It's been nearly six months since Dawn Dill was first reported missing and four months since her then-boyfriend was charged with her murder.Only now are her lo
It's been nearly six months since Dawn Dill was first reported missing and four months since her then-boyfriend was charged with her murder.
Only now are her loved ones given any sense of closure, after Pierce County deputies found her remains in a wooded area of Frederickson last week.
Deputies located human remains in the 7700 block of 176th Street East in the Frederickson area on Wednesday. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the remains to be Tomorrow Dawn Dill, known as "Dawn" to most.
"I feel like I've been living in a horror movie," said Bryant Smith. "You think this doesn't happen in the real world."
Smith was formerly Dill's longtime partner, and the two share a 10-year-old son they were co-parenting. "She was still my best friend," Smith added.
On April 1, Dill was officially reported missing when a concerned friend requested a welfare check after weeks of not hearing from her.
Dill's boyfriend, Kendrick Bruce, was arrested and charged with her murder, identity theft, and unlawful disposal of human remains in May. Court records allege Bruce killed Dill and got rid of her body sometime between March 1 and March 28.
Investigators said Bruce transferred money from Dill's financial accounts to himself and also sent text messages from her phone after her disappearance. Recovered search history from Bruce's Google account included searches such as "how to knock someone out," “how long does it take a body to start stinking after death,” and “how to clean up blood from carpet."
After months of unsuccessful searching, Smith said he started accepting the idea of Dill's body never being found. The discovery last week was "bittersweet," he said.
"It was happy we found her but then really aggravating and painful to know she was that close this whole time, right across the street from [Bruce's] house," Smith explained.
Bruce is expected to stand trial in December. It's unclear how, if at all, Dill's remains being found will impact future court proceedings.
"I hope they give him life in prison because what he did was just horrific," Smith said. "He is a living monster."
Finally locating Dill's body has given Smith, and others who knew and loved Dill, a sense of closure. Smith is planning a memorial service for Dill in Lakewood in November, where the two mostly grew up together, he said.
Smith is determined to have Dill remembered as the generous woman she was, not the way her life ended.
"To not have these last details be the lasting memory of her. She lived far too big of a life for this final chapter to be what everyone remembers," he said. "She was kind, she was loving, and now she can rest easy."
