COLUMBUS, Ind. — A 911 call for a welfare check over the weekend in rural Columbus ended with local police finding a woman dead inside her home and the arrest of a man found hiding in some nearby woods.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called around 5:30 a.m. Sunday to the 500 block of E. 650 S. for a welfare check on a female resident. However, upon arrival, deputies weren’t able to make contact with anyone inside.

While investigating, BCSO said a property owner reported a suspicious vehicle that had been abandoned in a nearby field along E. 800 S. That vehicle, authorities said, was found to be connected to the woman deputies were sent to check on.

As deputies were looking into the abandoned car, a citizen reported that a man was hiding in the woods near the address of the original welfare check. A perimeter was established around the wooded area, BCSO said, and K9s were deployed.

Eventually, BCSO said deputies found a man in the woods and he was detained without incident.

Deputies continued to investigate the welfare check call, BCSO said, and eventually were granted a search warrant for the woman’s home. Deputies found the woman dead inside. She was identified by the Bartholomew County Coroner as 40-year-old Ashley E. Neville.

“She was always very kind when she would pass by,” said neighbor April Perry. “We would wave back and forth.”

Perry said she knew Neville only in passing. She woke up Sunday to a massive police presence on her normally quiet country road. 

“[Detectives] were asking if we had any trail cameras up to maybe where they could find anything out,” Perry said.

The sheriff’s office said that the man hiding in the woods, identified as Anthony W. Carter, was then taken into custody and charged with murder.

Carter, BCSO said, also had an unrelated, out-of-county warrant for his arrest.

Police haven’t released how or why Neville was killed or how she was related to her alleged killer. However, Perry said the two were in a relationship and she had seen him around the house before. 

“The last time I seen him he had a flat tire and he was working on his car,” Perry said.

No further information was provided and the BCSO said the investigation. The case is currently being referred to as a death investigation and the sheriff’s office said that the investigation is ongoing.