The fatal wounds suffered by a woman found Tuesday in a South Chicago Heights Forest Preserve are consistent with homicide, and no official identification of the body has been made, authorities said.
An autopsy Wednesday found multiple injuries consistent with assault and multiple incision wounds in the neck consistent with homicide, a Cook County medical examiner's office spokeswoman said.
Authorities are waiting for assistance from the family before making a positive identification, the spokeswoman said.
Police believe the body found Tuesday floating about 15 feet from the bank of Sauk Lake and about 20 yards from a jogging path in the Sauk Trail Woods Forest Preserve is that of 38-year-old Alma Mendez.
Mendez, a mother of three from the 300 block of West 14th Place in Chicago Heights, was last heard from Sunday when she spoke to her sister via cell phone before heading out for a jog.
Cook County Sheriff's police are investigating the case on behalf of forest preserve police.
