Indiana woman's death still a mystery to family

6/21/2007

CECIL, Ohio - The family of the 38-year-old Indiana woman found slain in Paulding County this weekend say they know little about how or why she died but will remember her as a good person who went through tough times.

Sherry Holland of Richmond, Ind., said it "breaks my heart" that her aunt, Teresa L. Smith, was shot to death, and police have no motive or suspects.

"She had a hard time for the last 18 years or so, but she was a good-hearted person," Ms. Holland said.

She said her aunt was a high school graduate and was the mother of three children.

Smith, whose last known address was in Brownsville, west of Liberty, Ind., was identified by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation based on her fingerprints, the Paulding County sheriff said.

Smith served time on a theft conviction in Union County jail in Liberty, south of Richmond, in 2003 and in one of the Indiana Department of Correction facilities in 2004. She did time on a probation violation conviction in 2005, again in Union County jail, Union County sheriff's deputies said.

Smith's partially clothed body was found about 2 p.m. Saturday southwest of Cecil.