A welfare check request led Tacoma detectives to solve a missing persons case and later a homicide arrest.
TACOMA, Wash. — Pierce County prosecutors charged a man with murder after a welfare check led Tacoma police detectives to uncover a missing persons case.
Kendrick Deshaun Bruce, 30, pleaded not guilty Thursday to first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree identity theft and unlawful disposal of human remains in connection with the death of his 37-year-old girlfriend, Tomorrow “Dawn” Dill. Bail is set at $2 million.
Police described the case as a homicide investigation.
“We need closure and be able to give Dawn a final resting place,” said Bryant Smith, the father of Diehl’s children. “Her soul was so beautiful and it breaks my heart to think of her rotting somewhere in the wilderness. Her son deserved a final send-off.”
The investigation began on April 1, when police were called to an apartment in the 7600 block of Pacific Avenue to check on Diehl after a friend reported him missing. The friend said she last heard from Diehl on March 23, she said on social media.
On April 3, police found Diehl’s car behind the apartment complex.
Dill’s adoptive father told police that Dill and Bruce – Dill’s boyfriend and the manager at Dill’s job – visited him in Ocean Shores on March 4 or 5, but they “didn’t stay long” because he “didn’t care” about Bruce.
Friends and family said Dill has not been seen since.
According to court documents, Bruce told the child’s mother that he and Diehl broke up during a trip to Ocean Shores. When Bruce returned home between March 5 and 8, the woman told police that Bruce’s Jeep Cherokee was “exceptionally clean.”
According to court documents, Dill’s adoptive father told police that Dill had previously confided in him that Bruce was physically abusing her. Other friends told police she sent them photos of what Dill said were bruises on Bruce’s body. According to court documents, the father of Dill’s child told investigators that Dill had said, “If anything happens to me, it’s Kendrick’s fault,” and that Bruce had previously threatened her, saying, “No one is going to find your body.”
Throughout March, Diehl’s friends and her adoptive father said they received text responses from her that they believed were inconsistent with Diehl’s texts and comments. An attempt to FaceTime Dill was denied.
Records obtained through a search warrant on Bruce’s Google account show searches related to knocking people down, the smell of decaying human bodies and necrophilia were conducted between March 1 and 7, according to court documents.
On May 15, detectives served a search warrant on Bruce’s Jeep Cherokee. Cadaver dogs trained to sound the alarm for human blood or decay were barking “repeatedly” into the Jeep’s cargo bay, back door and back seat.
On May 20, police found droplets that reacted to the blood test on the carpet in Deal’s apartment. According to police, they “presumed the blood test was positive.”
The identity theft charges involve two transactions in the missing woman’s account.
Bruce can be seen on video using her Chime account to purchase $13.56 in merchandise at a 7-Eleven in Puyallup on March 28, detectives wrote. The documents also allege that $150 was wired to Bruce from her Cash App account later that day.
According to court documents, Bruce told detectives during an interview that the Chime purchase was an accident. He said he transferred $150 because he believed she wouldn’t pay him back.
As the court proceedings continue, Smith hopes justice is served.
“I hope he pays to the fullest extent of the law,” Smith said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department or local law enforcement at 253-287-4455.
