Woman Found Dead in Bathtub in Florida Murder Mystery

ByABC NEWS ABCNews logo
Thursday, September 11, 2014

Police in Florida are investigating the mysterious murder of a woman found dead in her bathtub.

Jill Halliburton Su -- the wife of a prominent University of Florida professor -- was found dead Monday inside her Davie, Florida, home in Broward County.

The 59-year-old's son discovered her body and called 911. Davie Police Captain Dale Engle said it didn't take long for authorities to conclude that foul play was involved.

"The initial call came in as a possible suicide, but it became very evident that this was not a suicide, but in fact a homicide," Engle said.

At this point, police aren't saying how Halliburton Su died.

She was related to the founder of the billion-dollar Halliburton oil services empire -- and also volunteered, reading books for the blind.

Her husband, Dr. Nan Yao Su, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida's Research and Education Center in Fort Lauderdale, was at work Monday, and said he called home when he couldn't see his home surveillance cameras on his computer, police said.

He told his oldest son to check on the house, at which time the victim's body was found.

Both father and son were questioned by police and, at this point, neither are considered suspects, Engle said.

"I don't want to say anybody's been ruled out as a suspect. At this time, this is a very active investigation," he said. "We did find a door that was broken or the glass of a door that was broken."

That broken glass suggests that the house could have been broken into, with a room reportedly ransacked. Police are now canvassing the gated neighborhood, looking at surveillance tapes and even diving into nearby canals for clues.

"We're going door-to-door, literally speaking, with residents over there to see if anybody captured any evidence that we may be able to utilize in this investigation," Engle said.

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