SAN ANTONIO – A body found behind a Northeast side strip club has been identified as Brandy Sheppard, 33, according to the medical examiner's office.
Sheppard's body was found early Tuesday morning behind the Paradise for Gentlemen club and her death has been declared a homicide.
A witness found Sheppard naked in the parking lot and alerted police. Authorities said she was most likely left there by the person who killed her.
A criminal background search run on Sheppard revealed a checkered past, including a prostitution charge.
"There's always the fear of the unknown, and you just don't know who is out there preying on people," said Anthony Cantrell, a criminal defense attorney with 25 years experiences trying prostitution cases.
He said the dangers prostitutes encounter on the streets are immense.
"Being picked up by somebody in a car and taken some place, I mean, you've lost all control," said Cantrell. "It's not unusual or unimaginable that somebody could be harmed, kidnapped or forced to do things they don't want to do, followed up by physical assault or death."
Police have not confirmed that Sheppard was currently a prostitute or that she was killed in a deal gone bad.