Woolard, 31, of Wendell, used drugs for about nine months before going to rehab. Whealton, 53, said her daughter returned to her "normal, smiley kind of self" while working as a registered nurse at Duke Health Raleigh, where she was employed for eight years. She acquired a family: husband Clint Woolard and son Taylor.

"He was really her stepson, but she never called him that," Whealton said Tuesday.

On July 12, Whealton said, Woolard called a friend and asked her to call Clint. "Tell him I have relapsed," Woolard said.

Police found Woolard's body nearly a week later, on Friday afternoon, behind a day-care center on Spring Forest Road in Raleigh.

Police said Tuesday that they do not suspect foul play. Cathy Whealton said her daughter's death was a suicide.

Woolard was last seen alive early July 12 by her father, whom she was visiting for his birthday, said Cliff Frazier, 28, Woolard's brother.

Whealton said she last spoke to her daughter over the phone that day and said she sounded normal. Whealton said she had no idea her daughter was taking prescription drugs again.

Clint Woolard reported his wife missing July 14 when she didn't return home from her Saturday trip. Four days later, officers got a call about an abandoned vehicle at the Growing Child day-care center at 321 Spring Forest Road.

Police found Kelli Woolard's silver 2007 Jeep Liberty in the parking lot, with the license plate HAPPIRN (Happy Nurse). The vanity plate helped police quickly identify the vehicle as the one Woolard had been driving when she disappeared.

While Woolard was missing, her mother, nearly crazy with worry, thought her daughter might have been abducted, with someone holding her at gunpoint.

When police discovered the body Friday, Whealton said she had "a gut feeling" it was that of her daughter.

A visitation and funeral have been scheduled for Woolard at Central Baptist Church in Wendell. The funeral starts at 7 p.m.

Whealton, who is a retired nurse, said it's taking everything in her just to get through the day.

"This has been hard," she said. "If it wasn't for the Lord's strength, I couldn't walk the walk."

(News researcher Lamara Williams and staff writer Leah Friedman contributed to this report.)