OC detectives need help finding young mother's killer

Casie Graves was playing with her baby daughter Friday and was so enamored with the child that she posted a video of the little cutie for her friends to see.

Sometime between the time of the video post and Saturday afternoon, Casie Graves was murdered and her body dumped along a road to an industrial site.

Now, the Orange County Sheriff's Office is hoping the public can help find her killer, or killers.

The sheriff's office was called at 5:20 Saturday afternoon when someone spotted a woman's body dumped along the truck entrance roadway to the International Paper mill off Highway 87 between Orange and Deweyville.

Tuesday, the Orange County Sheriff's Office issued a press release identifying the woman's body as 38-year-old Casie Lynn Graves of Orange.

Detective Captain Joey Jacobs said his office is not talking about details of the case except to confirm that an autopsy confirmed her death as a homicide.

Graves on social media shows her with blonde hair beaming proudly with two young daughters, one apparently in pre-school with the other still a baby. Her brother is Eric Graves, a meteorologist who is a storm chaser and has worked for television stations. Her mother is Vickie Graves of Vidor.

Her body was found near railroad tracks along a road leading to the paper mill's truck entrance. The expansive industrial site has two entrances off Highway 87 North, but even after turning off the highway, there is a distance to travel before reaching the main plant site and gates. Someone dropping a body off may not have been seen by traffic traveling on Highway 87.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office will not give a timeline on when the young mother would have been killed or where she was last seen alive. Captain Jacobs said Tuesday no other information will be released to the public.

However, anyone in the public who has information about the young mother's movements on Friday or any other information or tips they can provide, they should contact Captain Jacobs at 409-883-2612. The number is the main sheriff's office, but Captain Jacobs is leading the investigation.

Anonymous tips may be left at the Crimestoppers of Southeast Texas at 409-833-8477, which is 409-833-TIPS.

Highway 87 is a busy thoroughfare and someone may have seen something unusual or suspicious in the area on Friday night into Saturday.