Del Mar

Sheriff’s deputies are searching for clues into the slaying of a Del Mar woman whose body was found Thursday in the courtyard of her home.

Helena Margaret Greenwood, 35, a marketing representative for a Kearny Mesa company, had been strangled, the county coroner’s office said.

Greenwood’s body was found by her husband, Roger. Unable to open the front gate of the couple’s 23rd Street home, he peered over the fence and saw his wife’s body, deputies said.

Paramedics punched a hole in the gate to get to Mrs. Greenwood, who apparently had been dead for several hours.

Deputies found the victim’s purse, containing her keys, outside the locked house. The home showed no signs of forced entry despite the victim’s violent death, and an autopsy showed very little signs of struggle.