Detectives faced with mystery after body found in Sheldon Country Park

Nov 1 2010 by Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail

DETECTIVES were today faced with a Halloween mystery after the body of an unidentified woman was found slumped in a secluded brook in a Birmingham country park.

Police admitted they don’t know who the mystery woman is or how she died.

All that is known about her is that she was probably in her 30s and had auburn shoulder length hair.

The woman had no identification and was wearing no jewellery.

Since the body was discovered in Sheldon Country Park on Saturday, police have been checking missing persons reports but found no one matching her description.

There were no obvious signs of injury to the body but a Home Office pathologist is expected to carry out a forensic post-mortem later today to determine the cause of death.

Det Insp Simon Vowles said they were treating the woman’s death as “unexplained”.

A dog walker made the grim discovery at 12.45pm on Saturday. The area was sealed off throughout the weekend while police carried out a search for evidence. A blue police tent could be seen amongst the trees close to the spot where the woman’s body was found.

It is not clear whether the spot is where she met her death or whether her body may have been carried along the stream by the water. While the spot is secluded, it is regularly used by dog walkers so it is thought that the woman’s body would have been there for less than two days.