Cops: Woman missing after jog found slain in Massachusetts

PRINCETON, Mass. -- Police in central Massachusetts are urging residents to use caution after they say a missing jogger was found murdered Sunday, reports CBS Boston.

Vanessa Marcotte, 27, a New York City Google account manager who was visiting her mother in Princeton, Mass., was reported missing Sunday after she didn't return home from her jog.

After a search with K-9s by Princeton and state police, crews found the woman slain Sunday night in a heavily wooded area about a half mile from her mother's home, reports CBS Boston. Investigators believe the woman was killed sometime between 1 p.m. that day -- when she left her mother's home-- and 4 p.m.

There's no word on Marcotte's cause of death or a possible suspect.

Officials say they don't know whether the crime was a random one. They're asking residents to be careful and to jog or walk in pairs.

"Right now we have an active homicide investigation going on, you can't be too careful," Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early, Jr. said in a press conference Monday.

The murder comes less than a week after another young woman, Karina Vetrano, 30, was slain while jogging in Queens, New York. Police in New York City say they believe the crime is random, and are still searching for her killer.

Police in Massachusetts say they have no reason to believe the two crimes are connected, reports the Boston Globe.

The paper reports Marcotte was a 2011 Boston University graduate who grew up in Leominster.

"We have horrible set of facts, a horrible set of circumstances right here now," Early said.

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