The per­son who killed moth­er of two Sher­ryann Roet at­tempt­ed to stage her death as a sui­cide, hop­ing to avoid sus­pi­cion. How­ev­er, an au­top­sy done at the Foren­sic Sci­ence Cen­tre yes­ter­day re­vealed the truth—Roet had been beat­en to death be­fore be­ing hung from a tree.

An au­top­sy con­duct­ed on Roet’s body re­vealed that she died from blunt-force trau­ma.

Po­lice sources told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day that homi­cide in­ves­ti­ga­tors are now search­ing for a Span­ish-speak­ing man with whom Roet had a close re­la­tion­ship.

Po­lice said her body showed signs of vi­o­lence, in­clud­ing in­juries to her fore­head, eye, un­der her left arm, nose bridge, and both hands and feet.

Po­lice con­firmed that Roet, 47, was the moth­er of two chil­dren, ages 15 and 18. She had been fac­ing a strained re­la­tion­ship in re­cent months.

Her se­mi-de­com­pos­ing body was found hang­ing from a tree in Car­li Bay on Mon­day near a fish­ing stall and close to her van, which she co-owned with a male rel­a­tive. Po­lice grew sus­pi­cious af­ter learn­ing that no miss­ing per­son’s re­port had been filed for the moth­er of two.

Sgt Deo of the Re­gion 3 Homi­cide Bu­reau is head­ing in­ves­ti­ga­tions.

—Rad­hi­ca De Sil­va