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This story begins with a woman trusting the wrong person.
By Nicole Pomarico — Written on Mar 30, 2020
Everyone knows what it feels like to find out we've trusted the wrong person but for one Washington woman, unfortunately, that led to some deadly consequences.
In 2014, Diane Cunningham was found dead in her home and later, it was discovered that a man she thought was a friend, Ari Lee King, was to blame.
So what happened to Diane Cunningham? Here's everything we know.
Cunningham's daughter found her body in October 2014.
On October 6, 2014, Cunningham's daughter, Tamra Wilson, found her mother's body inside her home at an RV park. At the time, police determined she'd been killed by blunt force trauma to her head about nine days before her body had been discovered and there was no sign of forced entry into her home, which made sense when police later discovered that she'd actually been killed by a man she knew and trusted named Ari Lee King.
Surveillance footage helped link Cunningham to her killer, Ari Lee King.
It's not clear how King and Cunningham know each other but CCTV footage helped investigators learn that they'd been seen together before Cunningham's murder — and it also revealed that King had taken Cunningham's car onto a ferry, though she hadn't been with him at the time. But in the time since she was killed, King had gone missing, but fortunately, it wasn't long before police caught up with him.
King was found in Oregon, having fled the state.
After Cunningham's car was found in Oregon, witnesses were able to help lead detectives to where King was living under a bridge, leading to his arrest on suspicion of second degree murder. He was then extradited back to Washington, where he would plead guilty to beating Cunningham to death with a car jack.
He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
A year later, King was finally sentenced to 18 years in prison for Cunningham's murder as Cunningham's daughter told him, “She thought you were her friend. The last few minutes of her life were just terrifying.” She added that she believed he should be in prison for the rest of his life.
Cunningham's story has been shared on the Investigation Discovery series No Good Deed in an episode called "See No Evil."
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.