WASHINGTON (7News) — A 62-year-old D.C. woman who was reported missing Friday was found dead a day later.

Police said Donella Bryan, 62, was hit with an object, suffocated, and put into a plastic bin before being thrown in the trash.

“She was a sweet person,” said a neighbor of Donella’s, Tammy Chaplin.

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Chaplin told 7News that Donella loved her job as a medical assistant and was known as the smiling neighbor. Chaplin recalled the last time she saw Donella, it was a few weeks before her death.

“She was in a good spirit,” Chaplin said.

Chaplin told 7News she knew something was wrong last week, after spotting Bryan’s daughter asking neighbors if they saw her mother or who she was with.

Bryan was last seen on the 300 block of N Street, Northeast, near her apartment on Thursday, according to a missing person's flyer from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

A mile away and a day later, police found her body among one of several dumpsters at the Hechinger Mall, on a side near several apartments. Police are still investigating how she ended up there and who is responsible for her death.

Seventy-year-old Debrah Matthews and other seniors frequent the plaza, since it also sits across from a senior home. The shopping center is known for being heavily populated and monitored by cameras.

“So sad to know life isn’t more to you than throwing it in a dumpster,” Matthews said. “We have to stick together a little better than that, I know somebody saw something.”

A former MPD station is located in the plaza, however, it is not active. There is a security guard on duty for the plaza. As of Tuesday, it's not clear if one was on duty when Donella’s body was brought to the dumpster.

There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction for Donella’s death.