The small community of St. Paul was hit with tragedy Thursday morning when the body of a teenage girl was discovered on a front lawn in the middle of town.


Taylor K. Combs, 18, of St. Paul was found dead at approximately 6:30 a.m. in the 500 block of East Jefferson Street between a tree and a driveway. A woman who was picking up her daughter at the house noticed the body and called 911.

The Indiana State Police is currently investigating the death, and many details are still unknown. People in the home she was found at reportedly knew Combs but was not staying at the residence at the time of her death.

Combs, a 2007 North Decatur graduate and Burney and Lucy Lehman Scholarship winner, was a foster child and had lived in the community a little less than two years. Her foster aunt, Connie Hicks, said the teenager was at a get together Wednesday night held at a campground next to the girl's home on U.S. HIghway 421 North. The party, she noted, was to celebrate Combs' arrival from being gone a week in Virginia visiting her father.

Hicks said Combs had been having emotional problems and had been fighting with her boyfriend. Hicks noted Combs had been on perscription anti-depressants in the past but did not have a chemical dependency.

"She did not have a drug problem. She was a very good kid," Hicks said. "I want to clear that up with everyone."

Hicks said Combs left the party to find her boyfriend and that was the last time anyone saw her alive. The campground is approximately two to three miles away and it is uncertain how Combs made it to the home where she was found.

Combs was found fully clothed in the yard. Her body was taken to Indianapolis for a complete autopsy. Noel Houze, public information officer for the ISP Versailles post, said in a news release no signs of trauma were found on the body and toxicology reports were pending. The cause of the death is unknown and still under investigation.

The town of St. Paul was in shock Thursday afternoon. News of the girl's death spread quickly, and the BP station, the only filling station in town, was a buzz with discussion over the incident.

The ISP would not say whether drugs were related and the investigation is ongoing.