Authorities are continuing their investigation into the murder of a 31-year-old elementary school teacher whose body was found last Saturday in her Douglasville townhouse.

The Georgia State Crime Lab ruled Tuesday that the death of Katie Elizabeth Parvu, of 8312 Max Court, a third-grade teacher at Sweetwater Elementary School, was a homicide. The cause of death was strangulation, according to Douglas County Coroner Randy Daniel.

Landel Batiste, 25, Douglasville, has been charged with concealing Parvu’s death and is being investigated as “a person of interest” in the case. He was denied bond in a Tuesday Magistrate Court hearing and remains in Douglas County Jail.

According to Douglas County Chief Deputy Stan Copeland, sheriff’s investigators received information last Saturday that there might be a body in the Max Court home.

He said they found Parvu’s badly composed body “with no obvious signs of trauma.” He declined to give further details of the crime scene.

“After the autopsy determined it was a homicide, the Major Case Unit was called in to investigate,” Copeland said.

According to Magistrate Court testimony, Batiste went to the Max Court address around July 15 and discovered the body inside. However, instead of calling law enforcement officials, he allegedly walked out and locked the door. He later told a friend who called another friend who is a Douglas County deputy.

Copeland described Batiste as a “mild acquaintance” of the victim.

“He is a person of interest but has not been charged with the death,” Copeland said. “He knew the body was there and concealed that fact from authorities. His actions may have lost us valuable forensic evidence, based on the decomposition. It’s a very serious charge.”

He said Batiste is on probation from other charges.

Copeland said investigators met Wednesday with Parvu’s parents who arrived in Douglasville from Indiana.

“We still have lots of people to interview,” he said. “There’s several leads that we’re following up on.”

According to Parvu’s biographical page on the Sweetwater Elementary School Web site, she was born in Campbellsburg, Kentucky, but grew up in several states as her father moved in his career as an engineer.

She earned her education degree from Spring Arbor College in Lansing, Michigan. She got her first teaching job in Thoreau, New Mexico in 2003. In 2005, she accepted a teaching job in Clayton County, Georgia. She moved to Douglas County and Sweetwater Elementary in 2006. She taught a year in kindergarten and a year of second grade, before her last two years as a third-grade teacher.

--Staff Writer Helen McCoy contributed to this article.