RESIDENTS of a busy Howell Road suburb are trying to come to grips with the death of a 35-year-old kindergarten teacher who was found in her home on Tuesday.
The residents have been told the woman was strangled to death.
Police deputy director operations SP Erami Raibe said they were treating the case as murder.
"The post mortem examination revealed the woman was strangled to death," ASP Raibe said.
"We have also determined the time of death and we have been questioning people, although nobody has been taken into custody as a suspect."
The victim ran Jinny and Johnny's Preschool and Day Centre from her residence at the corner of Rewa Street and Howell Road.
Neighbours said the preschool was closed on Monday and they had seen many parents return with their children.
The owners of a shop on Howell Road said: "We have a five-year-old daughter and we found the school closed. That same afternoon we heard of the terrible incident. The school had been there for a little more than six months."
Neighbour Sunil Kumar, 43, said he only came to know about the incident when the police sealed off the house on Tuesday afternoon.
"Some youths said there had been a robbery because the police were present at the house," Mr Kumar said.
"When I saw the area sealed off with police tape, I knew something was up. I was then told a woman had been discovered."
Mr Kumar said there had been no disturbance since the weekend.
"I think she lived there with her partner, who I believe is a pilot," he said.
The woman was found by her partner on Tuesday afternoon.
The Forensics Unit spent yesterday combing for clues at the crime scene.
The police have also yet to make arrests in a Toorak killing in which a woman was strangled and burnt.
Police spokesman Sergeant Atunaisa Sokomuri said investigations were continuing.
