Limestone County investigators believe murder may have been the cause of death for a Belle Mina woman found by a remote roadside in February 2015.

For nearly two years, officials had said they were waiting for preliminary autopsy results for 61-year-old Christine Garth before saying whether foul play was suspected.

When asked Thursday if investigators consider Garth’s death a case of wrongful death, Limestone County Sheriff’s Capt. Lance Royals told The News Courier, “You could say that. It was definitely not natural.”

Royals said he could not reveal the autopsy results or other information because the case is under investigation.

Garth’s body was found on the side of Mount Zion Road about 10:35 p.m. Feb. 16, 2015, by a motorist who was driving home with his children, Sheriff Mike Blakely said at the time. “His headlights hit the body.”

The woman’s shirt and coat were found near her body, the sheriff said.

“She was about a 1/2 mile from her home as the crow flies and about 1 1/2 miles from her home by road,” Blakely said.

Garth’s daughter, who lives with her mother on Garrett Road, told authorities her mother had telephoned someone at 9:30 p.m. from her home asking for a ride somewhere, and someone had picked her up between 9:45 and 10 p.m., the sheriff said, adding that Garth did not own a car.

The daughter told authorities she did not know who picked up her mother. The person Garth called told authorities he did not pick up Garth and he told her he would not pick her up, the sheriff said.

Authorities had not released a preliminary cause of death because they were waiting for information from the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Huntsville, where her body was taken.

“Initially, there was nothing that indicated any kind of physical, blunt-force trauma or any kind of assault to the body,” Blakely said at the time of her death. He said there was no initial sign of sexual assault and it seemed Garth had died within 30–45 minutes of leaving her residence.

The sheriff said there were no stab wounds, gunshots or bruising visible. He declined to speculate on whether the woman died elsewhere and was left on Mount Zion Lane. The area where Garth’s body was found is not well-traveled.

“We don’t know if she got out of the car of her own volition,” the sheriff said in 2015. “We don’t know if she was forced out of the vehicle.”