The body of an Alabama woman who went missing last month after texting a friend that she was in trouble has been found.
Paighton Houston, 29, of Trussville, was last seen leaving the Tin Roof bar in Birmingham with two men at around 10:45 p.m. on Dec. 20. Her remains were discovered Friday in a shallow grave behind a home in Hueytown, police said.
Chief Deputy David Agee of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the death, told AL.com that investigators have not yet determined whether the death was the result of a homicide.
"Right now we have a lot more questions than answers,'' Agee said. “But we hope to have those answers real soon. We’re gonna work hard and we’re going to find out what happened.”
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment Saturday.
Houston had gone to the bar that night with some coworkers, according to family members. Police said Houston left the bar willingly with the two men, but shortly thereafter she texted one of her coworkers "if I call answer, I don't know these people and I feel in trouble," according to her mother Charlaine Houston.
"It was like Paighton to check in ... but it wasn't like Paighton to send a text like that," her brother Evan Houston told Good Morning America last week.
Following the news that her daughter's body had been discovered, Charlaine Houston thanked the community and others for their support in a Facebook post Saturday.
"Our family didn't get the news we had hoped for but I am very grateful that Paighton is coming home," she wrote. "We don't have to go through the torture of not knowing what was happening to her and where she could be."
Police said they responded to the Hueytown home Thursday after officials "developed information on a possible location for the remains of Paighton Houston," according to the Trussville Police Department.
Her remains were located and identified the next day.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Houston family as they begin the grieving process," Trussville police said in a statement.