PORT ANGELES — Authorities combed the bottom of Port Angeles Harbor earlier this week for evidence connected to the homicide of Jennifer Pimentel.
Port Angeles police said Pimentel, 27 — who was reported missing Oct. 9 — was killed in an attack at a Port Angeles residence.
Her body was recovered near the Hood Canal Bridge in East Jefferson County on Oct. 19.
Kevin A. Bradfield, 22, has been charged with second-degree murder in her death.
Kendell K. Huether, 25, has been charged with first-degree rendering criminal assistance.
Port Angeles Police Detective Kori Malone said Tuesday’s search was centered near the dock at the foot of Oak Street.
“All we can say at this point — because it is part of an ongoing instigation — is it is connected to the investigation of Jennifer Pimentel’s homicide,” Malone said.
“We had assistance from multiple agencies. I can’t say what we were looking for or what we found.”
A team of divers from the State Patrol and Suquamish tribe spent two hours in the water looking for evidence, Malone said.
Bainbridge Island police deployed an underwater rover with video equipment.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided a patrol vessel to assist the divers, Malone said.
Sequim police and the Port Angeles Fire Department were also on hand.
“We were looking to recover key evidence in water,” said Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith when reached by cellphone from a conference at Lake Chelan.
Smith said investigators were looking for personal effects and other “important items to the case.”
“We had information that they might be there in the harbor,” he said.
Authorities did not plan to search the area Wednesday, Malone said.
Pimentel’s alleged attacker, Bradfield, has a pretrial hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday in Clallam County Superior Court.
He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder
Oct. 28.
He is being held in the Clallam County jail on
$1 million bond.
Police said Bradfield strangled Pimentel at his girlfriend’s residence at 808 E. Lauridesn Blvd. as Pimentel pleaded for her life.
Prosecutors added an exceptional sentence to the charge because Bradfield should have known that Pimentel — who is developmentally disabled — was “particularly vulnerable or incapable of resistance,” court papers said.
Huether pleaded not guilty to first-degree rendering criminal assistance
Oct. 28.
Police alleged Huether stood idly by during the attack and helped Bradfield dispose of the body.
Huether is being held on $100,000 bail and awaits a status hearing at 9 a.m. today.
Pimentel was staying with Huether and Bradfield on a trip to Port Angeles in the weeks leading up to her death.
The Port Angeles native had missed a bus to go back to SeaTac, where she lived with her fiance, Mike Malvey, on the day she was killed, Malvey has said.
About 350 mourners attended Pimentel’s funeral in Port Angeles on Oct. 29.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
