Canadian backpacker beaten to death in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park

A woman who was found beaten to death in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park over the weekend has been identified as a backpacker from Quebec, Canada. 

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Audrey Carey told her

relatives she was embarking on an adventure and decided she would go to for the first time to the United States and then make her way to Europe.

"She wanted to travel. It was her first trip," Carey's great-uncle, Rejean Carey, said in French when the paper reached him by telephone. He didn't know when Carey left Canada, but he said she planned to make the western United States the first leg of her journey.

Carey hailed from Saint-John-sur-Richlieu, a city of 90,000 people located southeast of Montreal.

A passerby discovered Carey's body at approximately 9:15 a.m. local time Saturday near the park's bison paddock. Paramedics declared her dead at the scene. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.

Friday night was the first day of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in the park. San Francisco Police spokesman Ofc. Albie Esparza said it was unclear if Carey attended the free festival Friday night. The festival does not provide tickets or wristbands to track concertgoers.

We don't know the motive. We don't know if it was robbery," Esparza told KTVU. "We don't know what the circumstances surrounding the homicide are."

The Chronicle reported that a woman who attended the bluegrass concert was knocked unconscious by two attackers who stole her backpack, wallet, and keys as she left the venue. However, it was not immediately clear that the earlier assault was connected with Carey's death.