A full autopsy hasn't been completed, Higgins said Wednesday. The preliminary finding on which police are relying doesn't take into account Josette Tate's medical history, he said.

Rapides Parish sheriff 's detective Stacy Bender said an autopsy shows that Josette Tate was strangled and hit in the head with a blunt object. He declined to discuss a motive.

The Tates lived in Westville, Okla., Bender said. They are from the Alexandria area originally, he said. Bender said the Tates arrived in Alexandria on Dec. 12 to visit David Tate's relatives. An ambulance was summoned to the relatives' home Dec. 14, where Josette Tate was found unresponsive.

She died at a hospital. A coroner who conducted an exam contacted police, Bender said. When contacted by police, David Tate gave a detective a five-hour interview last week without an attorney present, Higgins said. ?David has fully and completely cooperated with the police,? Higgins said. ?He's the one who summoned the ambulance for his wife in the first place.? Formal charges haven't been filed, Higgins said. The funeral for Josette Tate was Dec. 18 in Alexandria, Bender said.

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