Evidence note: Wade Eugene Bradford’s kidnapping and first-degree-murder convictions are established by Arizona court records. Details drawn from interviews and investigative files are identified as reported information rather than independent court findings.
Eleanor’s disappearance
Eleanor Su Pigon came to the United States from the Philippines in 2005 and worked as a caregiver in Arizona. The Arizona Court of Appeals later summarized evidence that she planned to end her relationship with Bradford. She left her workplace with him on June 11, 2006, and did not return for a new caregiving job scheduled to begin June 13.
Scottsdale police opened missing-person case 06-15511. Bradford told an investigator he had last seen Eleanor after dropping her at an intersection in Mesa. With no body and insufficient evidence then to establish a crime, the case went cold.
A separate murder case
A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Bradford in June 2010 for the murder of Natalie Allan and the aggravated assault of Kevin Myles. A jury convicted him in that separate case in February 2014.
The storage-unit evidence
The appellate record says Bradford paid for a Goodyear storage unit from June 13, 2006, until April 22, 2010. In February 2011, after the unit fell into nonpayment, storage personnel encountered a sealed container and called authorities. Investigators recovered remains later identified as Eleanor’s.
That date matters because two county summaries contain contradictory years. The strongest record—the appellate chronology, the county attorney’s 2015 annual report, and reporting based on police and medical-examiner files—supports February 2011. The exact day has not been established from an attached primary police report.
An Arizona Department of Public Safety forensic report identified Bradford’s fingerprints on two packages recovered from the unit. At trial, Bradford admitted placing Eleanor in the container and hiding her remains, while denying that he knew how she died. That differed from his earlier account that he had last seen her alive in Mesa.
Trial, conviction, and sentence
Prosecutors indicted Bradford for Eleanor’s kidnapping and murder on December 4, 2012. A jury convicted him on both counts on October 22, 2015. Judge M. Scott McCoy sentenced him on February 12, 2016, to natural life for murder and a concurrent 18-year term for kidnapping, consecutive to his sentence in the Allan case.
The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions and sentences in May 2017. In 2021, the appellate court granted review but denied relief in Bradford’s first post-conviction proceeding.
What the record establishes
The conviction establishes Bradford’s criminal responsibility for Eleanor’s kidnapping and murder. It does not turn every interview, recollection, or early suspicion into a judicial finding. Eleanor’s life—not the contradictions in administrative summaries—belongs at the center of this record.
Disclosure: The stories on Love Lies Abroad are based on publicly reported accounts. We are not stating these as facts — this is what was reported. If you are featured in a story and believe it is inaccurate, contact us and we will review it, correct it, or take it down.
Case timeline
Eleanor is reported missing
Scottsdale police open a missing-person investigation after Eleanor Su Pigon disappears.
Bradford indicted in Natalie Allan case
A grand jury indicts Bradford for first-degree murder and aggravated assault in a separate case.
Goodyear storage evidence is investigated
Storage personnel enter the unit after nonpayment and investigators recover remains later identified as Eleanor’s. The exact February day remains unconfirmed.
Indictment in Eleanor’s case
The Arizona Republic reports that a grand jury indicts Bradford for kidnapping and first-degree murder; certified docket confirmation remains pending.
Conviction in the Natalie Allan case
A jury finds Bradford guilty in the separate 2010 murder and aggravated-assault prosecution.
Natural-life sentence in the Allan case
Bradford receives natural life plus a consecutive term for aggravated assault.
Convicted in Eleanor’s case
A jury finds Bradford guilty of kidnapping and first-degree murder.
Consecutive natural-life sentence
Judge Scott McCoy imposes a natural-life sentence consecutive to Bradford’s existing life term.
Sources
- Arizona Court of Appeals — State v. Bradford, 1 CA-CR 16-0134 — Primary appellate record for trial evidence, convictions, sentences, and affirmance.
- Maricopa County Attorney’s Office — Convicted Murderer Wade Bradford Receives Life Sentence for Cold Case Homicide — Official conviction and sentencing summary; its introduction contains a discovery-year error contradicted by its chronology.
- Maricopa County Attorney’s Office — Wade Bradford Receives Life Sentence for Murder of Natalie Allan — Official summary of the separate Allan prosecution and then-pending Eleanor case.
- Kristina Goetz / The Arizona Republic — Vanish — Long-form reporting based on police, court, investigative, and interview records; use attribution for details not established by the verdict.
- Arizona Court of Appeals — Post-conviction review, 1 CA-CR 20-0395 PRPC — Review granted and relief denied in Bradford’s first Rule 32 proceeding.
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