Mother of two found dead in Pennypack Park had been strangled

The woman found dead in residential and historically safe Pennypack Park early Tuesday was strangled, a crime that had homicide detectives on Wednesday seeking the public's help.

Constance McClain-Murray, 46, went out jogging about 9 p.m. Monday and never returned, Homicide Capt. James Clark said at an afternoon news conference.

Clark said detectives had not yet determined a motive in the killing, and he did not say how McClain had been strangled. He said there was no sign that she had been sexually assaulted.

The department has no suspects, Clark said, and detectives are combing the area around Pennypack Park for surveillance videos and evidence. He said McClain-Murray had a cellphone and headphones with her when she went out, but neither were found at the crime scene. Police were searching the area for them.

Her body was found near Holme and Convent Avenues in Northeast Philadelphia about 6 a.m. by a woman walking through the park who flagged down a SEPTA bus driver.

McClain-Murray, a stay-at-home mother of two girls, was pronounced dead at the scene by medics. The city medical examiner determined Wednesday that she had been strangled.

McClain-Murray was a daily jogger, Clark said, and she typically took three or four different routes on her runs around the Holmesburg neighborhood.

When she didn't return home Monday night, her husband and a daughter searched for her before filing a missing-persons report.

At McClain-Murray's home yesterday, a man standing in the driveway declined to comment.

A family friend said the family was devastated.

"She was lovely, loyal, loved her children, loved her home," said the friend, who declined to give her name. "She was a good person. Too good to be killed."

Clark called for the public's help in finding McClain-Murray's killer.

Anonymous tips can be left at the department's hotline, 215-686-TIPS, or with the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334.