The body of Deanna Prendergast, 39, was found Friday behind a vacant home in a neighborhood off North Main Street.
“When the public found her, they indicated there was some kind of door on her,” Dayton police Sgt. Creigee Coleman said.
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Officers found two steak knives and a phone close to Prendergast’s body. She had abrasions and it appeared she’d been there for some time, according to a Dayton police report.
The discovery shocked Prendergast’s neighbors in Kettering. One woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said Prendergast left her home a few months ago and had been seen panhandling at street corners in Kettering and Dayton.
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“Saw her on Main Street with the same sign, ‘homeless have two kids, anything will help,’ ” the former neighbor said. “It’s sad. My heart breaks for her children.”
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office has not determined a cause of death for Prendergast.
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UPDATE @ 9:25 a.m. (Sept. 19):
A woman who was found dead behind an abandoned house in Dayton has been identified by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office as Deanna Prendergast, 39, of Kettering.
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Prendergast’s cause of death and results of her autopsy are still pending.
UPDATE @ 11:11 a.m. (Sept. 18):
A Dayton police report revealed knives and “overdose evidence” were recovered from the scene where a woman’s body was found “covered in insects” and “in a significant state of decomposition” Friday afternoon.
The woman’s identity has not been released pending notification of family, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. An autopsy on the woman had not yet happened on Monday morning, a spokesman said.
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Officers responded to a vacant house on East Hudson Avenue after someone called police saying someone was found deceased with a wooden door over her, the report said.
The woman was not clothed, according to the report.
A black cell phone and two kitchen-style steak knives were found near her body. The report also said the woman “appeared to have multiple abrasions on her body.”
Due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the woman’s death homicide detectives were called to investigate.
The coroner’s office has not determined how the woman died.
UPDATE @ 7:40 p.m. (Sept. 15)
Homicide detectives are leading the investigation into the death of a woman whose body was found early this evening face down behind an abandoned house in Dayton.
“At this particular time it is undetermined the way this person passed away,” Dayton police Sgt. Creigee Coleman said.
The body found is that of a white woman who appears to be between 35 and 40. She has not been identified, but Coleman said the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office will be performing an autopsy.
The woman was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Dayton Fire Department, Coleman said. No drug paraphernalia was found near the woman, and there was no obvious trauma to her body.
A witness said it appeared a door was placed on top of the body but Coleman said he was not able to substantiate that report. Also, it’s not known whether the woman died where she was found in back of 17 E. Hudson Ave. or was placed there.
“We need the help of the public, we need the help of witnesses to come forward to determine how this lady passed away,” Coleman said. “It’s not fair for this lady to die in this manner and nobody to come forward.”
UPDATE @ 6:55 p.m.
Dayton police Sgt. Creigee Coleman said the body found was that of a female. It is still too early to tell how she died, he said.
UPDATE @ 6:30 p.m.
The body found next to a vacant house did not die recently, according to a Dayton police call log.
The deceased person found in back next to the garage is covered, according to reports.
FIRST REPORT
Detectives are responding to a body found early this evening in Dayton.
The deceased person was found at 17 E. Hudson Ave., according to the Montgomery County Regional Dispatch Center.
The body was next to a garage behind DJ's Furniture, 2100 N. Main St.
The gender of the deceased person nor manner of death was immediately available.
We have a crew on the way and will update this report as we learn details.
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