MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — A Mountlake Terrace woman’s head was wrapped in a plastic bag when her body was discovered last month in a drainage culvert about a two miles from her car.
The Snohomish County medical examiner announced Monday that Cheryl DeBoer, 53, died of asphyxia and fresh water drowning. The manner of death remains undetermined.
“At this point in the investigation, there is nothing to suggest DeBoer’s death was the result of an act of homicidal violence,” Police Chief Greg Wilson said Monday.
The medical examiner labels cases undetermined when there is little available information about the circumstances surrounding the death, such as partial skeletal remains, or when known information equally supports, or conflicts with, more than one manner of death.
Detectives will continue to look for answers, Mountlake Terrace Police Cmdr. Doug Hansen said Monday. They are awaiting the results of an examination of DeBoer’s computers, cellphone records and other evidence collected. Those pieces may assist them in determining the manner of death.
“They just don’t know,” Hansen said. “They aren’t able to say how her death occurred.”
That lack of certainty is difficult for everyone, from investigators to loved ones.
“It leaves a lot of unanswered questions for the family,” he said.
DeBoer was reported missing Feb. 8 when she didn’t show up for work at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. A friend told police that DeBoer texted her around 7 a.m. to say that she’d forgotten her work badge at home. DeBoer suggested the woman drive to work without her. When the woman offered to wait DeBoer wrote that it would take about 10 minutes. Her cellphone was shut off a short time later.
Her husband found the couple’s Subaru Legacy later that day in the 23400 block of 58th Avenue W near Mountlake Terrace Transit Center. The area often is used as overflow parking for people using the park-and-ride lot.
A surveillance system at DeBoer’s home shows her husband leaving around 6:50 a.m. Feb. 8, a few minutes before Cheryl. He arrived at work in Mukilteo around 7:15 a.m.
His wife’s work badge later was found at the home.
The Mountlake Terrace mother’s body was discovered Feb. 14 by volunteer searchers. She was in a culvert along Lyon Creek at 244th Street SW and Cedar Way in Mountlake Terrace. The location is about two miles east of the transit center. The DeBoers’ house is about a mile north of the culvert.
Detectives found blood in DeBoer’s car. An autopsy found small, apparently self-inflicted cuts on two of her fingers, Mountlake Terrace police reported.
In a search warrant, which was sought two days after DeBoer dropped from sight, police wrote that the disappearance was completely out of character based on interviews with her family and friends.
“She has no known physical health issues, no known mental health issues or past history of suicidal ideations,” the document said.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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