Oklahoma Pastor Found Dead Inside Her Church

ANADARKO, Okla. – Authorities continue to search for leads in the killing of a pastor a day after she was found inside her Pentecostal church in southwest Oklahoma.

The body of Carol Daniels, 61, was found at noon on Sunday inside the Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko, a town of about 6,600 people roughly 60 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown told FOXNews.com that Daniels had trauma to her body but declined to elaborate. An autopsy is scheduled to be conducted today, she said.

Brown said Daniels, who served as the church's pastor for "many, many" years, was at the tiny, one-story building on Sunday for the off chance that a worshipper attended congregation.

"She was there just in case someone showed up, but there wasn't a regular congregation," she said. "We're trying to find anyone who might have seen or heard anything unusual in the area and we'll go from there."

Daniels' mother, Charlesetta Dunlap, said the family had no further information about the crime and wasn't ready to talk about Daniels.

"We don't know anything yet," she told the Associated Press on Monday.

Investigators said they have no suspects in Daniels' death and few leads to follow. Officials on Sunday spoke with several people who gathered around the building after word about the slaying spread. Many of them wept and hugged each other.

Brown said Daniels lived in Oklahoma City and drove to the church each Sunday for services.

Daniels was a graduate of Douglass High School in Oklahoma City and the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. She is survived by her adult daughter, Raina.

Attempts to reach Daniels' relatives were unsuccessful early Monday.

Mitchell Pendarvis, who lives next door to the church, was surprised to hear about the killing.

"I don't know what to think and I'm trying to think," Pendarvis told Oklahoma City television station KWTV. "I mean, who would do this to this woman?"

According to 2000 census data, roughly 6,645 people live in the Anadarko, Okla., earning a median income of $24,035. More than a quarter of the town's residents lived below the poverty Iine, including 38 percent of those under age 18. Caucasians and Native Americans each comprise about 41 percent of the population, and African-Americans make up about 6 percent.

Two buildings near the church where Daniels' body was found were destroyed during a fire early Saturday. The Anadarko Daily News, a daily newspaper, and the Tornado Alley bar — both one-story buildings — were reportedly destroyed in the fire.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.