NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An elderly woman from Bellevue known for helping to watch out for others was found murdered at her Cross Timbers subdivision home. The woman's neighbor has been arrested in the crime.

Police said 76-year-old Mary Sadler was beaten and strangled to death sometime Monday after 11 a.m.

Officers found Sadler dead when they came to her residence looking for her neighbor, Ivan Moreno, 30, who had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest.

Authorities first went to Moreno's home and saw him standing behind Sadler's house covered in blood.

Investigators then searched Sadler's home and found her body.

When they searched Moreno's home, they also found some of her personal belongings inside.

Neighbors told Channel 4 News that Sadler was very active and dedicated to making the neighborhood a safe and secure place to live.

Residents said she was a nice woman who frequently had yard sales and often gave kids ice cream.

Sadler lived with her granddaughter at the home. Police said the last time she said she saw her grandmother alive was Sunday night.

Moreno is charged with murder, two counts of assault on a police officer and domestic assault for threatening his wife while he was being taken into custody.

Police said it appeared that Moreno is an illegal immigrant.

They were waiting on a background check involving his fingerprints to come back.

For the past two months Moreno worked as a cook at the Blackstone Brewery restaurant on West End Avenue.

According to the manager he was hard working, but she says he also went by a different name.

They knew him at Blackstone as Fernando Feleto.