Searchers recover body of Wisconsin woman missing since 2020

MADISON, Wis. — Searchers have found the body of a Wisconsin woman who disappeared more than four years ago.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that Cassandra Ayon’s remains were found Saturday on private property in the city of Brighton in Marathon County.

Ayon was 27 when she was last seen driving away from a mobile home park in Unity in October 2020.

A jury convicted Jesus Contreras-Perez of Mosinee in June 2022 for first-degree intentional homicide, concealment of a corpse and stalking causing bodily harm in connection with Ayon’s disappearance. He was sentenced to life in prison in September 2022.

Contreras-Perez and Ayon were in a relationship and had a son together, according to A WSAW-TV report about his conviction.

They had broken up shortly before Ayon disappeared, and friends told investigators that Ayon had said Contreras-Perez had threatened and stalked her, according to a Central Wisconsin News Report about his conviction. Contreras-Perez maintained his innocence during the hearing and investigators focused on him.