Morning Journal/Deanne Johnson Columbiana County Deputy Tab Bailey speaks with Sheriff Brian McLaughlin through the window of his vehicle before he left the scene of the Depot Road home where a woman was found murdered on Friday.

LISBON — Columbiana County authorities are investigating the homicide of a Depot Road woman, who was found by a family member on the porch near the driveway on Friday.

County Sheriff Brian McLaughlin said the family member who found her initially called an ambulance for a “medical issue,” but when the ambulance crew arrived it became more apparent it was a homicide.

Deputies have a suspect in mind McLaughlin said, allowing that it is someone who is known to the victim and family. Shortly before 9 p.m., deputies reportedly found a Dodge Ram pickup truck they were looking for in connection to the murder, but it was abandoned outside of Salineville.

McLaughlin was not yet identifying the woman in order to give the family more time to contact others Friday evening, although he said the husband and some family members were aware. He also declined to comment on the manner of how the woman was killed.

Investigators from the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, the county coroner’s office and the county prosecutor’s office were all on scene in the late morning and throughout the afternoon at the home located in the 8900 block of Depot Road, between U.S. Route 30 and state Route 172. The woman reportedly lives there with family. McLaughlin believed deputies were notified about the homicide between 11:15 or 11:30 a.m.

Depot Road was blocked off to traffic for several hours as investigators worked in the area of the porch, the driveway and inside the home to gather evidence. Detectives spoke to family members, some of whom had gathered along the roadway to console each other and to try to learn what had happened.

According to the tax records through the Columbiana County Auditor’s office, the home is owned by Mary Ann Ewing and Timothy McGuire.