MACHESNEY PARK – A northern Illinois woman whose disappearance sparked a massive search suffered “blunt force trauma” and an autopsy ruled her death a homicide, Winnebago County Sheriff’s Police said Tuesday.

Katrina Smith, 30, of Machesney Park was last seen Oct. 22. She didn’t show up for her human resources job Oct. 23 at Camryn Company in Belvidere.

An off-duty firefighter fishing on the Rock River found Smith’s body Friday in the water near Byron. The body was decomposing and caught in a submerged tree, authorities said. The body was clothed but the garments were faded and unidentifiable, the Rockford Register Star reported.