DANVILLE, Va. – Danville police are searching for a 27-year-old man after the death of a Pittsylvania County woman.
Police say the body of 40-year-old Tiffany Denise Coleman, of Keeling, Virginia, was found in a dumpster on Friday morning.
Her white 2002 Chevrolet Impala with Virginia tags KEU-2681 is missing and police say it was stolen.
She was last seen in the company of 27-year-old D'Quinnton Averon Saunders, according to police. Saunders has been charged with the theft of Coleman's vehicle and is currently wanted.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Saunders or the stolen vehicle is asked to call 911, contact Danville Crime Stoppers at 434-799-6508, or via the crime tips line at crimetips@danvilleva.gov.
Information given will remain confidential.
Around 7:30 a.m. Friday, the body of an African American woman was found in the dumpster in between Interstate Battery and Hudsons Welding Shop in the 1700 block of Westover Drive.
The employee working at Interstate Battery and another man, who the company's owner says was in the area at the time, discovered the body.
"They saw there were a couple sandals in the driveway, and they could see that there were some remnants of something, and they could see it led over towards the dumpster," Interstate Battery owner Jeff Vine said.
Around noon, the dumpster was hauled away, but police would not say if the body was still inside.
Toniqua Hairston lives across the street from the scene.
"I just sent my kids to school at 7:30 this morning and I keep getting phone calls and phone calls that somebody's in the trash can and it's a black girl. So I'm upset, like, 'Oh my God! Where's my kids, where's my kids,'" Hairston said.
She called her kids' school to check on them and they were safe.
Police have not released the name of the woman found in the dumpster.
Thursday night, officers responded to the 400 block of Moffett Street for a report of shots fired and found a man dead in the street with an apparent gunshot wound to his upper body.
Police have not released his name.
Danville Police Department Captain Dennis Haley said investigators aren't getting any cooperation from the community regarding that homicide.
"It would make a huge difference if the community would come forward. The people who live in the community usually know what happened," Haley said.
Haley said having two homicides so close together is tough on the department.
"The investigators and officers...didn't get to sleep last night, and before they get to go home and process what they've been working on, they have to go right out and process another scene," Haley explained.
"From what I saw this morning though, the officers were really eager to get to the scene and do the best they could."
Both homicides remain under investigation.