side of that truck to where you would have to put a body for it to not be seen for over a week. That easily could have happened in broad daylight.

As to why, I'm just baffled.

 

[Starry Night]

Wonder what the motive was in killing her? Victimology specialists can help with that perhaps.

 

[idfinch]

I'm very glad they released so much information, especially the specifics on clearing the husband.

My heart aches for the family knowing that they knew there was blood in the car & they knew what they were searching for before Cheryl was even discovered. How horrific this must be for all of them. And inconsequential in the scope of things, but finding her Valentine's Day. The living nightmare this week has been for her husband, with the questions & suspicion lurking as well.

I'm really alarmed that this looks to be turning out like a possible stranger abduction. Now we, the public, have been warned. Makes me scared to leave the house until we know who did this to her and that they've been caught.


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[LayzeeDayzee]

Car-jacked? Car-jacker made her slide over and get into passenger seat, she tried to escape or stop him/her and he panicked and killed her? It only makes sense that it's her blood. That being said, if she'd been killed or stabbed or seriously injured in her car, curious how the perp would be able to get her body into the culvert without anyone seeing? Curious how close a vehicle could have gotten to the culvert? For those who've studied the area/maps/google earth of the areas, how close could a car get to culvert and would it be reasonable that a person could drive up pretty close to culvert and dumb body with a very low risk of being seen by someone?

I've only read that blood was found on the passenger seat, and on the inside passenger door:

"Police in Mountlake Terrace discovered the blood on the passenger seat of Cheryl DeBoer’s Subaru. ... Police also found what was believed to be blood on the inside portion of the passenger side door, according to a Feb. 10 search warrant seeking phone records."

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160216/NEWS01/160219330

Perhaps the passenger door was opened, a knife was used, Cheryl moved, or was moved, to the passenger seat, and that accounts for the blood?

 

[steelman]

The search warrant helps establish a timeline.

A surveillance system at the DeBoer’s home shows her husband leaving the house around 6:50 a.m. Feb. 8, a few minutes before Cheryl. He arrived at this work in Mukilteo around 7:15 a.m.

Another surveillance video at the intersection of 236th Street SW and 56th Avenue W showed what appeared to be Cheryl DeBoer’s vehicle passing at around 7 a.m. headed westbound.

At 7:02 a.m. a text was sent from Cheryl DeBoer’s phone to a carpool friend saying she forgot her identification badge needed for her job at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
“Just go without me,” the text said. “I’ll probably ride home with you.”

Her friend wrote back asking how long it would take and saying that she would wait.
The text back to the friend estimated that DeBoer’s trip back home would take 10 minutes.

Her friend waited until nearly 7:30 a.m. and tried sending her a message and calling her at that time. It appeared to her that DeBoer’s phone had been turned off.

Detectives learned that the phone was “powered down” shortly after DeBoer’s last text.

Cheryl DeBoer’s work badge later was found at the home.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160216/NEWS01/160219330

 

[2Hope4]

I have a theory, but, please remember I'm a rural person. Never lived in a big city, never used public transportation. It's not everyday but you can still find people riding their horses on the backroads for pleasure here, and one lady does drive a team of horses to the local feed store.

On these commutes...are you allowed to get off the bus at any of the stops or does it have to be a designated one? If the perp was on the bus, could he/she have gotten off the transit that morning and is there a drop off point near her car??? Could someone have noticed her prior being on the bus, maybe coworker, or knew her enough to know her routine, and decided to exit the bus that morning? Would others be exiting as well? Would that have stood out? Or does the bus only run certain hours for daylight commuters only?

Because if you can get off the bus in that area, it's possible the perp used the bus to get out of the area as well.

Could have parked a vehicle nearby and that's the reason the car was parked where it was, as the perp needed to get back in the area to get their own vehicle.

Otherwise, the perp could be living right there in the neighborhood...

While a stranger, I still feel there's some connection to Cheryl. Whether it's someone who had stalked her, admired her, studied her habits, something, somewhere there's a connection. Maybe connected through a friend, or family event. Met but not cozy friends type connection, but knew each other. Just my rambling thoughts.

 

[steelman]

Police obtained a search warrant to look in the vehicle, a 1988 Subaru Legacy, only to find a book, Caw said. Police impounded the car to process for evidence, he said. Investigators have not recovered DeBoer’s purse.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...rces-into-search-for-mountlake-terrace-woman/


Exterior


Interior


Rear Seat


Drivers console



Rear cargo area


I ran a search this morning to find out what the interior of a 1988 Subaru Legacy would look like. All that came up was the interior of a 1992 Subaru Legacy........close enough.

This is not Cheryl's car or the one being searched by the police, this is a similar model placed in a classified auto ad completely unrelated to this case. Use caution not to represent these pictures as crime scene photo's, otherwise we'll open up a can of worms that we'll never get the lid back on.

 

[Elainera]

Wow, a lot of new information to process! I'm so glad Cheryl's husband is in the clear and she did not die feeling betrayed by the person she loved.

I haven't analyzed all the new info yet, but one thing that strikes me is that I can not imagine that the perp would have dumped her that morning, in daylight, with people around. It was said her body was halfway into the culvert so it wasn't just a matter of opening the car door and pushing her out, I think the person must have gotten out of the car as well and pushed/pulled her partly into the culvert. I can not imagine this happening that morning.

I think they forced her to drive somewhere more remote, killed her, hid her body, brought her car back to confuse the investigation, and put her into the culvert at night. I still think this was someone she knew, an acquaintance, a neighbor, a colleague with a grievance. Revenge perhaps? Robbery or sexual assault seem to be less likely now.

Good to know they found something of interest in yesterday's grid search, I wonder what it was, and I hope it leads to someone.

 

[TTF14]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but how far away from where her car was found was her body found?

 

[Ibiz]

I think this might have been a mugging that got out of hand.

 

[TTF14]

I think this might have been a mugging that got out of hand.

I'm leaning toward that, too. Or even a mugging/sexual assault (forced oral sex is still rape). Do we know the specifics of when she had contact with the friend and what exactly was said? Why did the friend attempt contact again at 7:30? What time were they actually supposed to meet?

 

[eucalyptuz]

This is not Cheryl's car or the one being searched by the police, this is a similar model placed in a classified auto ad completely unrelated to this case. Use caution not to represent these pictures as crime scene photo's, otherwise we'll open up a can of worms that we'll never get the lid back on

steelman

Good idea! I can see that it seems possible to force a short/smaller person from the DS to the PS without too much trouble especially under duress. The main difference between the model you found and Cheryl's is that hers was a sedan and so it wouldn't have that cargo hold shown in the last photo, just a standard trunk.

 

[KJ's Mamu]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but how far away from where her car was found was her body found?

A group of volunteers on Sunday discovered DeBoer’s body in a large, grassy area about 1.5 miles southeast of where her vehicle was found on Feb. 8 in the 23400 block of 58th Avenue West, police said.

From this article: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...e-police-return-to-site-where-body-was-found/

 

[Ontario Mom]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but how far away from where her car was found was her body found?

Just over a mile.

 

[Ontario Mom]

I'm really really relieved to learn her husband was cleared. This nightmare for the family is bad enough, without throwing that in the mix as well

But now I'm at a loss as to perp/motive. Car is left parked in plain sight (with blood on the passenger seat - although how much and how visible hasn't been mentioned), phone remains unused, no cc activity - so that eliminates robbery/theft. Cheryl was found fully clothed, so that *probably* also eliminates sexual assault as well (although we don't know this for certain). Her car was seen on surveillance just before 7am but it's not mentioned if it was ever seen again, leaving that location so - it probably wasn't. Which means, she was transported into another vehicle and dumped in a second location.

Yep, I'm stumped.

 

[Elainera]

I'm leaning toward that, too. Or even a mugging/sexual assault (forced oral sex is still rape). Do we know the specifics of when she had contact with the friend and what exactly was said? Why did the friend attempt contact again at 7:30? What time were they actually supposed to meet?

She had forgotten her badge at home, told the friend just after 7 am via text that she would go back and get it and be back in 10 minutes. At 7:30 am the friend must have wondered where she is and attempted to contact her again but could not reach her anymore (phone disabled).