A woman was found dead in her residence by authorities performing a welfare check on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
The Highway Patrol conducted a welfare check at the 7400 block of Auburn Oaks Court in Citrus Heights, and they found a woman dead inside an apartment.
Patrol officers called the Citrus Heights Police Department at around 1:45 p.m. and reported the situation. Citrus Heights Police officers were dispatched to the scene and took over the investigation, according to the media release.
Detectives at the scene believed the death of the woman to be a homicide. Her next of kin had not yet been notified. As such, her identity was not released, as the investigation is still ongoing.
According to Fox News, authorities believed the case to be a homicide due to signs of "significant trauma" showing on her body. According to Sacramento Bee, the deceased woman appeared to have died several days before she was found.
"During the course of our investigation, several factors led us to believe that this was, in fact, a homicide," Wesley Herman, the Citrus Heights Police Lieutenant, said.
The media release said authorities believe that her death was related to the death of a male person who died on Jan. 11.
According to investigations, the man who died on Jan. 11 was found on the i-80 freeway near the border of Roseville and Citrus Heights city with a rope tied around his neck. That location is just a few hundred yards from the apartment.
The man who died on Jan. 11, was identified as Robert Rankin, 59, by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office, according to the news outlet.
"It's not confirmed if this is a murder-suicide. That's certainly a possibility, and we're not ruling that out, but we have not confirmed that," Herman said.
Her cause of death will not be revealed, and the case is still under investigation by the Sacramento County Coroner, according to the news outlet.
A later update reported that the two were in a relationship with each other, according to the news outlet.
Authorities are encouraging locals to contact the police should anyone have any information regarding the case, according to the media release.