CORNING, N.Y. (WETM) – Officials have determined the cause of death of the woman murdered in her Corning apartment last week.

According to the Corning Police Department, an August 6 autopsy at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton determined that Keli Collins, 26, was killed by “ligature strangulation homicide”, meaning she was strangled with a form of cord or rope.

Collins was found unresponsive in her Stewart Park Apartment on August 5, and life-saving measures from various police and EMS agencies were unsuccessful. Another man who police said lived in the same complex, 29-year-old Brett Heffner, was arrested for allegedly attacking and killing her overnight.

Corning Police said that the investigation into the murder from its department, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police is ongoing. Evidence will be sent to the State Police Crime Lab in Albany.

“The alert friends and neighbors of Ms Collins, who weren’t afraid to become involved, are the ones that made a difference,” said Corning Police Chief Jeff Spaulding. “They ‘saw something and said something’. The rapid response of law enforcement and the involvement of concerned citizens is what gave us the ability to make an arrest as quickly as we did.”

Spaulding added that he believes Heffner will be convicted for Collins’ murder based on the evidence gathered so far.