AUGUSTA — The death of a woman who was found Tuesday morning at 37 Water St. “may have taken place several weeks ago,” officials said.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner would begin its portion of the investigation by Wednesday, at the latest. He said police had not located the apartment’s tenant as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, and were waiting for answers to a number of questions from the medical examiner, including the cause and date of death.

Maine State Police Lt. Jeff Love said the woman’s identity has not been released. He said the death is being treated as suspicious, adding that is common for all unattended deaths.

Augusta police and fire personnel responded to a call from property managers at 9:42 a.m. Tuesday, according to Love. Local officials then called the state police.

The body was removed from the scene around noon and taken to the medical examiner’s office, Love said. The Maine State Police Evidence Response Team arrived on the scene about 2 p.m.

On Tuesday afternoon, as the temperature climbed, a single Augusta police officer guarded the back door to the five-unit apartment building, while state police investigated inside the dwelling. Around 3 p.m., a few detectives in unmarked cars left the scene, some wearing suits and others dressed casually, identifiable only by badges hanging from loose chains around their necks.

Passersby speculated to each other about what might have happened at the scene and some used their phones to snap photos of the Maine State Police Evidence Response Team truck, which was entered and exited periodically by officials wearing plastic gray covers on their feet.

The apartment complex is managed by Central Maine Property Management, according to Roger Brault, the company’s head of maintenance. The building is co-owned by RSP Augusta 1 LLC & RSP Augusta 2 LLC, of South Berwick, which formed in November 2018.

Brault said the person whose body was found was not the single tenant renting the top-floor apartment. He declined to identify the dead person.

“We’re going to leave that blank,” he said, adding that he thought police should identify the deceased.