PORT ANGELES — The violent attack that ended Jennifer Pimentel’s life was the culmination of weeks of verbal abuse, according to her fiance.
Mike Malvey said she had traveled from their home in SeaTac, the city surrounding Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, on Sept. 19 to Port Angeles, her hometown, to see loved ones and friends.
She was staying at the home of Kendell K. Huether, 25 — the two were longtime friends, knowing each other since childhood — who is now in jail with Kevin A. Bradfield for Jennifer’s murder.
Jennifer’s father, Henry Pimentel, said it was typical for her to stay with Huether.
Malvey, 31, said the two women had known each other for 15 years.
Her father said the two were close and had been friends since they met in a special-needs class in school.
Also at the home were Huether’s three young children and a man Piementel was less familiar with, her friend’s boyfriend, Bradfield, 22.
The three had their pictures taken together last July.
The photos — apparently taken in a restaurant — were posted without comment at both Huether’s and Bradfield’s pages on Facebook.
Bradfield admitted to police that he strangled Pimentel at the home on Oct. 9 as Huether watched, then disposed of her body with the help of his girlfriend, according to court documents released Friday.
While he strangled Piementel, according to the court documents, Heuther heard her cry, “Stop, you’re killing me. Please stop!” and “Kendell, help me!”
According to court documents, Piementel’s childhood friend brought her children along for the ride when she and Bradfield drove to a wooded area of Jefferson County near the Hood Canal Bridge to dump the body.
Shortly after arriving in Port Angeles in September, Malvey said Pimentel, 27, became upset over the couple frequently yelling at her.
“She was getting treated like crap the first couple weeks,” he said.
“They were yelling at her. She can’t take the yelling.”
But Pimentel, who was developmentally disabled and had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old, provided few details of what was happening, Malvey said.
“Jennifer was very quiet with what was going on up there,” he said.
The abuse stopped, Malvey said, when he traveled to see her in what turned out to be the last week of her life.
Pimentel’s father said his daughter didn’t indicate to him that anything was wrong.
On Oct. 7, two days before she was killed, Malvey, who had come to Port Angeles, and Pimentel planned to travel back to SeaTac with each other.
But Pimentel was feeling ill and couldn’t make the trip, he said.
Malvey went back alone.
His fiancee stayed and planned to take the bus the next day.
Still feeling sick, she stayed with Heuther and Bradfield.
Feeling better, Pimentel bought a ticket on Dungeness Bus Lines for 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9.
She missed the bus, believing it was leaving at 1:10 p.m., Malvey said.
“She really wanted to come home,” he said.
Pimentel phoned Malvey when she arrived back at Huether’s home after getting a ride from a stranger.
They planned to have her try the bus again Monday.
He never heard from her again.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
