York Co. deputies seek help to identify body of tattooed woman found in Fort Mill area

York County investigators are asking for help in identifying a woman, believed to be in her 20s with several distinctive tattoos, whose body was found Thursday between Fort Mill and the Lancaster County line.

On the woman’s shoulder, the words “Naveed Mahmood” and a crescent moon are tattooed, police said.

Deputies with the York County Sheriff’s Office do not know the identity of the woman, her exact age, or how long she had been there, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

The body was found south of Fort Mill, near Sugar Creek, off Dobys Bridge Road in York County, near the Lancaster County line. Neighbors described it as a “quiet” area.

The woman had several “distinctive” tattoos, Faris said.

A letter “Q” was on her right arm, with a playing card image of a spade underneath, pictures provided by the sheriff’s office show.

One the woman’s left wrist was a tattoo of a heart. On her rear right shoulder is a tattoo believed to be a cursive capital letter “H,” Faris said.

The woman was 5 feet 3 inches tall, and 130 pounds, with brown eyes. She was wearing pearl earrings and a gold necklace made by Jook and Nona that reads “Happy,” police said.

She wore two silver rings on her right hand, he said.

Police have not said whether detectives believe the woman was the victim of a crime.

Faris said investigators do not believe there is any reason for the public to have concerns about personal or family safety.

“At this time, there is no reason to believe there is any danger to the public,” Faris said Friday afternoon.

Neighbors said the area is generally “quiet”, and that that the discovery of a body is “surprising” and to some, “disturbing.”

“I have a campsite right across the creek here, just a stone’s throw from where the police were looking,” said Jonathan Vanstone, who lives nearby, and was fishing in the creek Thursday.

“It is a little disturbing, right in your back yard,” he said.

Vanstone and another neighbor on the Lancaster County side, Brandon Hobbs, said the area is normally quiet. Hobbs said it was “surprising” to hear a body had been found nearby, and that he would like to know what happened.

The area where the body was found, which used to be rural, now has thousands of homes nearby.

Water testing workers found the body and called police.

Lancaster County deputies were alerted about the discovery of the body, just yards from that county’s jurisdiction, but they have not been brought into the investigation, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

Lancaster County does not have any missing persons cases involving women, Barfield said.

Parts of the death investigation concerning the cause and manner of death have not been released by the York County Coroner’s Office and officials.

There is no timetable for when autopsy results would be available, coroner officials said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 803-628-3056, or York County Crimestoppers at 1-877-409-4321.

This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 9:23 AM with the headline "York Co. deputies seek help to identify body of tattooed woman found in Fort Mill area."