Carol Augustus, the 42-year-old woman of Sophia whose body was found on the Green Field, East Coast Demerara foreshore last week Friday was strangled to death, according to police sources.

Investigations have also uncovered that the mentally ill woman was sexually assaulted and her death might have stemmed from her fighting against being gang-raped.

Police had held five men. They released two yesterday and three are being treated as prime suspects into the woman's murder. Augustus had wandered off from her Sophia home two Wednesdays ago without the knowledge of her relatives.

They made several searches but did not find her until she was discovered dead last Friday