Carrollton police have recovered a body believed to be that of Marcelle Louise Elliott, a 21-year old University of West Georgia student who was last seen walking along Lovvorn Road around the Mandeville Mill Loft Apartments just before midnight on July 22.

According to authorities, the body was found at approximately 11:15 p.m. Wednesday in a thick patch of weeds off of Laurel Road, a sparsely populated dirt road lined by swamp land. Authorities were led to the site by information garnered from Farrah Strength, 29, of Carrollton, one of the two suspects in the case.

Both Strength and Joshua Clay, 31, also of Carrollton, have been charged with murder in connection to the crime, and both are being held in the Carroll County Jail.

Carrollton Police Capt. Chris Dobbs said that while it’s unlikely anyone else was involved in Elliott’s disappearance, evidence is still being collected.

“We still have a lot of investigating to do,” Dobbs said. “We do not feel at this time that anybody except these two individuals are involved.”

The body has yet to be positively identified as Elliott. Deterioration in the last week has made it necessary to use dental records to confirm the identity, according to Carrollton Police Chief Joel Richards. A chemical was reportedly found on the body, though it’s unclear if the chemical contributed to its decomposition.

The body was transferred to the GBI Crime Lab on Thursday, and nothing will be known until Friday at the earliest, Richards said.

After removing the body from the scene Wednesday night, investigators returned early Thursday morning to collect any additional evidence, and by noon, Laurel Road had been reopened to general traffic.

Authorities have kept mum on the possible motive for the crime, waiting until all evidence is collected before releasing such information. It is known that Elliott and Strength knew each other and were “good friends” until about a year ago, Dobbs said.

Police were initially led to the suspects through a search of Elliott’s recent phone records, which suggested she was allegedly lured to Carrollton from her Cobb County home last Thursday by Strength.

Authorities initially believed Strength to be a cooperative witness, having gone through several interview sessions before ultimately admitting to the crime Wednesday night, according to police.

“We knew there was going to be things at the scene we wanted to come back and look for but we didn’t know that until after we spoke to the suspect ... If [Strength] had told us the truth, we would have gotten the body by 5 o’clock [Wednesday],” Richards said. “[Strength] told us the location in a roundabout way ... They only give you a little bit of info. They make you do a little work.”

Shortly after Elliott disappeared, detectives recovered her car in the apartment building’s parking lot.

Exactly what happened between the time Elliott was last seen alive and when the body was found largely remains a mystery. No cause of death has been announced, though Richards said she was killed at a house just down the street from the apartment complex. The house, located at 530 Lovvorn Road, was shared by Strength and her mother, Richards said.

UWG remembers one of its brightest

After holding out hope for nearly a week that Elliott would return unharmed, the UWG community on Thursday began mourning the loss of one of their own.

The university released a statement on its website Thursday afternoon lamenting the death of the junior English major.

“The University of West Georgia is shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of one of our students, Marcelle Elliott,” the statement reads. “We would like to express our deepest sympathy and condolences to family and friends. We will share details of the Memorial Service once these specifics are known. Counselors will be available for students and classmates in need of support.”

Frank Pritchett, associate executive director for alumni relations and annual giving at UWG, also released a statement on behalf of the association.

“We are an association of many yet work together as one,” Pritchett said. “So, when we lose a member of the pack it hurts us all. We mourn the loss of Marcy. There is so much truth to the quote by Rudyard Kipling. ‘The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.’ Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.”

UWG student Ryan McCann took British literature with Elliott last semester.

“She sat next to me,” McCann said. “She was always prepared for class, unlike most of us. She saved our butts multiple times by her being prepared and being as smart as she was. I will always remember just how smart she was and how much she knew about so many different things.”

UWG student Steven Oswald met Elliott his freshman year.

“I remember she was really nice, good with kids and had a strong sarcastic wit,” Oswald said.

Erika Crooms Mitchell, who worked at the university from November 2007 to July 2009 and who once was Elliott’s academic advisor, said she would miss her former protégé’s kindness the most.

“She was very misunderstood,” Mitchell said. “She was so sweet, sensitive and honest. Whatever was on her mind she spoke up. She also had a witty sense of humor. She made me laugh. She truly was one of my favorite students and I will never forget her.”

Sasami Koinu, a UWG student, spoke of her friend.

“Marcy was an amazing person,” Koinu said. “I remember freshmen year that most people in our hall were put off by her goth exterior, but me and a couple of our close friends knew that there was a lot more to her.”

It’s not always the big things you remember about a person, Koinu said. It’s the small things that linger, she said, and in the end, it’s those things that paint the fullest picture of Elliott’s life, a life that was cut so tragically short.

“She was as sweet as anyone I know,” Koinu said. “She was very intellectual. We would ask her to look at our English papers since she just had a knack for English and proper grammar. The last time I saw her was when I travelled to Carrollton with my newborn baby girl and my baby took to her very quickly. We would hang out at our apartments, just chilling and being crazy college kids [who] make late night trips to Walmart. She was that person that would be calm and collected ... She always made things interesting and fun.”

UWG student Caitlin Cox, a close friend of Elliott, spoke of the injustice that Elliott’s death represents.

“She was a good person,” Cox said. “There is nothing her or her family could have ever done to deserve this. They are nice people. They will continue to be in my prayers.”