Carrollton police have found the body of a woman they have tentatively identified as a missing University of West Georgia student, and two people are in custody on charges they killed her, according to Capt. Jami Sailors.

Sailors said authorities are fairly certain they found 21-year-old Marcelle "Marcy" Elliott around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday. The body was taken to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab, and authorities will use dental records to confirm the identity, Capt. Chris Dobbs said.

The body was found in a swamp area by a bridge on Laurel Road off of Hays Mill Road, Dobbs told the AJC.

Authorities are waiting on official results from the GBI lab to determine the cause of death.

They also are without a motive at this time.

Police called Elliott's parents immediately after the woman's body was found.

"Two local folks" are charged with murder and other charges, Sailors said.

Farrah Strength, 29, was arrested shortly before midnight Wednesday and then Joshua Clay, 31, just after midnight, Sailors said.

Dobbs told the AJC the killing happened at Strength's house on Lovvorn Road. The body then was taken by a vehicle to the area by the creek and bridge, which is about five miles away, Dobbs said.

Dobbs told WSB Radio that Strength and Elliott were friends but that it had been "a year or so since they actually talked." Dobbs said Strength called Elliott to "get her to come to Carrollton."

"They've been past acquaintances. They had hung out, known each other several years ago and were good friends back then," Dobbs told they AJC. "They had some sort of falling out or just quit talking, and you know, I don't know why she called her, but she was planning to do exactly what she did when she got her to Carrollton."

Dobbs told the AJC that Clay and Strength were dating -- but that Clay didn't know Elliott. Dobbs said he believes Clay knew that Strength was going to kill Elliott.

Elliott left her parent's home in Kennesaw on Thursday night, heading to a friend's house in Carrollton to pick up a book; that was the last time anyone saw the former Harrison High School student.

"I'm a little bit shell shocked right now," said Skyler Engle, a close friend of Elliott's.

After being neighbors last year, the two decided to room together for the upcoming year at West Georgia. A teary-sounding Engle talked about the two friends playing video games, watching movies and getting lost on a nature trail near campus.

Engle said she didn't know the two people who are charged with Elliott's slaying -- or why anyone would try to harm the woman described as "sweet" but "serious."

"She was very quiet, but when you got to know her, it was so easy to talk to her," Engle said.

Engle also said Elliott could take care of herself. The two took a self-defense course together and Elliott would "flip people three times her size without even thinking about it."

Friends are planning a memorial for Elliott when the fall semester starts, Caitlin Cox told the AJC.

"She said in event of her death, she wants a big party - for her life," said Cox, a philosophy student at West Georgia.

The search for Elliott in Carroll County involved all 16 investigators from the Carrollton Police Department, a Facebook page and door-to-door pleas for help.

"Even if she were ticked off, she never rebelled on letting us know where she was," her father, David Elliott, said. "We preached safety and looking out for yourself."

Even last Thursday, Marcy called her dad moments after she arrived at her friend's place.

"She said, 'I just wanted to let you know I made it OK,'" he said.

He describes his daughter as sensitive and always rooting for the underdog, very loyal to her friends.

Friends and family members distributed fliers with pictures and information about the missing woman -- whose formal first name is Marcelle.

Police at the University of West Georgia are working with Carrollton police on the investigation, university spokesman Rob Douthit said.

Authorities found Marcy Elliott's car parked at a Carrollton apartment complex, and Sailors said she was seen getting out of her car and walking around the back of the building.

The vehicle had no clues, Sailors said. Elliott's cellphone hasn't been used. Her debit card also was untouched, authorities said.

Detectives spent Wednesday focused on the area where they found Elliott's car, Sailors said.

Elliott was studying secondary school education at the University of West Georgia. She loves books, music, videos and traveling -- anything that's creative, her father said.

The Elliott family traveled to places such as Switzerland, Mexico and Puerto Rico when Marcy Elliott was a child.

"She wanted to explore the world," David Elliott said.

Elliott was last seen wearing black jeans, a black t-shirt with gold stripes and sandals, according to the filer being distributed by family and friends. She also was wearing a gold Hello Kitty necklace.

In one of the four photos on the flier, Elliott is wearing glasses. Another photo shows off the tattoo on her left forearm. The tattoo is of an "M" surrounded by a scorpion.

Her ears, eyebrow and nose is pierced, the flier says.

"I still hold onto hope that someone is going to say, 'Oh yes, we just saw her,' or she's going come walking through the back door," David Elliott told the AJC on Wednesday.