A woman’s body was found early Monday morning in North Austin, spurring a police investigation into what is now being treated as the city’s 46th homicide of the year. According to a report by CBS Austin, officers responded around 7:40 a.m. to the 8200 block of Research Boulevard service road northbound, where a woman in her 30s or 40s was discovered with clear signs of trauma.
The site of the grim discovery, behind German Auto Center at 8215 Research Boulevard, is now cordoned off as homicide detectives, patrol officers, and crime scene specialists painstakingly comb through evidence. Despite their efforts, no suspects have publicly been identified, nor have police determined whether the incident was a drive-by, something more intimate or sinister. A witness told authorities they heard a “popping noise” either late Sunday night or early on Monday morning, but it remains unverified if this sound was connected to the woman’s death or simply city noise fading into the background.
According to the same KVUE report, the Austin Police Department has not yet released the identity of the deceased, and it is not clear if she was killed at the scene or if her body was placed there afterward. Near the scene, officers noted what looked like a camp setup — a detail sparking questions about whether the victim might have been experiencing homelessness…