Pierce County woman might have been murdered by man she met on dating app

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — New details have arisen in the disappearance and murder of a Pierce County woman who may have met her killer on a dating app.

Diana Davis disappeared from Tacoma’s Proctor district in July 2020. Her body was found nine days later, buried near Snoqualmie Pass.

Now, more than two years later, police still have no idea who killed her.

Police do say her killer might be someone she met online. That is the new information Tacoma Police released Friday in the murder of Diana Davis.

She was an avid gardener, so this public garden is the last place she was seen alive two summers ago.

“Kind of anxious, frustrated.”

In a sense, Monica Joseph is still wearing her emotions about her best friend, whose face is printed on her T-shirt, more than two years after she disappeared, then was found murdered.

“Just kind of still feeling angry and frustrated that Diana was taken from us,” Joseph said.

The last time Davis was seen, she was tending to her vegetables at Tacoma’s Proctor Community Garden.

A 50-year-old mother of two and free spirit, say her friends, Davis lived every day to its fullest until her life was snuffed out in July 2020.

“On July 29, 2020, Diana Davis’s car was found burning, just outside of downtown Tacoma,” said lead detective Jack Nasworthy.

Nasworthy says that is the first Tacoma police knew she was missing. Seven days later, a dog walker came upon her remains near Snoqualmie Pass, which is some 70 miles away.

“We found, through investigation, that her cell phone was last in Seattle, just outside Lumen Field, Mariner stadium, on July 27 at about 7:46 p.m.,” Nasworthy said. “And that’s the last known contact anybody had with her.”

Their investigation also turned up something even more ominous.

“She would use dating web sites and meet men,” Nasworthy said. “And so what I believe is she was traveling to Seattle to meet somebody and that person is the person who did her harm.”

Davis’s body was so decomposed, it took a forensic anthropologist to determine her cause of death: blunt force injuries to her head. The manner of death was listed as homicide.

Nasworthy and those who knew and loved Davis hope this renewed focus will lead to her killer.

“Who could have done this?” asked Joseph. “Who could have done this? And why?”

Tacoma police have been working with the FBI, the King County Sheriff’s Office and Seattle Police to try to solve this case.

They say they do not have a crucial piece of evidence, her cell phone, which undoubtedly would have a wealth of information.

Anyone who knows anything about Davis’smurder is asked to call any of those agencies.

Crimestoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to her killer. To reach them, call 800-222-8477.

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