The search for a missing woman led Escambia County sheriff’s investigators to a dead body in Murder Creek early Friday morning — and the facts of the case remain mysterious.

Officials are treating the investigation as a homicide until more is known about the woman’s death. Sherriff’s officials identified the body as that of Ina Jackson, however no other details were released pending a complete investigation and autopsy results.

The body was found drowned in the creek at a spot off Murder Creek Road in the Kirkland area near Brewton, officials said.

Chief Deputy Mike Lambert said the events that led to the discovery of the body began late Thursday.

“Our dispatchers received a call that someone had found a man sitting in a car just off Murder Creek Road and that he was unresponsive,” Lambert said. “The caller also said he was bleeding heavily from a cut on his foot. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene and he was transported to D.W. McMillan Hospital where he was admitted into the ICU there.”

Later Thursday, dispatchers were called to another incident on Murder Creek Road, Lambert said.

“About 8:30 p.m. a call came in that a lady was in a man’s yard and appeared to be intoxicated,” Lambert said. “Our officers responded to the scene. The suspect said she was there looking for her mother. Due to the circumstances at that time, the suspect was arrested and transported to the Escambia County Detention Center.”

Lambert said they allowed the suspect to speak with investigators concerning the claim that her mother was missing.

“After taking that information, we began a search in the area along Murder Creek Road to see if we could locate the mother,” Lambert said. “About 9:30 or 10 p.m., we began to canvass the area searching for the woman. There are some really thick woods out here and we sent for some help. We called the K9 team from Fountain Correctional Facility to put everything we could to use in trying to find this missing woman.”

Lambert said officers continued the search with the assistance of the dogs and were able to establish a trail for the missing woman.

“One of the dogs found a scent and followed it,” Lambert said. “At one point, the dog left the creek bank, jumped into the water and swam to a log. When officers went to the log where the dog was, they were able to see what appeared to be the body of a female submerged near the log.”

Lambert said the body was removed and was transported to the county morgue by a medical examiner officer.

“We don’t know at this point what the circumstances are concerning this woman’s death,” Lambert said. “We treat every death as a homicide until an investigation rules that out. We will be waiting to see the results of an autopsy and complete our investigation before drawing any other conclusions.”

Lambert said Escambia County Sheriff’s officers were assisted in the search by the Andalusia Police Department, the Escambia County Rescue Squad, Fountain Correctional K9 team and members of the medical examiner’s office.