Body found in UA park had signs of trauma

A preliminary autopsy report from the Franklin County Coroner’s Office has shed new light on what may have happened to a 23-yearold Columbus woman whose body was found in an Upper Arlington park Sunday.

The body of Bobbie Renee Simpson, 23, was found by a woman walking on a trail in Burbank Park around 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

According to the Franklin County Coroner’s Office, Simpson sustained significant and obvious signs of trauma, including mutilation, before her body was placed in a container and eventually set on fire at the park.

Her body was found in a ravine area off a walking trail just inside the Stonehaven Simpson Drive entrance to Burbank Park in northwest Upper Arlington.

The official cause of Simpson’s death has not been determined by Upper Arlington police.

“We aren’t ruling anything out and looking at it from every angle,” Officer Bryan McKean said Thursday.

Investigative notes indicate a witness saw a dark-colored vehicle, possibly a SUV, entering the park about 30 minutes before the fire was discovered and called into 911.

According to the 911 call, the woman who discovered the fire was not initially aware it was a body on fire.

Anyone with information about Simpson’s whereabouts in the days and hours leading up to her being found or information about her death is asked to call Upper Arlington police at 614-583-5160.