Officials are investigating the death of a 54-year-old woman at a Santee motel they said occurred under "suspicious circumstances."
At around 12 p.m. Monday, a citizen flagged down an officer to report a person down at the Rodeway Inn in the 10100 block of Mission Gorge Road in Santee.
When a deputy went inside a room on the backside of the motel, he discovered the body of a woman in her mid-50s.
A few hours later, San Diego County Sheriff's Department Lt. Jeffrey Duckworth said the investigation was still a death investigation and not a confirmed homicide. A sheriff’s Sergeant on scene also told NBC 7 officials would not confirm it was a homicide but said there were suspicious circumstances surrounding the body they found.
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department homicide detail, deputies and the sheriff's crime laboratory were all working on the investigation together.
NBC 7 spoke to a young couple who were staying at the Roadway Inn. They said they saw a very suspicious man at the motel Sunday night, possibly armed with a gun.
“There was a guy that just swung the door open really quickly and he had a cigarette hanging from his mouth and a really crazy look in his eyes – like he was on drugs,” Tierney Atkinson recalled.
Atkinson said she and her boyfriend were alarmed by the man and ran into their motel room. At first, they did not report what they saw. However, when they came by the motel again Monday afternoon and learned a woman had died in one of the rooms, they spoke with investigators, Atkinson said.
Investigators could not confirm if the man the couple saw is connected to the woman’s death.
Like other motel guests, Atkinson said she and her boyfriend were shaken up. She said she regrets not reporting the suspicious man earlier.
“I feel like we made a mistake, like we should’ve said something,” she lamented.
“It’s sad. It’s terrible to see this happen. I can say you wouldn’t expect it here,” added Micah Alexander.
The investigation into what happened at the motel is ongoing. Officials are asking anyone with information to contact authorities.
The woman’s name has not yet been released.
