Authorities are still pursuing leads in the weekend murder of a Thomson woman.
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Barbara Hefner, 53, of White-oak Road, was found dead in a lake Saturday. Authorities said she might have been choked to death at her home and then dropped into Folly Lake off Interstate 20, where she was discovered Saturday afternoon.
The cause of death was determined to be strangulation during a weekend autopsy at the State Crime Lab in Atlanta, where officials were also examining other physical evidence, said Agent Mike Seigler, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
GBI officials are assisting the McDuffie County Sheriff's Office in the county's first homicide of the year. Investigators returned to the victim's home Monday to search for clues and collect evidence, Agent Siegler said.
Sheriff Logan Marshall said investigators were still working leads and pursuing the case.
"We are just checking everything we can check," he said.
Ms. Hefner's brother reported her missing Saturday morning when she did not show up to go shopping with a friend. There was evidence someone had entered the victim's home and ransacked her bedroom.
Ms. Hefner was a material manager at Augusta Coating and Manufacturing Co. and is survived by two daughters and five siblings.
