Coroner Says Body Found In Bayou Is Homicide Victim

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's detectives returned to the bayou on Monday after an autopsy determined a woman whose body was pulled from the waters over the weekend died of blunt-force injuries to her head, neck and chest.

Dr. Beau Clark, the East Baton Rouge Parish coroner, ruled the death a homicide. The woman's identity has not been released.

Clark says the woman could have been killed with a fist or some other object.

Detectives are investigating the possibility the body had been dumped into the Amite River and then floated into the bayou.

Clark estimated the woman, whose body was discovered by boaters, had been in the water for less than a week. He said she was identified through her fingerprints.