According to officials, the female body was discovered by a passer-by sometime before 11am at South Shaver and Queens. That civilian then apparently flagged down and alerted a nearby police officer.
Pasaden police have identified the victim as Edlyn Villegas Munoz, 36.
A spokesperson for the Pasadena Police Department said the woman was nude and was severely beaten, specifically around the face, and she may have been sexually assaulted.
"It's someone's child, daughter, sister," nearby resident Jaime Almaguer said. "We live in a cruel world right now."
From Almaguer's front door you can see the spot where Munoz's body was found, but no one at his home saw or heard anything suspicious.
"Everybody was celebrating New Year's with their gunshots, stuff like that, but nothing that was out of the ususal," he said.
Police they have interviewed Munoz's husband.
Investigators aren't saying if she was killed at the site or just dumped there.
The scene is immediately adjacent to Pasadena Fire Department Station No. 4. It's a volunteer fire station and no one was there overnight, but police hope one of the surveillance cameras outside the fire station might give them images to help catch the killer.
If you have information that may help investigators, call Pasadena police or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
Please stay with Eyewitness News and abc13.com as we continue to follow this developing story.
