Trail of blood leads to woman's body in Statham home

Investiators outside a home in Statham where a woman's body was found (Photo by Abigail Johnson/Classic City News)

By Joe Johnson

Authorities on Sunday were investigating the death of a female whose body was found that morning inside a home at a subdivision in Statham.

In a media release announcing the investigation, the Barrow Couty Sheriff’s Office did not indicate whether the death was being investigated as a homicide.

However, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Unit personnel were seen processing the scene, and Statham Mayor Joe Piper said that when the city’s police chief, Ira Underwood, notified him about the death investigation, the chief indicated that the it had resulted from “wrongdoing in the neighborhood.”

A GBI Crime Scene Unit truck is parked outside a home in Statham where a woman's body was found Sunday morning. (Photo by Abigail Johnson/Classic City News)

The neighborhood is in an unfinished new subdivision located off of Providence Road and behind Bear Creek Middle School.

Statham city council member Tammy Crawley, who was also monitoring events at the crime scene, said she was “shocked” upon learning of the death investigation. “We are a small community that’s trying to look out for each other as best as possible, but we’re also growing fast and new developments like this one are bringing in different people who we don’t know,” Crawley said.

According to the news release issued by the sheriff’s office, at about 8 a.m. Sunday, deputies were dispatched to 88 Goldshore Way to investigate a neighbor’s report of seeing a trail of blood that led from the driveway to the home’s front door. When deputies arrived they realized that some of the blood was in the shape of a human foot, according to the release.

The deputies made forced entry to the home and found the deceased female after they looked through a window and observed more blood inside the residence.

State and local law enforcent officers confer outside a home in Statham wher a woman's body was found Sunday morning. (Photo by Abigail Johnson/Classic City News)

Statham Police Chief Ira Underwood and other officials at the scene would not say whether the victim lived in the home or disclose any information that went beyond the sheriff’s news release

“The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the Statham Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are working on this incident,” the media release stated. “This incident is currently an ongoing investigation and there is no danger to the public at this time.”

Classic City News will update this story as more information becomes available.