A 20-year-old Mexican woman who had been given an award for her "elegance" at a 2014 local beauty pageant was found dead on Monday at her Sonora residence, Excelsior reported.

The body of Alma Guadalupe Pérez Domínguez was discovered with a gunshot wound to her head, and authorities confiscated a .32-calibre handgun found at the scene, according to on reports by the local FOROSON blog. The incident occurred in the Las Misiones neighborhood of Cajeme, a municipality of about 400,000 in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora, which borders Arizona.

The young woman had reached a level of prominence in the area due to her participation in "Nuestra Belleza Cajeme," whose winners traditionally go on to compete in the statewide "Nuestra Belleza Sonora." Though Pérez Domínguez was not crowned a champion, "she made her way to a prize for her elegance," Televisa Espectaculos reported.

Pérez Domínguez's death received national attention due to "mysterious" messages the woman had published on social media hours before her body was discovered.

"Even if whispering the truth can still lead to justice for the weak, SLANDER cannot be (considered) something other than the vengeance of the cowards," she wrote in her final Facebook post.

Meanwhile, authorities have determined two possible causes of death: homicide or suicide, Noticias noted. Though Pérez Domínguez apparently had not evidenced any depression, police believe the most likely explanation for her violent death may be that she killed herself.

Nevertheless, the possibility that an outsider may have harmed the woman has not yet been ruled out. Fans from her hometown, where she was a "local celebrity," speculated on social media that the incident may have something to do with her "stormy relationship" with her husband, a local police officer.

Reports that Pérez Domínguez was three months' pregnant at the time of her death, meanwhile, were strongly denied by her sister, Fátima Pérez. "Nuestra Belleza Cajeme" organizers extended their condolences to the former participants family and friends.