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CLEBURNE — Authorities have identified a body found near Buffalo Creek as Virginia Burns, a woman who walked away from a car parked in front of a relative's apartment and was missing for more than three weeks.
Police are awaiting a ruling on the cause of her death from the Tarrant County medical examiner's office, said Sgt. Amy Knoll, police spokeswoman. Police did not want to speculate on what caused her death but said that they expect no charges will be filed and that they are not investigating the death as a homicide. Officials said that exposure to the elements may have played a part in Burns' death.Officers were alerted about 6 p.m. Oct. 30 that an adult woman's decomposed body was located in a wooded area near Buffalo Creek, about five blocks north of Burns' last known location. Burns was last seen sitting in a family member's car in front of an apartment in the 700 block of North Main Street in Cleburne.Buffalo Creek was searched twice by helicopter and by authorities on the ground after her disappearance, police said. The density of the vegetation in the area may have prevented investigators from locating the body. A staff member from the nursing home where Burns was living offered to come and pick her up on Oct. 8 after a visit with her relatives, but relatives told the nursing home employee that Burns was not ready to return and that they would bring her back in the morning. Because there was only one bed in the relatives' apartment, it was decided that Burns would sleep in the car parked in the driveway, police said.When her relatives awakened, Burns was no longer in the car. Relatives told a police officer that Burns had a history of leaving for one or two days and not telling anyone that she was leaving or where she was going, and then would return.
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