A Princeton mother believed abducted to the St. Louis area was dead before her former boyfriend was killed in a shootout with state troopers, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

The medical examiner had not released an official cause or time of death for 30-year-old Delisha Evans, but her mother, Renetta Graves, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she had been badly beaten.

Evans, known as DeDe, was cremated in St. Louis and buried Tuesday, Sept. 17, her mother said.

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