Officials reveal where Kelly Paduchowski’s body, other evidence was found in Flagstaff

FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — Flagstaff Police have now revealed the area in Flagstaff where Kelly Paduchowski’s remains were found on Friday. The discovery came after days of searching for her.

Her husband, Daniel Paduchowski, admitted he killed her and eventually took a plea deal for her death, leading detectives to her remains.

Now, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office is detailing what made the search for Kelly so difficult with evidence spread out.

The tight-knit Flagstaff community was thrust into the national spotlight as high-profile searches for the missing mother became more and more expansive.

“Time really creates a lot of pressure and anxiety to try and locate her, and when you have multiple locations like that, it just compounds it,” said Jon Paxton with the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.

Paxton said their deputies aided Flagstaff Police with search efforts.

Court documents revealed Daniel reported Kelly missing, but that wasn’t until after neighbors saw and heard screaming and a fight in their backyard, before telling police they saw Kelly motionless on the ground.

Behind the scenes, detectives eventually found bloody footprints on the patio, blood by their garage, and noticed Daniel had recent injuries on his hands and knees.

He was arrested for aggravated assault.

But publicly, evidence was popping up all over the area. It began on the East side of Flagstaff where Kelly’s car was found at the Campbell Mesa Trailhead, then cell data showed her phone was at the Schulz Creek Trail that same day, where Daniel told police they went bike riding.

Through the investigation, police moved farther west, searching the Snowbowl area before pictures taken in town by a passerby show Daniel and detectives at Kaspar and Route 66 on Friday. Flagstaff Police told us Daniel led them to evidence there.

Eventually on Friday, Kelly’s remains were found off Hart Prairie and N. Hwy 180, miles away from where the search began.

“One thing that was difficult was moving into the Fourth of July weekend. It was very hot up here,” said Paxton.

Paxton said much of their search areas were steep and heavily wooded, with worry their own resources would diminish as holiday weekend rescue calls came in.

They tried to use thermal search technology that wouldn’t work in Phoenix during the summer heat but had a narrow window of time it could work in Flagstaff.

“It’s nowhere near as hot here as it is down there, but during the day if you search earlier in the morning, you have a better potential to pick up a heat source,” said Paxton. “Once the suns comes up and things warm up, you lose everything.”

Ultimately, police said Daniel’s own conscience helped solve the case when he led detectives to everything they needed to recover as part of his plea deal to second degree murder of his wife.

Flagstaff Police would not tell us if the murder weapon and Kelly’s cell phone were found at that Route 66 and Kaspar location, or even what the murder weapon was.

We are still waiting to learn more as to what a motive may have been, and what Kelly’s exact cause of death was.

Daniel Paduchowski’s sentencing is set for Sept. 10. Officials said he will serve 16 years behind bars, but a judge will need to sign off on that during sentencing.

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