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 PRINCETON, Mass. - A New York City woman visiting family in Princeton was found dead after going jogging, according to Mass. State Police. 
 
 Police said 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte was last seen 1 p.m. Sunday when she went for a run. A Mass. State Police K-9 unit found her body about a half mile from her mother's house. 
 
 >> PHOTOS: Jogger found dead in Princeton 
 
 A source told FOX25 that Marcotte was found with burns on her head and feet. Investigators are examining the possibility that Marcotte was sexually assaulted and then set on fire. 
 
 “People should be concerned, we are asking them to use an abundance of caution,” Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said. 
 
 >> 5 things to know about Vanessa Marcotte 
 
 In a news conference held Monday at noon, police said this is now a homicide investigation and that they do not know if it was a random act. 
 
 Princeton PD chef: "We are concerned about the safety of our residents, and visitors to the town." @fox25news — Kathryn Burcham (@KathrynBFOX25) August 8, 2016 
 
 “We have a horrible set of facts, horrible set of circumstances and we are going to do everything we can to make sure that this investigation is carried out,” Early said. 
 
 oFOX25 Live Stream WATCH LIVE: Mass. State Police provide update on death investigation in Princeton, where neighbors have reported a missing jogger. http://fox25.com/2ayKu7W Posted by FOX25 News on Monday, August 8, 2016 
 
 According to her Linkedin page, Marcotte worked for Google in New York City. 
 
 Boston University spokesperson Colin Riley told FOX25 she graduated from the school in May 2011 with honors from the College of Communication. 
 
 "We're so terribly sad for her family and friends. They're in our thoughts and prayers," Riley said. 
 
 Police said Marcotte was a Leominster native, and her Linkedin lists her as graduating from The Bancroft School in Worcester in 2007. 
 
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 Neighbors said they received an automated call from Princeton Police around 8 p.m. Sunday. Massachusetts State Police troopers said they arrived to an already active scene around 10:30 p.m. 
 
 Investigators seeking public help who saw anything after 1pm Sunday in the area of Brooks Station Rd pic.twitter.com/ndlkrrFBQb — Kathryn Burcham (@KathrynBFOX25) August 8, 2016 
 
 Police have asked anyone with information to contact them at (508) 453-7589. 
 
 There is an now anonymous tip line for Princeton jogger murder 
 
 Vanessa Marcotte Investigation Tip Line: 508-453-7589 pic.twitter.com/JJafPZZrzX — FOX25 News Boston (@fox25news) August 9, 2016 
 
 Monday night, FOX25's Christine McCarthy said neighbors were warned not to walk or jog alone while the suspect was still at large. Police said they would be stepping up patrols while they investigated the murder. 
 
 Monday afternoon, FOX25's Kathryn Burcham spoke to investigators and learned about the condition Marcotte's body was in when it was found. 
 
 FOX25's Stephanie Coueignoux was in Princeton reporting on the murder Monday morning before Marcotte's identity was confirmed, watch her breaking news report below. 
 
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 PRINCETON — Vanessa Marcotte had been home for a few days, visiting her mother, when she decided to go for a Sunday afternoon jog in this quiet, wooded community near Worcester. But when she didn’t return home, her family worried and called the police. 
 
 Several hours later, a State Police K-9 unit found Marcotte’s body in the woods off Brooks Station Road, a half-mile from her mother’s house. 
 
 The slaying of the 27-year-old Leominster native, a graduate of Boston University who worked at Google in New York City, set this small, quiet town on edge. 
 
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 “I must stress that we do not know if this was a random act,” Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said at a news conference Monday. “We are asking residents of Princeton and surrounding areas to use an abundance of caution. We are asking the public to be careful and to be vigilant.” 
 
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 Michele Powers, Princeton’s police chief, echoed that message, saying “we are concerned about the safety of town residents and ask people to pay attention to their surroundings.” 
 
 Authorities said they believed Marcotte had been running along the two-lane road. 
 
 A law enforcement official briefed on the case said there are indications that Marcotte’s body had been burned and that investigators are working to determine whether she was sexually assaulted. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the case, spoke on condition of anonymity. 
 
 Early did not say how Marcotte was killed but said investigators are focused on the hours between 1 p.m. — when she left her mother’s house — and 4 p.m. Sunday. Her body was found at 8:20 p.m. 
 
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 Early said there was “nothing at this point” to connect Marcotte’s killing to last week’s murder of Karina Vetrano, who was killed while jogging near her home in Queens, N.Y. 
 
 On Monday, police blocked off part of Brooks Station Road, and investigators could be seen combing through the woods and scanning the ground. 
 
 David L. Ryan/Globe Staff State Police searched woodlands in Princeton near where the victim’s body was discovered. 
 
 Marcotte graduated from the Bancroft School in Worcester in 2007 and from Boston University in 2011, where she studied communications, according to her LinkedIn profile. After college, she worked in several marketing jobs in Boston before starting as a health care account manager at Google last year. 
 
 “Vanessa Marcotte was a much-loved member of the Google team, working in our New York office for the last year and a half, and known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work, and love of Boston sports,” the company said in a statement. “We are deeply shocked and saddened, and our thoughts are with her family and friends.” 
 
 Globe Staff 
 
 Larry Kim, founder of WordStream, an Internet marketing firm in Boston, said he hired Marcotte directly out of college in the summer of 2011 and watched her rise from customer service to management in less than two years. 
 
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 “I am just in complete disbelief,” Kim said. “She was a wonderful young woman and very ambitious and had a brilliant career cut short.” 
 
 Several of Marcotte’s relatives declined to comment. 
 
 In Princeton, a prosperous town of 3,400 about 15 miles north of Worcester, residents said they were alarmed at the prospect that Marcotte’s killer might still be in their midst. 
 
 One resident of Brooks Station Road said State Police showed up at her doorstep around 1:30 a.m., asking whether she or her husband had seen anything unusual. She hadn’t, but said the large, wooded lots along the road make it easy to avoid notice. 
 
 “I can see how, maybe, she was walking or jogging by one of these properties, or even in front of my house, and someone could grab her and bring her right into the woods,” she said, declining to give her name. 
 
 Terry Hart, who lives near Brooks Station Road, said that he has two young daughters who jog regularly in the area and has never worried about them. 
 
 “People run all the time,” he said. “This town is very safe.” 
 
 Stan Moss, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said the town was planning to send residents a “code red” alert by text, e-mail, and phone, “asking people to be aware.” 
 
 “Nobody’s speculating there’s a risk, but it’s a time and place to be aware, which is pretty atypical for our community,” Moss said. “We’re rural and quiet and a lot of people don’t lock their cars and leave their doors open. It’s a shock.” 
 
 Moss said he could not recall a homicide in the town in his 33 years there. 
 
 In 2013, a local dentist was charged with manslaughter, two years after his wife was found dead beneath a shattered third-floor window of their home. 
 
 Joanne Kay, manager of the Mountainside Market, a local bakery and cafe, said she plans to hand over surveillance video from her store to investigators because joggers, cyclists, and hikers frequently stop in for refreshments. 
 
 “It’s devastating,” she said Monday. “It’s like your own daughter.” 
 
 David L. Ryan/Globe staff Vanessa Marcotte’s body was found Sunday night after her family had reported her missing. 
 
 Steve Annear and John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com . Follow him on Twitter @mlevenson . Trisha Thadani can be reached at trisha.thadani@globe.com . Follow her on Twitter @TrishaThadani 

 A woman out for an afternoon jog was found dead in Princeton on Sunday night after her family reported her missing. A state police source told NewsCenter 5 that the woman's body was found naked and burned. 
 
 Vanessa Marcotte, 27, who lived in New York, was found dead in a wooded area near Brooks Station Road, about a half-mile from her mother's Princeton home. 
 
 “A preliminary review of the body has led detectives to believe this is a homicide investigation,” District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said. "We do not know if this is a random act.” 
 
 A state police source at the scene told NewsCenter 5 that it was not immediately clear if Marcotte was assaulted, but she was naked. The woman's hands, feet and part of head were burned, the source said. 
 
 Early said Marcotte went out for a walk at about 1 p.m., and when she did not return, her family reported her missing. Her body was found about seven hours later. 
 
 "We are asking (residents) to be very careful. Right now we have an active homicide investigation going on. You can't be too careful," Early said. 
 
 Photos 
 
 
 
 
 
 Marcotte, who grew up in Leominster, was working as an account manager for Google, Early said. 
 
 “Vanessa Marcotte was a much loved member of the Google team, working in our New York office for the last year and a half, and known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work, and love of Boston sports," a Google spokesperson said. "We are deeply shocked and saddened, and our thoughts are with her family and friends.” 
 
 Anyone with information is urged to call Massachusetts State Police at 508-453-7589. 

 As authorities continue to investigate the death of 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte, found slain in the woods of Princeton Sunday, those who knew her have begun to voice their sadness. 
 
 Marcotte, a Leominster native, had been visiting her mother in Princeton for a couple of days before she went out for a jog on one of the town's back country roads Sunday. When she didn't return, her family became concerned and called police. Marcotte's body was found by a Massachusetts State Police K-9 unit later Sunday evening. 
 
 Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. at a press conference Monday said he could not give out details of how Marcotte was found, but called the circumstances of her death "horrific." 
 
 Marcotte was living in New York City and working as an account manager for Google. 
 
 The internet company released a statement Monday saying: 
 
 "Vanessa Marcotte was a much loved member of the Google team, working in our New York office for the last year and a half, and known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work and love of Boston sports. We are deeply shocked and saddened, and our thoughts are with her family and friends'." 
 
 Marcotte's LinkedIn page shows she graduated from Boston University in 2011 and the Bancroft School in Worcester in 2007. 
 
 Fox25 reports that investigators are looking into the possibility that Marcotte was sexually assaulted then set of fire. MassLive has also learned that her body was burned. 

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 NEW YORK -- A young Google account manager was killed on Sunday and the investigation is ongoing. 
 
 Vanessa Marcotte, 27, was found dead near her mother's home in Princeton, Massachusetts, a small town of fewer than 3,500 people. 
 
 Marcotte, who lives in New York City, was visiting her mother for the weekend. 
 
 She'd gone out for a walk or a run in the afternoon. Her family reported her missing around 3 p.m. when she didn't return home as expected, according to Maureen Lynch, administrative assistant at the Princeton Police Department. 
 
 Her body was found just after 8 p.m. by canine units in a wooded area on Brooks Station Road, the same street where her mother lives. 
 
 According to WCVB, a source close to the investigation said Marcotte was found without her clothes and had burns on her head, feet, and hands. 
 
 The death is being investigated as a homicide. An autopsy is underway. 
 
 In a press conference on Monday, Massachusetts District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. stressed that it was still early in the investigation and that they're unsure if the act was random. 
 
 According to her LinkedIn profile, Marcotte had been at Google since January 2015 and was working as part of the company's health care division. 
 
 "Vanessa Marcotte was a much loved member of the Google team, working in our New York office for the last year and a half, and known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work, and love of Boston sports," a Google spokesperson said. "We are deeply shocked and saddened, and our thoughts are with her family and friends." 
 
 Marcotte graduated with honors in 2011 from Boston University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in communications. 
 
 Upon graduating, she worked at an online marketing software startup in Boston called WordStream. 
 
 Larry Kim, founder of WordStream, said he's in disbelief over the news. 
 
 "I never envisioned this outcome [for her]," Kim told CNNMoney. 
 
 He said that Marcotte joined the team when it had less than 15 people and stayed there in various customer service roles for just under two years. 
 
 "She was just a delightful person," he said, characterizing her as "bright," "ambitious" and "caring." 
 
 Boston University's executive director of media relations, Colin Riley, sent an email statement to CNNMoney expressing condolences for her loved ones. 
 
 "We're so terribly sad for her family and friends. They're in our thoughts and prayers."
– A 27-year-old jogger from New York City was found dead in Princeton, Mass., on Sunday, her naked body partially burned, police say. Vanessa Marcotte—an account manager for Google—had set out from her mother's house, which she was visiting for the weekend, around 1pm, authorities say. Her family reported her missing hours later and her body was found a half-mile away in a wooded area around 8pm. The case follows last week's murder of jogger Karina Vetrano in Queens. Police tell Fox 25 they are investigating whether Marcotte was sexually assaulted, then set on fire as her hands, feet, and head appear to have been burned. "We do not know if this is a random act," a Worcester County DA tells WCVB, calling the circumstances of her death "horrific," per Mass Live. Police, seen scouring the wooded area near a two-lane road on Monday afternoon, are asking the public's help in finding out what happened after Marcotte departed, reports Fox 59. However, a neighbor tells the Boston Globe that the wooded lots nearby provide good cover for someone to "grab her and bring her right into the woods." A former boss describes Marcotte, a Boston University graduate, as "bright," "ambitious," "caring," and "just a delightful person." She was "known for her ubiquitous smile, passion for volunteer work, and love of Boston sports," a Google rep adds. "We are deeply shocked and saddened." Massachusetts police say there's no sign Vetrano and Marcotte's murders are linked. (Vetrano's mother had strong words for her daughter's killer.)