The body of a Piedmont woman was found in a car parked outside the Jacksonville Walmart Tuesday morning, Calhoun County Coroner Pat Brown said.

Jerri Kerns, 38, parked at the store around 2 a.m. Tuesday but, for unknown reasons, never got out of the car, Brown said.

Brown said he thinks Kerns died of natural causes because he saw no signs of foul play. He could not say whether heat was a factor in Kerns’ death, because it is still under investigation. Another person found Kerns around 9 o’clock this morning. Brown didn’t know whether that person was an employee or a store patron.

Brown and police responded to the scene shortly thereafter.

Kerns had been very involved in the Piedmont Jaycees, said Piedmont Housing director Keith Word.

“She was a very, very sweet girl,” said Word

Word said that he was told the Walmart parking lot surveillance videos were pulled and reviewed.

“The cameras showed that she drove up at about two o’clock, sat in her car for about 45 minutes, smoked a cigarette, and then she never got out of the car,” said Word.

“The Piedmont Jaycees are very, very sad at the loss, because she was a very active member probably for the last year or so.”

Kerns was a 1991 graduate of Piedmont High School.