Police ask for public’s help after woman’s body discovered

Published 2:13 pm Monday, February 15, 2016

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — Detectives continued to search for evidence Monday near where a woman’s body was discovered Sunday by volunteers looking for Cheryl DeBoer.

Mountlake Terrace police are asking for people to step forward if they have any information about suspicious activity near the library, where DeBoer’s car was located, or near 244th Street SW and Cedar Way, where the body was found in a culvert.

Mountlake Terrace police Cmdr. Kevin Pickard said investigators are hoping that anyone who saw anything out of place will contact police.

“We know people walk their animals around there,” Pickard said. “We want to know if they saw any suspicious vehicles or people or heard any noises. Maybe they saw suspicious items on the sidewalk.”

Pickard didn’t confirm the identity of the body. Instead, he said the woman matched the description of DeBoer. The Snohomish County medical examiner is expected to do an autopsy and release the identity.

Officials at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, where DeBoer worked, issued a statement Sunday, saying they’d notified their employees that DeBoer’s body had been discovered Sunday afternoon by a search team.

“Our hearts go out to Cheryl’s family and our community,” Pickard said Monday at a press conference. “It’s been a trying week.”

DeBoer, 54, was reported missing Feb. 8 when she didn’t show up for work at the research center. She planned to carpool but texted her friend around 7 a.m., saying she’d left her work ID at home. She said she’d take the bus.

DeBoer’s husband called police when her employer reported that DeBoer hadn’t shown up. Her car was discovered in the 23400 block of 58th Avenue SW, near the library and the park-and-ride lot. The area frequently is used for overflow parking by people catching buses at the transit center. DeBoer lived about five minutes from the lot.

Snohomish County Search and Rescue crews scoured the park-and-ride area Feb. 9. They returned Friday and searched nearby Terrace Creek and Ballinger parks, Pickard said.

DeBoer’s relatives, friends and co-workers also have been searching the area since Feb. 8.

“These people have been tremendous,” Pickard said.

One of those volunteer search parties found the body about 12:30 p.m. Sunday in a drainage culvert on city-owned property just off of Cedar Way, southeast of DeBoer’s home.

The area remains an active crime scene, Pickard said Monday. Technicians with the Washington State Patrol crime lab collected evidence near the body and processed the scene.

Trained man-trackers also were searching the location for clues. Detectives continued to review surveillance videos from the area.

“We are dedicating all of our resources to this investigation,” Pickard said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Mountlake Terrace Police Department at 425-670-8260 or Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound at 800-222-8477.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.