By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
NEVADA, Mo. — Vernon County authorities have yet to classify the nature of the death of a rural Deerfield woman whose body was discovered inside her home Wednesday afternoon.
Sheriff Ron Peckham said deputies discovered Belinda Jean Beisly, 47, dead about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday inside her home on Route H north of Deerfield.
The deputies went to the address to check on Beisly’s well-being at the request of a friend who was concerned that she had not shown up for work that day on the day shift at the 3M Company plant in Nevada and had not called in sick, the sheriff said.
Peckham declined Thursday to comment on the apparent cause of her death.
“Not at this time until we get more reports in,” Peckham told the Globe.
He also declined to discuss where her body was found inside the home and if there were any signs of foul play. He indicated that an autopsy was scheduled to be performed. He indicated that investigators would probably wait until today to announce whether the death was a homicide.
“We want to make sure we’ve got our ducks in a row,” the sheriff said.
He said Beisly was married but separated from her husband and has lived “off and on” with her son at the address where the body was found.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is assisting the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department in the investigation.
