Suburban nightmare: A murdered woman was mistaken for a Halloween decoration.

It’s pretty clear that we need to reassess our obsession with grisly decorations for Halloween when a murdered woman is mistaken for a dummy.

In news that is equal parts disturbing as it is sad, 31-year-old Rebecca Cade was recently found bloodied and battered, dangling by a sleeve from a barbed wire fence in her home town of Chillicothe, Ohio.

Although construction workers were early on the scene, no-one thought to call police. Instead, everyone assumed her body was just a very convincing Halloween decoration.

Eventually, a man walking nearby who found Cade’s driver’s licence, phone and shoes did call police, and it was revealed that she died from blunt force trauma to her head and neck, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

A large “grapefruit sized” rock that was assumed to have been used to kill the woman was found by a policeman near her body, according to Upnorth Live.

The construction workers weren’t the only ones fooled.

Tammy Dixon lived near the barbed wire fence, and told Colombus Dispatch, “I thought somebody was playing a prank on the construction workers and I told my daughter it was just a dummy. It was so awful that I thought the prank went too far.”

According to Gawker, Cade had learning disabilities, and NY Daily News reported her cousin, Denise Hughes, admitted Cade was “always running the streets and always doing the drugs”.

Hughes has been looking after Cade’s 15-month-old son since shortly after he was born with foetal alcohol syndrome.

The man thought to be responsible for Cade’s murder, 27-year-old Donnie Cochenour Jr, was arrested less than 12 hours after Cade was found and held for a $2 million bail.

The arrest comes as good news for a town that has already seen six other women mysteriously disappear, with some having been found murdered, according to NY Daily News.

The other women’s disappearances and murders are believed to be unrelated to Cade’s murder however.

It’s safe to say that Halloween decorations have officially gone too far if multiple people assumed Cade’s body was fake.

At the very least, it may be time for us all to reign in the dead-body-dummies in the lead up to this year’s holiday.