An Alabama woman was found dead this week when a police officer stopped by her home to serve legal paperwork and her 4-year-old son said someone killed his mother.

AL.com reports that the victim, 29-year-old Shannon Sharell Steele, was found shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday at her home in Demopolis, Alabama, about 115 miles southwest of Birmingham.

When the officer arrived at the residence to serve papers on an unidentified individual, the boy told the officer what happened to his mother, according to Demopolis Police Chief Tommie Reese. The officer then went into the home and found Steele’s body in a back bedroom.

It appeared that she had been shot, the website reports.

Steele’s 4-month-old daughter also was in the bedroom, while two other children were not in the residence at the time.

“It’s very sad,” Reese told AL.com.

Rescue crews were called to the house, but Steele had already died. Investigators scoured the scene for several hours, collecting evidence and talking with neighbors, according to the website.

Steele’s body has been sent for an autopsy to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. It’s not clear yet exactly when Steele was killed, according to Reese, who said Friday there were no suspects in custody.

A grandmother is caring for Steele’s children.

The police department is “asking the community to keep the family in their thoughts and prayers, especially after we have just celebrated Christmas holidays and now getting ready to start a New Year,” Steele said.

[Feature Photo: Shannon Sharell Steele/Facebook]