Authorities have determined that the body discovered Saturday morning in a watery drainage ditch near a Greenwood highway belonged to an Arkansas woman who they believe had been staying at a nearby hotel.
They still don’t know, though, what caused her death.
The dead woman has been positively identified as Tori Pless, 48, of Monticello, according to Leflore County Coroner Debra Sanders.
Sanders said the identification, initially based on telltale tattoos, was confirmed Monday by the woman’s husband, who traveled to Jackson to view the body.
Greenwood Police Chief Terrence Craft said the husband told police that the couple had been separated.
The body was discovered before 9 a.m. Saturday in a drainage ditch next to a U.S. 82 frontage road, not far from its intersection with Garrard Avenue. The ditch where the body was found lies between two lodging facilities — Travel Inn and SureStay Plus Hotel.
A vehicle belonging to Pless was parked in the lot of SureStay Plus, and she is believed to have been staying at the hotel, according to Craft.
Sriram Nallani, the hotel’s owner, said, however, that Pless was not a registered guest and he could not confirm whether she was staying there.
He said a review of the hotel’s security camera footage showed a woman walking outside the hotel before midnight Friday. “We don’t know if it was the same person,” he said.
Craft said there was a resemblance between the woman captured on videotape and Pless.
A pedestrian initially noticed the body and reported it to a guest staying at the hotel, who then called authorities, Nallani said.
The body was found face-down in the ditch and was fully clothed except for her shoes, which were lying at least 6 feet away on either side of the body, according to Sanders. There was no driver’s license or other identification card found with the body.
The coroner examined the body at the scene and saw no obvious sign of physical trauma. “She didn’t look like she was hit by a car,” Sanders said.
Craft confirmed that observation. “We didn’t see any signs of trauma or anything.”
He said the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory would conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death and also do toxicology tests to see whether there were drugs, legal or illegal, in Pless’ system.
“We’re trying to get a rush on that to see what was in the system,” Craft said.
The ditch on Saturday still contained a couple of inches of standing water from recent rains and was strewn with debris, including a large piece of yellow plastic that emergency personnel used to initially cover the body.
- Contact Tim Kalich at 662-581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
