Police Confirm Jogger In Northeast Philly Was Strangled
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A mother of two went for a run, but never returned. Hours after being reported missing, her body was found in a park in Northeast Philadelphia.
The body of 46-year-old Connie McClain-Murray was found at about 6 a.m. Tuesday in a park at Holme and Convent Avenues.
Police say around 9 p.m. Monday night, McClain-Murray went for a jog. Her family went looking for her when she did not return. They called police around midnight after not being able to find her. Six hours later, her body was discovered in shallow brush in the woods of Pennypack Park. A phone and earbuds she carried have not yet been found.
Wednesday afternoon police confirmed she was strangled.
"We don't have a suspect right now, we don't have a motive right now. Hopefully we'll get those questions answered very soon," Captain James Clark of Philadelphia Police said.
Police say this case has not been linked to any other open cases so far, but that is still under investigation.
"Any DNA that we get, we'll uploaded into the system and see if we get any matches that way," Clark said.
"I'm back here all the time, I know this area really well and it's just really sad that something like this happened here," Paul Schlear said.
Schlear stumbled upon the scene as police arrived. He looks after the Holme-Crispin cemetery next to where the discovery was made by a friend of his walking her dog in the park.
The woman who found the body did not have her cell phone on her, so she alerted a SEPTA bus driver, who immediately contacted police.
"Someone very sick and deranged had to do something like that. I just hope they catch them," Schlear said.
Homicide detectives are part of the investigation.
Capt. Clark urged anyone jogging or walking in the area to use extra caution.
McClain-Murray was a married mother of two daughters.
"If anybody has any information that could be of value, please give us a call," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.
Police do not have a motive at this time.
Her death remains under investigation.
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