Public defender in Oregon strangled to death

updated 12:21 p.m. ET Nov. 28, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore. - An autopsy has found that an assistant federal public defender found dead in her home was strangled.

Nancy Bergeson was found Tuesday afternoon lying face down in the dining room of her southwest Portland home. A girl who stopped by daily to walk her golden retriever saw the 57-year-old woman through a front window and contacted a neighbor.

Detective Cmdr. John Eckhart told The Oregonian that it was at first considered a natural death and wasn't until the body had been taken to the medical examiner's office and examined on Wednesday that the death was recognized as a homicide.

Eckhart says there was no sign of forced entry, the house was not ransacked, and there is no clear suspect.

FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele says the agency is monitoring in the homicide was related to Bergeson's job.

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