A young woman was found murdered Friday in a Super 8 Motel room and police may be looking for clues at a restaurant next door.

The unidentified young woman’s body was discovered by a motel worker and police were notified around 11 a.m., said Maj. Travis Goss, Rome Police Department, who said the death is being investigated as a homicide.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has positively identified the victim through her fingerprints but her name is being withheld pending notification of her family, expected today, said Floyd County deputy coroner Tony Cooper. Goss said the woman probably died within 24 hours of the report and she most likely had been a short-term guest of the motel on Dodd Boulevard.

The officer would not comment on whether a murder weapon was found, the cause of death, the state of the body or any possible suspects.

The Huddle House, a restaurant near the motel, was abuzz with curiosity about the events next door Friday afternoon.

Restaurant manager David Larmer said police came into the Huddle House Friday and asked to see surveillance tapes from that morning.

Police showed particular interest in a male customer who may have ordered to-go food from the Huddle House that morning and took a tape with them when they left, Larmer said.

Goss said he could not confirm if police saw the tapes or took them.

The Rome Police Department’s crime scene investigation and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s unit processed the crime scene. Goss said Friday that he expected that processing to take at least until midnight.

The woman’s body will be taken to the Atlanta crime lab where an autopsy will be performed, Cooper said.

It is the sixth homicide in Rome and Floyd County in 2003.

A week ago, George Allen Mostiller was charged with murdering his roommate Ernest Junior Ferguson. Mostiller allegedly struck Ferguson with a chair, on Aug. 26, causing the internal injuries that led to his death.

County police are still searching for who murdered Truitt Jerome “T.J.” Agan and Christopher Kane Fortenberry, who were found dead on April 2 in a mobile home on Cunningham Road.

On Feb. 23, Sherman Lee Glenn, 32, was shot twice in the chest. Melvin Joseph Moore, 45, of 402 E. 18th St., was charged with Glenn’s murder.

The area’s first homicide of 2003 came only a few days into the year when Brandon Watkins, 19, was shot three times in the chest on Jan. 3. Kenneth Cotton, 25, of 303B Cherokee St., was arrested and charged with the murder