Woman Found Dead in Alley
Updated: April 13, 2007
DECATUR- Police found a woman dead in an alley and now are searching for her killer.
Police found her body in an alley in the 1000 block of North Edward street early this morning.
An autopsy shows that 42 year old Phyllis Taylor Murray. was shot in the right arm and died. Police are showing her photo throughout the neighborhood in hopes of finding someone that saw her in the hours leading up to her death.
An officer was looking for a stolen car this morning when he found the body. With the help of her family and people in the community police were able to identify her.
They say she would often leave town for long periods of time but end up back in Decatur, which is making it harder to solve this case. Sgt. Steve Chabak with the Decatur Police Department says, "She led a lifestyle that may have involved drugs and prostitution and that's making it hard for us to do any follow up work on this and to track her activities in the last 24 to 48 hours or even the past week."
She has been in trouble with the law before. One year ago she was arrested in Texas for aggravated assault.
People in the neighborhood told me they don't know that much about her, they say she just celebrated a birthday a few days ago and may be from St. Louis. Overall they were shocked to her the news.
Police say they have no suspects or a motive at this time.
