A woman believed to have been attempting to enter Canada from Minnesota was found dead by law enforcement May 26, the Kittson County Sheriff's Department tells CTV News.

Chief Deputy Matt Vig said the Sheriff's Department was notified on the evening of May 25 about a possible missing person believed to be in the county on May 22.

Vig said law enforcement found the woman in the afternoon of May 26.

Vig said he was at the site and saw the body. Vig said the woman was found, about a half mile from the Canadian border near Noyes, Minnesota in an area of farmland, in a ditch near a dirt road.

He said there was a little bit of water in the ditch.

"It's a shame," said Vig in a phone interview with CTV News Tuesday.

The possible cause of death is hypothermia. The final autopsy is still pending and is expected within two to three weeks, Vig said.

He said his department has not come across a previous discovery similar to this one that he can recall.

The Kittson County Sheriff's Department said in a news release Tuesday, the name of the deceased has been identified as Mavis Korkor Larnyoh Otuteye, 57.

The release said she is suspected to be a citizen of Ghana.

The case is under investigation by the Kittson County Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Vig said family notifications have been made.

Emerson-Franklin Municipality Reeve Greg Janzen said learning about the woman's death was not a complete surprise.

"In the back of our minds this was going to happen," said Janzen.

Local government and refugee settlement workers raised concerns about the safety of people crossing the border on foot during the cold winter months and again during the spring melt when farmers field swell with water and river levels rise.

"Too bad that this happened," he said.

Emily Ohmann lives in Kittson County and near the spot where the woman's body was found.

She said she saw vehicles with Sheriff's Department and U.S. Border Patrol on Friday.

"I was just thinking is there a person there? Is someone dead? Obviously that's not something I thought was real. Just a quesion that came up," Ohmann said.

"It's scary honestly thinking about that ... It's a sad story," she said.