Gainesville Police is investigating a possible homicide after a woman was found dead in her apartment Sunday afternoon.
Police identified the woman as Roxie E. Scott-Kotb, 63, of 3301 SW 13th St., Apt. U282, said GPD spokesman Ben Tobias.
At about 1:43 p.m. Sunday, GPD officers responded to an emergency call at the Bivens Cove apartment complex, located in the 3300 block of Southwest 13th Street, about a dead body found by Scott-Kotb’s friends.
The friends told GPD officers they stopped by the apartment to drop off a wedding invitation, Tobias said.
When Scott-Kotb didn’t answer the door, the group walked into the apartment through the unlocked front door and found Scott-Kotb lying on the floor.
Police determined that Scott-Kotb had been dead in her apartment for more than a week, which meant finding a cause of death would be a challenge, Tobias said.
“That makes our investigation extremely, extremely difficult,” he said.
Police sent Scott-Kotb ’s body to the Medical Examiner’s Office to find out how she died, Tobias added.
Officers originally went to Scott-Kotb ’s apartment for a medical emergency, but Tobias said any death outside of a doctor’s care is considered suspicious.
“We would much rather do a complete, thorough investigation and have it turn out to be nothing than not do the appropriate investigation and have missed something,” he said.
Contact Kathryn Varn at kvarn@alligator.org.
