Cops clearing out a homeless camp in Seattle made a grizzly discovery: the body of a missing woman who may have been murdered before being stuffed in a suitcase.
Shannon Reeder, 37, a mother who lived in the area, had gone missing in November, 2023, and pals tried to find her but had no luck, according to a close friend.
“We tried on Facebook, we tried on her cell phones,” longtime friend Caitlyn Andrews told Fox 13 Seattle.
Then, almost a year later, officers were hauling away tents and trash from a cluster of homeless encampments when they uncovered a “large suitcase” containing Reeder’s remains.
Police have no idea how Reeder — who Andrews described as a mother and upstanding member of the neighborhood — ended up among the trash and debris of the camp.
“Detectives are working with those who knew her to put together a timeline of her movements prior to her death,” the Washington State Patrol said in an Oct. 4 statement.
Reeder’s friend said she was a mother, and she lost her own mom as a teenager. KOMO News
Cops decided to raid the encampment after a shooting there a few days prior, according to Fox 12 Oregon.
Reeder’s wasn’t the first body authorities have found in the notorious shantytown, located near a public park and Lumen Stadium, where the Seattle Seahawks play.
“We have found overdosed people in their tents… and we have found endless needles and sex toys,” Tim Emerson, a homeless outreach worker, told Fox 12.
But those bodies have presumably been camp dwellers, not ordinary residents like Reeder.
Andrews said Reeder grew up in a broken home and lost her own mom as a teenager, but she managed to stay positive and bring joy to those in her life.
“Shannon was silly, spontaneous and carefree,” Andrews said. “A new lip gloss, new shoes and she was a happy girl.”
Police put out a call for any information on her movements prior to her “untimely death and the calloused disposal of her remains.”
