The death of a woman formerly of Edmonton is being treated as a homicide, police in Cary, N.C. said Tuesday.

Nancy Cooper, 34, was found dead near Raleigh, N.C. Monday evening. (Courtesy of Jill Dean)

Police confirmed the body discovered in a storm water retention pond Monday night in Wake County, near Raleigh, N.C., was Nancy Cooper, 34.

"It is my very sad duty to tell you that the search for our Nancy is over," Cary Police Chief Pat Bazemore said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

"Earlier today the state medical examiner in Chapel Hill told us that it was Nancy who was found last night just miles from her home in Lochmere. Nancy was murdered and our investigation is now a homicide."

Cooper had not been seen since early Saturday morning when she went out for a run.

"Nancy's a mother, a daughter and a sister, and that's how we'll keep her alive in our hearts," said Cooper's brother, Jeff Rentz, who arrived in North Carolina on Tuesday.

He thanked Cooper's friends, volunteers and law enforcement officials for their "tireless and tenacious efforts" in the search for his sister.

Cooper moved to Cary, a town outside Raleigh, from Edmonton with her husband, Brad, eight years ago. They have two young daughters, aged two and four.

Brad Cooper did not attend the Tuesday news conference. "He was going to come, and at the last minute, he did decline," Chief Bazemore said.

Cooper's parents, Garry and Donna Rentz, and their daughter Krista flew to Raleigh from Edmonton on Monday to help with the search effort.

Police have not named a suspect or person of interest in the case.