Limestone County authorities questioned a man Tuesday in the death of a 61-year-old Belle Mina woman whose body, clad only in pants and shoes, was found on a remote road in southern Limestone County Monday night.

The body of Christine Garth of Garrett Road was found on the side of Mount Zion Road about 10:35 p.m. by a motorist who was driving home with his children, Sheriff Mike Blakely said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. “His headlights hit the body.”

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

“She was about ½ 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 that he told her he would not pick her up, the sheriff said.

Garth’s death has not been officially ruled a homicide because authorities do not have a preliminary cause of death from the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Huntsville, where her body was taken, Blakely said.

“Initially, there was nothing that indicated any kind of physical, blunt-force trauma or any kind of assault to the body,” Blakely said. He said there was no initial sign of sexual assault. “However, the body was nude from the waist up and lying there on the side of the road. The person apparently had died within 30 to 45 minutes of the time they left their residence.”

He said there were no stab wounds, gunshots or bruising visible to “the naked eye,” the sheriff said.

He declined to speculate on whether the woman died elsewhere and was left on Mount Zion Lane.

“We don’t know if she got out of the car of her own volition,” the sheriff said. “We don’t know if she was forced out of the vehicle. Until we get our report back from forensics, there are a lot of things we don’t know and we don’t want to be speculating.”

On Tuesday, investigators were busy checking all leads.

“We are in the process of interviewing someone right now and trying to tie down some timelines on some people and their alibis and trying to establish if there is a possibility whether someone else might have been involved with stopping by and picking this lady up,” Blakely said. “The person we’ve initially been talking to that we know she was on the phone with, he denies that he stopped by and picked her up. We don’t know at this point for sure who picked her up.”

The area where Garth’s body was found is not well traveled.

“This is a little dead-end road that dead-ends into Mount Zion Church; a road that didn’t have any traffic on it except on Sundays, “ Blakely said.

Investigators canvassed the neighborhood and talked to everyone on the road and others who knew her. However, they would like to speak to anyone who may have seen Garth Monday night or who may know more about the case. Call the Sheriff’s Office at 256-232-0111.