Ayon’s body found after four years
The remains of a Unity woman missing since Oct. 3, 2020 have been found on private property near CTH P and Abe Lincoln Road in the town of Brighton, according to a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
The body of Cassandra Ayon was found this past Saturday, Nov. 30, the DOJ reported. “My heart goes out to Cassandra’s family and friends,” said Attorney General Josh Kaul. “Thank you to everyone who has worked to get justice and help provide answers in this appalling case.”
“Although we were pleased with the outcome of the trial and felt that justice had been done on behalf of Cassandra Ayon, we never stopped looking for her,” said Clark County District Attorney Melissa Inlow. “We hope that the discovery of her remains lends a sense of closure and finality to her family and everyone who misses and mourns her.”
“This case has been on our minds for years, said Clark County Sheriff Scott Haines. “Our hearts and thoughts go out to the family and friends of Cassandra Ayon.”
Jesus Contreras-Perez of Mosinee was sentenced to life in prison without eligibility for release on Sept. 12, 2022, in relation to the disappearance of Ayon. A jury found Contreras- Perez guilty of first-degree intentional
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homicide, hiding a corpse, and stalking causing bodily harm after a five-day trial in June of 2022.
During the trial, several of Ayon’s friends testified that Contreras-Perez had been stalking and threatening her after they broke up.
One of her co-workers said Ayon told her that if anything ever happened to her, Contreras-Perez was the one responsible. Ayon told the co-worker that Contreras-Perez “would know how to hide her so nobody ever found her.”
Prosecutors also used cell phone data to track Contreras-Perez’s movements after Ayon’s disappearance, showing that he was likely in the area of Unity, where she was last seen by a friend.
Attention was also paid to the defendant’s movements after the disappearance. Just a couple days after Ayon went missing, Contreras-Perez left the farm where he had been working for 18 years and never returned. He left just a few hours before police investigators arrived to question him.
Besides cell phone data, prosecutors found suspicious internet searches made by Contreras Perez in the weeks leading up to Ayon’s disappearance. These included searches for “cell phone signal jammers” and “how to make a homemade silencer,” among others. Under crossexamination by the defense, however, one officer acknowledged that no silencers or guns were ever found in relation to the case.
Evidence also showed that Contreras- Perez purchased a new cell phone with a different area code, and then took off for Iowa and Minnesota. He eventually returned to Wisconsin and was pulled over by a county deputy as he entered Clark County on STH 29. His vehicle was searched by officers and cadaver dogs, but no evidence was found that Ayon had been in the vehicle.
Wisconsin DOJ worked in partnership with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, Marathon County Medical Examiner’s Office, DNR, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory, and Wisconsin State Patrol on recovery of the remains.
Editor’s note: This article contains information released by the DOJ, along with details from a 2022 article regarding the trial of Contreras-Perez.
Jesus Contreras Perez
