By Jason Spencer
American-Statesman Staff

Published: March 16, 1999

An autopsy revealed Monday that an unidentified woman whose body was found last weekend beneath a bridge in southeastern Williamson County died from a blunt impact to the head.

Justice of the Peace Edna Staudt said she has not ruled the death a homicide, but sheriff's investigators are treating it as such for now.

A motorist who lives nearby discovered the body at about 10 a.m. Sunday under a short bridge on County Road 490, off FM 619 in the Structure area, sheriff's Lt. David Proctor said.

Investigators believe the victim was either white or Hispanic. She was approximately 5 feet tall, weighed about 110 pounds and had shoulder-length brown hair, Proctor said. Investigators are not sure how old she was, he said.

Proctor would not say whether any suspects have been identified or whether any weapons were found near the body.

Several area law enforcement agencies hoping to resolve missing persons cases have contacted Williamson County investigators, he said.

"We're working leads, and we've got our guys scattered all over the place," Proctor said.

An investigator and a deputy slowly patrolled the stretch of road surrounded by farm and ranch land Monday afternoon, occasionally getting out of their unmarked car to check roadside items that caught their attention. A withered goat's skull still sat undisturbed near the bridge guardrail.

Investigators and a lab technician at the Travis County medical examiner's office spent much of Monday trying to collect fingerprints from the body, which had been dead for several days before being found, Proctor said.