Searchers recover body of Wisconsin woman missing since 2020

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

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

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 of first-degree intentional homicide, hiding 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 had been in a relationship and had a son together, according to a WSAW-TV report on his sentencing.

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 on his sentencing. Contreras-Perez insisted during the sentencing hearing that he was innocent and investigators targeted him.