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A 61-year-old woman was found in a recycling container under the back porch of her Medford home Monday and the Middlesex District Attorney’s office is investigating it as a suspicious death.

“People should exercise the same caution we would urge them to exercise all the time,” Middlesex DA Marian Ryan said at a Monday press conference. “Keeping your doors locked, being cautious of who’s around the house.”

Barbara Novaes had told her son, who Middlesex DA Marian Ryan described only as a “young, 20-something-year-old,” that she was going to get her nails done on Sunday afternoon. The last time she was seen alive was at around 4:30 p.m. that day, Ryan said in a Monday press conference.

Her son awoke sometime before 6:44 a.m. — when he reported her missing to the Medford police — to find the front door standing wide open. His mother’s car was parked outside the Emery Street duplex and her keys, phone and purse were all in the house, but she was nowhere to be found, Ryan said.

Police responded and searched and finally located her body in the recycling container in an “enclosed area under the porch” at around 8:30 a.m., Ryan said. They shut down the street for hours on Monday as they began their preliminary investigation and Medford Police Chief Jack Buckley said police will continue to have increased patrols in the area for days.

There was no sign of trauma Novaes’ body, Ryan said.

“I’m here just to let people know that Barbara Novaes was a beloved member of the Medford community and a very active parishioner at Grace Church,” said Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn at the press conference. “I didn’t know her personally but I know many who– she has touched their lives and we want to make sure that everybody knows that Medford will have support for anybody who needs it.”

When asked, Ryan confirmed that Novaes has had “prior contact with the Medford Police Department for a variety of reasons” but did not go into further detail.

Ryan and Medford Police Chief Jack Buckley urged that any members of the public who have any information regarding this case or who had been in the area of Emery and Winthrop streets Sunday night or very early Monday — especially anyone with video surveillance over the area — to contact the Medford Police Department at (781) 395-1212.

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