Melissa Lightsey's Death Ruled a Homicide

In a statement released from his office, the medical examiner says the death was trauma to the head, face, and neck.

The medical examiner also says Lightsey sustained injuries caused by a boat after she died.

36-year-old Lightsey was a mother of two small children.

Jim Bryan is Lightsey's stepfather. He told First Coast News Thursday he suspected Melissa had been killed when she had not called her mother by 11:00 Sunday morning.

"I had a gut feeling that there was foul play," Bryan said.

He said he also suspected foul play because his step-daughter did not like to be in the ocean.

The preliminary autopsy report says Lightsey did not die from saltwater drowning.

She was dead before she hit the water," Bryan told First Coast News. "She had been strangled to death and badly beaten."

Deputies say Lightsey's husband, Ben Lightsey, told them he last saw her in chest-deep water around 12:30 Sunday morning by Surfside Park near Vilano Beach.

Investigators say Ben called to report his wife missing Sunday, but they will not say when he placed that call.

Bryan said, "Before the police got involved, I think the situation was handled poorly on Ben's part. Ben should've gotten more help and got people out there and he didn't, which disturbs me."

Deputies searched for Melissa Lightsey Sunday. Her body was found in the St. Augustine Inlet Sunday afternoon just before 3:00.

Investigators say they do not have any persons of interest or suspects in the case.

Ben Lightsey is one of many people detectives are interviewing.

Sgt. Chuck Mulligan with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said, "Of course, he is the individual who has reported her missing. I'm not insinuating that leads us anywhere. I'm just stating that he is one participant and one person within the umbrella of all the activities that occurred that night."

Saturday night, Ben and Melissa Lightsey attended a wedding reception in downtown St. Augustine before she disappeared.

Bryan said Ben Lightsey told him he and Melissa were fighting at the reception.

"They were having an argument. [Ben] said that," Bryan told First Coast News.

First Coast News has tried to reach Ben Lightsey by phone and by knocking on his door. He has not returned our calls and was not home.

Bryan said, "I just want the truth to come out and I want the guilty party to be held accountable."