Edmonds police say that there is no evidence of foul play after the body of a missing Edmonds woman was discovered in a heavily wooded area in the town of nearby Woodway Thursday morning.

About an hour after police resumed the search for Amy Kennelly Thursday morning, her body was found in the woods. The discovery was made about 100 yards from the location where her car had crashed on the night of Feb. 29.

Edmonds police spokesman Sgt. Shane Hawley also stressed in a media briefing Thursday morning that there is no connection between Kennelly’s disappearance and the case of Mountlake Terrace resident Cheryl DeBoer, whose body was discovered in Mountlake Terrace culvert five days after she went missing Feb. 8.

“We have heard a lot of comments about that,” Hawley said. “We have nothing at this point to show that she (Kennelly) ended up in the woods by anything other than her own means. Basically, she walked out there.

“It’s important and we want to get the message out that this is in no way related to the previous Mountlake Terrace incident,” Hawley said.

Police are uncertain what Kennelly was doing in the woods prior to the time her body was discovered, Hawley said. “She lived in that area before, many years ago, so we’re not sure of the circumstances as far as that goes,” he added.

Hawley said that Kennelly’s vehicle had pulled into a driveway in  the 11000 block of Algonquin Road in Woodway and bumped into the garage door of the residence. Police responding to that incident looked for the driver, but the vehicle’s driver was “nowhere to be found,” Hawley said.

The vehicle was towed and during the night, police officers made repeated unsuccessful attempts to make contact with Kennelly to find out if she was involved in the collision. At the time, police weren’t certain if she was in the car, or if she loaned the vehicle to someone, Hawley said.

Edmonds police received a call from Kennelly’s family Wednesday, March 2, reporting her as missing. Police responded to the area where her car was found and began a foot search of the area. Snohomish County Search and Rescue also came to the scene to help search until about 10 p.m. Wednesday. The search resumed Thursday morning, and Kennelly’s body was found about 100 yards from where the car had crashed.

Asked why it took searchers a while to find the body, Hawley said: “The area is very wooded and also overgrown. The search started last night and hours of darkness fell very quickly. That area is very hard to search in the dark. It was an hour into the search today when she was located.

“It was a very minor crash and so we had no reason to suspect that this would be the outcome after that crash,” he added.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office has been called to respond to the scene. Final identification and cause of death are determined by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The Edmonds Police Department is still at the location completing their investigation, Hawley said.

“No foul play is suspected in this case and the police department does not feel there is any danger to the public at this time,” he added.

In the case of Cheryl DeBoer, Mountlake Terrace police investigators are continuing to look into what happened to the 53-year-old Mountlake Terrace woman before she vanished. Investigators just recently got some additional phone records and computer records from analysts. They are now going through that data for any clues as to what happened.

DeBoer was last heard from on Monday, Feb. 8 when she texted her work friend that she forgot her work badge and couldn’t meet her at the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center to carpool. Her friend said she would wait for her, but couldn’t reach her.

Police said there was no activity on her phone since she went missing. The phone was not in her car, which was found Feb. 8 near the Transit Center overflow parking, located in the 23400 block of 58th Avenue West.

DeBoer’s body was found at 12:30 p.m. the following Sunday, Feb. 14, in a culvert at the intersection of 244th Street Southwest and Cedar Way in Mountlake Terrace by a volunteer group organized by DeBoer’s family, friends and coworkers.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner hasn’t made a ruling on the cause of DeBoer’s death, and the office is waiting for test results.

— By Teresa Wippel