Throughout the day, a steady stream of friends and neighbors arrived with flowers and balloons that built a small shrine for 47-year-old Barbara Ann Smith, who they call the salt of the earth.

Smith was found dead inside her apartment building on Chicago’s south side.

“”It’s just sad for someone to die like that,”” said neighbor Tonie Denham. “”I’m praying for the family. That’s all I can do.””

Smith shared her Woodlawn apartment with her 21-year-old son. He arrived home Monday night and couldn’t reach her. He contacted Smith’s brother who forced his way inside and discovered the woman’s body in her bathroom, the apparent victim of a fatal beating.

There were no signs of forced entry leading investigators to believe Smith’s attacker was someone she knew.

Police say Smith suffered head trauma, and it appears she was beaten to death with a blunt object.

“”To know her is to love her and that’s why it’s such a tragedy to our family that something like this took place,”” said Pastor Willie Green, Smith’s cousin.

A neighbor who knew the victim describes her as a “”loving, giving”” person. “”I can’t begin to think why anybody would do something like that to her,”” says the woman, who did not give her name.

There is no word on a possible motive.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.