MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Detectives have been actively searching for the person who killed a young woman in her apartment overnight in Murfreesboro.
Officers were called to the scene at The Cove Apartments after a friend of the victim noticed she hadn't showed up for work at the front office of the apartment complex and went to check on her. That's when her body was found.
"It was immediately apparent to investigators that a homicide had occurred," Murfreesboro Police Spokesman Kyle Evans said.
The details surrounding the young womans death are not clear at this time. Police have identified the victim as 22-year-old Heather Nicole Maples, of Texas. Friends described her as a vibrant woman with a bubbly personality.
"Always had a smile and big glasses like I have," neighbor, Amanda Corey said.
Corey lives in the building next to Maples'.
"I can't believe it at all. I can't imagine something happening like that so close to me. I knew her, she was a sweet girl. I have no idea how something like that could've happened," she said.
Detectives said they do not believe this was a random crime, rather she knew her attacker.
"We do have several leads to go off of," Evans said.
While investigators have been piecing together what happened, residents were coping with knowing a violent crime happened in their community.
"That's very scary. That's not good, very scary," resident Shadrack Matelong said.
A close friend of Maples told us she was not a student at MTSU, and she began working at the apartment complex in April.
Detectives spent the day going over every inch of her apartment, which they believe she lived in alone.
"I want to send out a prayer to everyone that she knew. She was a sweet girl and this shouldn't have happened to her," Corey said.
No suspects have been identified in the case.
Anyone with information has been encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 615-893-STOP (615-893-7867).
