A Milton mother of two was found dead in her house early yesterday morning, sparking the second homicide inquiry in the town in seven months.
Her name has not been released but the dead woman is understood to be Jodie Kiri Louise Browne, aged 29.
South Otago police could not comment on the cause of death.
Staff from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research will carry out a scene examination today.
Police expect that an autopsy will be done in Dunedin this afternoon.
For police, it is the third homicide investigation in the district in the past seven months, and the second in Milton.
More than 20 staff from the southern police district set up headquarters at South West Roading Services in north Milton.
The dead woman was a local woolhandler who had worked for Potae Shearing for the past 10 years.
On Saturday, she gave contractor Bill Potae her entry form for the Otago Shearing and New Zealand Woolhandling Championships, to be held in Balclutha on February 8 and 9.
Mr Potae said her fellow workers were devastated by the death.
A shearing gang had found her body when they called at her home at 6 am yesterday to pick her up for work.
It is believed part of the house was on fire when they arrived, but police would not comment.
"She was a lovely girl. Everyone loved her," Mr Potae said.
"I just don't know how this could have happened to her," he said.
The woman's two children, aged 8 and 12, were not at the house at the time of her death, police said.
Clutha Mayor Juno Hayes, who lives in Milton, said the death would rock the community.
The area was only starting to get over the stabbing of 24-year-old Rodney Field last June.
An unemployed Milton man, William Shiu Narayan-Singh, 22, was last month sentenced to seven years' jail for the manslaughter of Mr Field.
- NZPA
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