Police: 13-year-old boy finds Lincolnton woman dead

LINCOLTON, N.C. — Questions surround the death of a Lincolnton woman whose body was found inside her house by a 13-year-old boy.

With few clues from the scene to work with police said they now plan to look into recent arrests.

Police identified the woman as Selina Sheppard.

Lincolnton investigators spent more than 10 hours Monday night scouring Sheppard's apartment on Mauney Drive for evidence.

Eyewitness News uncovered arrest reports showing Sheppard and her husband were involved in a domestic dispute and were both charged with assault in January. The report cites the incident happened at the same address. We asked police if they planned to use the arrests as part of their investigation and they said that depends on the autopsy and toxicology reports.

Neighbors were shocked about what happened. They said the boy who found her got in to the house through the unlocked back door. Afterwards, neighbors said the he was too upset to talk.

"He was coming up here to check on her, that's what he usually does, but I've never seen him that upset," said Issac Moose.

Neighbors said Sheppard acted like a mother to all of the children in the neighborhood. She was known to cook for them and to allow them to play in her yard.

"And who didn't love her? Everybody loved her," said Karen Summers.

With very little evidence, Lincolnton police said they're still treating this case like a homicide. They said they also plan to use surveillance video captured by a camera on top of the apartments across the street as part of their investigation.

Sheppard's body was sent off for autopsy and toxicology. Authorities said the initial autopsy report could come back by Tuesday, but the toxicology report could take weeks or even months.

WSOC