Family of Muskogee teacher who was found dead still searching for answers

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — FOX23 spoke with the mother of a Muskogee teacher whose death was ruled an accident by the State Medical Examiner.

Amanda Harms first went missing during brutally freezing temperatures in January and was found less than a week later in the backyard of a stranger's home near 6th and Martin Luther King Street.

Harms' family still has many questions which the mother of Harms, Shelley Townsend, said have not been answered. She said the search is not over yet to find out what happened to her daughter because they are not giving up.

“I feel like it should've been handled differently. My daughter turned up dead. How do you explain that,” Townsend said.

Townsend said this whole thing has been very hard for her.

“It's been a nightmare, it feels like my life stopped. She died on her birthday,” Townsend said.

Townsend said when she saw Harms’ body, she could barely identify her own daughter.

“We know there was no lethal blow, but how in the world did she get 25 blunt force injuries to her body? Supposedly she landed on her back so why does it appear that she's been hit between her eyes? She has a cut down the lip,” Townsend said.

The family hopes to find a private investigator, but Townsend said they waited to do so until the Medical Examiner’s report was released.

On Monday, the probable cause of death report listed alcohol, Xanax and hypothermia as being the cause of Harms’ death.

Townsend said the amount of Xanax was within therapeutic levels.

“She was prescribed Xanax by a doctor, to my knowledge she had never abused Xanax. The level is from 10-100, her's was 32 or 34. That's what the Medical Examiner said so she did not have a high level of Xanax in her system,” Townsend said.

The family still has many questions. That's why Townsend said as a mother she can't give up.

“I mean we may never get answers, but I mean we're going to try, we're not going to give up,” Townsend said.

Townsend's younger daughter is working to find an independent examiner to see if they can find something to help answer their questions.

FOX23 reached out to the Muskogee Police Department for a statement. They are not giving any further comments on this case, but have previously said no foul play is suspected in Harms' death.