Habersham County Sheriff’s investigators are treating the discovery of a dead body on the northern end of the county Sunday as a potential homicide.
On Sunday afternoon, Habersham County Dispatch was contacted by a representative of Sirius XM radio, who told them the location of the vehicle a missing woman out of Clarke County was believed to be driving.
The location given was the intersection of Georgia Highway 15 and Victory Home Lane just south of Tallulah Falls.
“Habersham County patrol deputies and a K-9 Unit responded to the location to search for the missing person. The K-9 unit located a red tote bag and a partially-burned blue tarp. Further search resulted in locating the body of a female subject down an embankment close to where the bag and tarp were located,” a release from the sheriff’s office said.
Habersham County investigators served a search warrant Monday in Clarke County at the home of the woman, later identified as Deborah Collier, 59, of Athens.
They also have subpoenaed OnStar and phone records to determine a timeline of where Collier went at what time and with whom.
“We have more questions than answers right now,” Sheriff Joey Terrell said. “We do suspect foul play and are treating this as a homicide.”
The Coroner’s Office took possession of the body and transported it to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy.