Police say a body found inside a vehicle at a foreclosed home in metro Detroit might have been rotting there for several years.
A woman’s body “in a mummified state” was discovered in the back seat of a Jeep Liberty, parked in the attached garage of a home in the 1600 block of Savanna, near Walton Boulevard and Silver Lake Road in Pontiac, according to police.
A contractor made the discovery just after 5 p.m. Wednesday while working at the home, which is going through foreclosure.
Police said the license plate on the woman’s vehicle expired in 2008, which could very well be the last time she was seen alive.
“We’re not saying a name because we don’t know, but we’re looking like since she’s been there since 2008 or thereabouts, the body is frozen, mummified,” Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.
According to police, the electricity was still on in the house, but there was no heat. The home also has a large amount what appears to be black mold, police said.
“The home is in a HAZMAT condition,” Bouchard said.
Detectives are expected to go inside the house on Thursday, with proper hazardous material suits provided by the Waterford Township Regional Fire Department, to look for any evidence.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the circumstances behind the woman’s death. An autopsy performed Thursday morning didn’t reveal any signs of trauma, police said, and a cause of death is pending.
Police are still trying to identify the woman, who they believe is 49 years old. Neighbors described the woman as a German immigrant who likely didn’t have any relatives in the area.
Neighbors told police the woman generally kept to herself and traveled frequently as an auto employee, often for weeks at a time, so no one thought anything of her absence. Some said it was probably six years since they last saw the woman, while others just assumed she had moved.
