PORT ANGELES — “He’s a killer. He’s a killer,” Ronalee Pimentel cried out as she sobbed heavily in a Clallam County courtroom Friday.
Ronalee Pimentel could not hold in her grief as she watched the two people allegedly responsible for the death of her niece, Jennifer Pimentel, appear at their first court hearing.
But she was not alone.
Dozens of friends of family of Jennifer Pimentel, whose body was found Wednesday partially buried in woods near the Hood Canal Bridge, packed the courtroom, grief and anger covering their faces.
“I was biting my lip,” said Mike Malvey, Jennifer Pimentel’s fiance.
“I wanted to get up. I wanted to hit them.”
Port Angeles residents Kevin A. Bradfield and Kendell K. Huether, a longtime friend of Jennifer Pimentel, were arrested Thursday for investigation of second-degree murder after they led police to where they dumped her body.
Charges are pending.
Although their grief is staggering, Jennifer Pimentel’s family and friends are not suffering by themselves.
Last Thursday, more than 200 people, some of them strangers, gathered at City Pier for a candlelight vigil.
“I was just shocked,” said Traci Parckys, who didn’t know Jennifer Pimentel but came to show her support.
“It’s just sad and something you thought would never happen in such a small town.”
Jennifer Pimentel was described at the vigil as a happy and friendly woman who, despite having the mental capacity of a 12-year-old, had a bigger heart than most adults.
“My heart goes out to you parents out there,” said her father, Henry Pimentel, among tears.
“Watch out for each other. You never know. You just never know.”
In an interview, Bradfield’s mother, Michelle Escalante of Hermiston, Ore., said she was “shocked” to hear of the allegations against her son.
Escalante, 40, said her son was impaired by a severe beating he suffered in Seattle a few months ago and collects Social Security disability insurance.
They were separated when Bradfield was 6 when he was taken into state custody after she began to suffer severe seizures.
They were reunited last summer.
Escalante said after being reunited with her son, she noticed he talked to imaginary people and would forget to bathe, behavior that she believes was caused by the beating.
He was also violent, she said.
Escalante said her son pushed her into a wall and hit her once on the shoulder.
He also phoned police saying his mother was holding him hostage and stole money from him.
“I never had a problem with him when he was younger,” she said.
“Maybe we got together too fast.”
Huether’s family has declined to comment.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladaily
news.com.
