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Investigators remain baffled by the mysterious death of a Mount Airy woman.
Edna Mae Trout, 57, left for work about 8:30 a.m. Thursday. She never made it there. State troopers found her body Friday afternoon in her van in a remote corner of Jefferson County, West Virginia.
Investigators want to know what happened in between.
"She left her house to go to work and she never made it to her destination," said Robin Runion, Trout's sister-in-law.
When Trout failed to return home Thursday afternoon, her husband, John Meadows, became worried. By the next day, he knew something was wrong, he said.
"We the family believes it was foul play," Meadows said. "I'm sorry, I believe it was foul play."
The area where Trout's body was found is a popular spot for tubing along the river. People coming and going say they saw Trout's van parked there for hours on Friday. Trout's body was discovered when someone finally looked inside.
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Investigators will only say she died of severe wounds. Trout's family says it knows of no one who would intentionally harmed her.
Investigators area calling it a suspicious death, but they are not ruling out the possibility that the wounds could be self-inflicted.
"The thought of that -- I'm sorry -- the thought of that -- she wouldn't have done that to me; she wouldn't have done that to her family," Meadows said.
Trout's family says she would occassionally head to Charles Town, West Virginia, to play the slots. Family members suspect a chance encounter may have led to her death.
"Maybe she went into the track, maybe she got a little bit of money, someone followed her out, forced his way into the van -- Mae wouldn't pick up a hitch-hiker, no way," said Runion. "Definitely foul play, definitely foul play, and I hope she put up enough of a fight to get DNA under her nails."
While investigators await autopsy results, they are reviewing surveillance video from Charles Town Races and Slots. They are trying to determine whether Trout was there Thursday and whether anyone may have spoken with her or followed her.
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