Virginia police continue investiating death of news reporter www.privateofficer.com

 

Fauquier County VA July 23 2012 The Facebook, Twitter and online dating profiles of a northern Virginia reporter have come under recent scrutiny by police investigating culprits in the popular woman’s mysterious death.

Sarah L. Greenhalgh, 48, was found dead July 9 in the burning remains of a farmhouse she rented in a posh village 60 miles outside Washington, D.C.

An avid social media user, Greenhalgh left a cryptic message on her Facebook page the night before her death, writing that she would sleep peacefully with her windows open as long as “crazy boy left me alone.”

The day after Greenhalgh’s corpse was discovered, police questioned the as yet unnamed man believed to be “crazy boy” in his Gainesville home.

According to an interview in The Washington Post with Kate Langton, Greenhalgh’s sister, the man was depressed and had been working through a divorce. He and Greenhalgh had been dating on and off and were spotted arguing in a parking lot the day of her death.

Langton maintained, however, that she did not know who killed her sister.

“We have several persons of interest, some we’ve talked to, some we have not, some we’re seeking to talk to,” Fauquier County Sheriff’s Lt. James Hartman told 9News Now.

Greenhalgh had a tumultuous relationship with another man and was known to use online dating sites to meet male companions.

The daughter of a once-prominent local politician, she had been reporting on county government at The Winchester Star since the previous summer; her stories there have also been examined by police.

The paper’s managing editor, Maria Hileman, told The Associated Press that Greenhalgh was “a bright spot in the room.”

“She really had sort of a very effervescent personality. When she came into the room, you knew that Sarah was in the room,” Hileman told the Press. “She was very friendly and lively.”

Greenhalgh was also well known for her equestrian reporting and had been freelancing on the subject for two decades.

“It really seems strange without her here,” Hileman said.

Fauquier County authorities are still awaiting autopsy results to determine cause of death, according to the Washington Examiner.