LAKE ORION, Mich. (WXYZ) — A code enforcement officer noticed long grass, bushes not trimmed and mail stacking up in the box on the front porch and called police.
Now they’re trying to figure out how a man and his dog died inside their home in Lake Orion. The man’s mother was found barely breathing on the floor inside the front door.
Police are not releasing their names. The mother is 73 and is unconscious in critical condition. They are hoping she recovers and can tell them what was going on. The son was 47 and toxicology to determine his cause of death won’t be known for a couple of weeks.
They tested for Carbon Monoxide and other environmental issues. Nothing was found.
The dog had a necropsy at Michigan State University and toxicology on that cause of death could come sooner.
Lake Orion Chief Jerry Narsh says, “It was not in a very clean state, a little bit of hoarding going on. It was a very challenging scene.”
Mary Ann Broughton used to deliver the mail to the house ten years ago.
Even then she says, “I never saw anybody there. I delivered every day. The windows were always closed up. We do kind of keep an eye open.”
Police Chief Narsh says there are no signs of foul play, no physical trauma.
He adds, “We know the family. We know they’re kind of recluse. The home was locked and secured from the inside.”
Mary Ann wonders why family or friends didn’t find them sooner saying, “People don’t take care of people any more. Neighbors don’t pay attention. They’re so busy. Everybody’s so busy with their own life.”
Police are working with another son who lives in Oxford. But this is day-to-day getting to the bottom of this mystery.
