American woman found dead in Chile apartment

SANTIAGO – A young American woman whose body was found in her Temuco apartment may have been murdered, Chilean authorities said Sunday, just two months after arriving in the country.

Erica Faith Hagan, 22, a psychology graduate from Kentucky, was working as an English instructor at a secondary school in Temuco, 700 kilometers (450 miles) south of Santiago.

“The investigation so far has shown that she had at least three wounds on her head that were caused by a blunt object. That means we are looking at potential homicide,” said local prosecutor Cristian Paredes, following the discovery Saturday of the woman’s body.

Hagan only arrived in Chile in July and was living in on-campus housing.