A body of an unidentified woman was found Thursday night behind the Cornerstone United Methodist Church at 15th Street and 16th Avenue in Meridian.

Foul play has been ruled out, based on a preliminary autopsy, in the death of an unidentified woman found Thursday night behind a church in the city of Meridian.

Police are searching for answers in connection to her death and are asking the public’s help in identifying her.

The body was discovered around 6:50 p.m. behind the Cornerstone United Methodist Church at 15th St. and 16th Ave., Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler said. The body was found face down and nude, and appears to have been there since Tuesday, due to the amount of insect bites, he said.

Cobler and police said help is needed in identifying the woman, who Cobler said was between 20 and 40 years old.

She was white, between 5-foot-4 and 5-8, weighed 110 pounds and had brunette hair with blonde highlights, Meridian Police said. She had four tattoos, which are described as a heart with an arrow through it on the right buttocks, an infinity symbol on the right shoulder possibly rainbow colored, and the name “Jacob” with a ” yin and yang” symbol beside the name on her left shoulder, police said in a statement. She was wearing a beaded necklace.

“The body was discovered between the church and a house that connects to the church,” Cobler said. “A gentleman that lives across the street had been out of town, and when he returned home he noticed there was a can outside of the garage. He went across the street to see if anything else had been tampered with, and that was when he found the body.”

The body has been sent to Jackson for an autopsy and identification, Cobler said.

Police treated her death as a homicide.

“When the body was discovered we called the crime scene unit out, just to be on the safe side,” Meridian Police Department Sgt. Dareall Thompson said. “It is still too early into the investigation to say what happened, but until autopsy results are back investigators are treating it as a crime scene.

Police ask anyone with information that might help to call the Meridian Police Department at (601) 485-1870 or Crimestoppers line at (855) 485-TIPS.