DENVER-
Investigators scheduled a news conference Wednesday amid reports they had identified the battered and strangled body of a woman who was dragged behind a vehicle for at least a mile.
KUSA-TV in Denver reported the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department had learned the woman’s name and arrested a suspect, but the station did not identify its source.
Sheriff’s officials did not immediately return a call, and a statement announcing the late-morning news conference did not say what would be discussed.
Preliminary results of an autopsy indicated the woman died of asphyxiation and head injuries from being strangled by being dragged by a vehicle through a subdivision about 20 miles south of Denver.
Neighbors discovered the woman’s body before dawn Monday. Her face was unrecognizable and an orange tow rope was found around her neck, said Nancy Foley, who lives near the house where the body was found.
The coroner’s office declined to comment early Wednesday.
A photo of an unidentified couple was found near the body, but investigators did not know whether it was connected to the death, sheriff’s spokeswoman Kim Castellano said earlier.
Foley said the incident has shaken the normally quiet Surrey Ridge neighborhood.
“I was trying to sleep last night thinking about how this poor lady was dragged, treated worse than an animal,” Foley said Tuesday. “She was really mangled.”
She said sheriff’s patrols have increased and residents are more vigilant.
“We don’t want to attract any more attention that what we’re already getting. This is our little piece of heaven,” she said.
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