TACOMA, WA — Prosecutors in Pierce County have charged a Tacoma man with killing his girlfriend, disposing of her body, and using her financial accounts after she disappeared. Court records say investigators believe 30-year-old Kendrick Deshaun Bruce killed 37-year-old Dawn Dill-Pickett sometime between March 1 and March 28.
Charging documents filed Thursday include first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree identity theft, and unlawful disposal of human remains. Prosecutors also say the alleged killing involved an intimate partner relationship.
How the case surfaced
Dill-Pickett was reported missing after a friend in Idaho asked police for a welfare check on April 1. The friend said she had not heard from Dill-Pickett since March 23 and that the silence was out of character.
When Tacoma officers went to her apartment, they initially saw nothing suspicious. A neighbor later told detectives they had not seen her for about a month, according to the probable cause declaration.
Why detectives focused on Bruce
Friends told investigators that messages they received from Dill-Pickett’s phone did not sound like her. They also said she had been in a troubled relationship with Bruce, who managed the business where she worked and had recently been fired for theft.
Her child’s father told police she had previously appeared with injuries she blamed on Bruce and had warned, “If anything happens to me, Kendrick did it.” He also said Bruce had allegedly threatened, “Nobody would find your body.”
What investigators say they found
Police say financial records and surveillance video tied Bruce to activity in Dill-Pickett’s accounts after she vanished. Investigators allege he used her Chime account at a 7-Eleven in Puyallup on March 28 and moved $150 from her Cash App account to himself.
Detectives also say phone records and GPS data placed Bruce, his Jeep, and Dill-Pickett’s phone together in several locations after she was last seen. A search of the Jeep Grand Cherokee with cadaver dogs reportedly produced alerts in the cargo area, rear door, and back seat.
What happens next
Investigators later found search history on Bruce’s Google account that included queries about knocking someone out, cleaning up blood, and how long a body takes to smell or enter rigor mortis. On May 20, police searched Dill-Pickett’s apartment and reported apparent blood evidence in the entryway, living room, hallway, and bathroom.
Her body has not been found. At a Thursday hearing, a judge set bail at $2 million after prosecutors argued Bruce has no fixed address or job and poses an extreme flight risk. Dill-Pickett’s former partner said the family wants closure and a final resting place for her son.
Riders Times covers the Pacific Northwest, one story at a time.
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