Woman found dead in her apartment ID'd

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Investigators were back out at the Waterfront Apartment complex off of Bayhead Drive in Virginia Beach Wednesday, searching for clues in a homicide investigation.

Just before noon Monday, they discovered a woman dead in her apartment. The woman has been identified as 24-year-old Shana R. Hight.

Police said the woman's husband is in the military, and he was not in the area at the time of her death. It was an active scene for more than 10 hours, and was ruled a homicide late Monday night.

"I've lived here a year and haven't heard anything, and now this. It's kind of scary," said neighbor Jennifer Owens. Another neighbor, Brandon Erb said, "I didn't really think something like this would happen in this community. These people are not like that at all. I mean everybody's nice."

Investigators are not saying how or when Hight died.

A man who lives in the same building as the victim at Waterfront Apartments told WAVY.com he and others had worried about the woman. The man who did not want his identity released said Hight's car hadn't been moved for days and a notice was placed on her door. He said they usually see her everyday walking her dog.

Neighbor Tiffany Nichelson said she heard screams late Sunday night. "Me and my husband were actually watching TV and we had our doors open. We heard from both ends of our apartment some screams. Actually, we couldn't tell if it was a female or a young child. It was pretty high pitched. It wasn't a screech. It was a scream. It freaked us out." She said the area is normally quiet. "Everybody's pretty friendly. You see the same faces every once and a while," said Nichelson.

Investigators interviewed residents throughout the community, and crime scene technicians collected several bags of evidence.

Further information, including possible suspect information, has not yet been released. Stay with WAVY.com and WAVY News 10 for the latest.

In the meantime, if you know anything that could help police in this case, call Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.