Autopsy shows beating prior to woman's death

YAKIMA, Wash. -- An autopsy suggests that a woman found dead in an alley earlier this week was beaten before her death, Yakima police said Thursday.

The body of 42-year-old Shelly Kinter was discovered by a nearby resident about 4:45 a.m. Tuesday in an alley off Sixth Street. That afternoon, police arrested Aaron Briden after he drove by Kinter's apartment building on South Naches Avenue in a damaged car.

Officers were at the apartment checking out another Dodge Avenger, the same type of car Briden was driving, when residents pointed out the other one on the street.

Investigators say Briden may have remained in the area and watched police as they investigated the crime.

Prosecutors are expected to file charges against the 20-year-old Tacoma man today. He is being held on $500,000 bail on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Yakima police Sgt. Scot Levno said the coroner's autopsy showed evidence of a physical assault prior to Kinter being run over. Being struck by the car was what killed her, according to the autopsy.

Detectives said Thursday that they were still trying to back track Briden's steps since his release in February from a juvenile rehabilition facility in Thurston County, where he served a sentence for second-degree robbery.

For the past month, Briden had been living with a woman in Satus, who he met in the Tacoma area, police said. It's still unknown how Briden and Kinter met.

She was living at Connections, an apartment complex for recovering drug and alcohol users. Relatives said she had been clean for 10 months.

Levno said she was last seen safe late Monday afternoon, about 12 hours before her body was found.

According to the time stamp on a security video police used to crack the case, the Avenger was spotted close to the scene almost an hour before Kinter's body was discovered, Levno said.

The car had been recently stolen from an Olympia woman visiting in the Wapato area, according to a report filed by the Yakima County Sheriff's Office.