Washington Man Charged with Murdering Girlfriend After Strange Texts, Missing Person Report

A Washington man has been accused of killing his girlfriend, whose friends told police they received strange texts from her before she was reported missing.

Kendrick Deshaun Bruce was charged this week with first-degree murder, unlawful disposal of remains and two counts of second-degree identity theft, Pierce County Superior Court public records indicate. He pleaded not guilty in court Thursday.

Prosecutors allege Bruce murdered his girlfriend between March 1 and March 28. Although court documents identify her only as T.D., she has been identified as Dawn Dill-Pickett, according to KOMO News.

Dill-Pickett was first reported missing last month, after a friend living in Idaho called in a welfare check because she hadn’t heard from her since March 23, according to a probable cause declaration provided to The Independent by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Her friends told investigators that, since early March, they could not get her to answer their phone calls or FaceTimes, the probable cause document said. They also received messages from her that “were not consistent” with her past texts and speech, according to investigators.

A man who shares a child with Dill-Pickett told police she once had visible injuries that she blamed on Bruce, and told him that if anything ever happened to her, “Kendrick did it,” the document said.

Investigators also said they found dozens of searches linked to Bruce’s Google account, which included “how long does it take a body to start stinking after death” and “how long does it take for someone to bleed out.”

Investigators have yet to find Dill-Pickett’s body, according to KING 5 News.

A statement released Thursday by the Tacoma Police Department, which did not name Bruce or Dill-Pickett, said a male suspect was arrested May 15 on identity theft charges in connection with a missing person case. He was then released from custody Monday.

Investigators later found probable cause for first-degree murder, and the same man was taken into custody again Wednesday following a “brief foot pursuit,” police said.

Bryant Smith, who shares a child with Dill-Pickett, said her loved ones “need closure and to be able to give Dawn a final resting place,” according to King 5 News.

“She was such a beautiful soul that just the thought of her decomposing out somewhere in the wilderness just guts me. Her son deserves to have that final sendoff,” he said.

The Independent has requested comment from the King County Department of Assigned Counsel, which represented Bruce at his arraignment.