( CNN ) -- Authorities have launched a homicide investigation after identifying a body found in a rural western Tennessee county as that of Karen Swift , a mother of four last seen six weeks ago , authorities said . Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge John Mehr said the body was discovered Saturday in Dyer County . `` It 's very emotional for Mr . Swift and the family , '' Timothy Naifeh , a lawyer for the woman 's husband , David Swift , said in a statement . `` They 're asking at least for this period of time to have some privacy -- it 's time for grieving and it 's time for mourning . It 's heartbreaking and it 's very , very sad . '' Karen Swift had filed for divorce from her husband on October 10 . No lingering issues appeared to have been outlined in those court documents , with the couple seeming to agree on a custody arrangement and child support payments for their younger children , among other details . It was 20 days later , at 1:30 a.m. October 30 , that Swift was last seen alive outside her home , according to a previous statement from the Dyer County Sheriff 's Office . Her friends had told CNN affiliate WMC that Swift , a 44-year-old mother of four , had just returned home from a Halloween party . Her car , a 2004 white Nissan Murano , was recovered soon thereafter on a main road in northern Dyer County with a flat tire , according to police . Her disappearance prompted a massive ground and aerial search , Dyer County Sheriff Jeff Box noted in early November . The missing woman 's brother , Jeffrey Johnson , told HLN 's Nancy Grace on November 21 that authorities also searched the Obion River after finding some old clothes nearby . Box said in an e-mail Monday that the body , later identified as Swift , was found `` concealed ... by undergrowth and vegetation for some time '' around 1:30 p.m. Saturday off Harness Road . This runs between Route 78 and Millsfield Highway about nine miles north of downtown Dyersburg . The body was sent to the Shelby County Medical Examiner 's Office in Memphis , where it was identified on Sunday as Swift using dental records , according to Box . The sheriff wrote Monday that a homicide investigation , rather than a missing person 's case , is now being conducted into the woman 's death . In addition to two older children , Swift leaves behind 6- and 9-year-old girls . Weeks ago , Johnson said those girls were `` in shock '' with their mother gone . `` We 're doing everything we can to be together right now , '' Preston Swift , an older son of Swift , added November 22 to HLN 's Jane Velez-Mitchell . `` My father and I have been doing everything we can to help ( his two youngest siblings ) deal with the situation . '' CNN 's Rich Porter and HLN 's Natisha Lance contributed to this report .
NEW : The deceased woman filed for divorce from her husband October 10 . Karen Swift , 44 , was last seen at her home early on the morning of October 30 . She had been reported missing by family members and friends since she failed to return home after a night out with friends in New York City. A lawyer for the dead woman 's husband calls the news `` heartbreaking ''