GANGES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXMI) — A daily cup of coffee on the back deck turned into an unnerving discovery on the shores of Lake Michigan in Allegan County.
Sally Tyler was sitting on the back deck of her home with her dog Cody early Wednesday when something on the beach caught her eye.
"I thought it was an animal on the beach, and then I kind of realized it wasn’t," Tyler told FOX 17, WXYZ's Grand Rapids sister station, just after noon Wednesday.
She decided to walk down to the beach, not getting to close, and try to convince her brain she was truly seeing the body of a man.
"Then, I immediately ran up and called the police," Tyler said.
The Allegan County Sheriff's Office responded to the portion of private beachfront property off of Lakeshore Drive between West Side County Park and Pier Cove Park in Ganges Township.
Tyler said it wasn't until deputies began arriving on scene that she knew for sure what she had discovered.
"So, have you come to terms with the reality of it all yet?" FOX 17 asked her Wednesday, just minutes after investigators cleared the area.
"I don't know... the police said they would call me and give me some closure on it once they can identify whatever happened possibly," she replied.
"So, hopefully I do hear something because it was a bizarre situation."
The sheriff's office says investigators could not identify the man right away.
He was found completely unclothed, aside from wearing a size 12 pair of brown Converse All Star shoes/boots.
Detectives are treating the death as suspicious but say no "clear" signs of foul play were initially evident on the man's body.
They said Wednesday that it appeared he had been in the water for "some time" before finally washing ashore.
Crews removed the body from the beach Wednesday morning with the help of Michigan State Police.
While the sheriff's office has not yet been able to identify the man, a medical examiner will work out who he was and how he died.
If you believe you have information relevant to this case, you are asked to contact the Allegan County Sheriff's Office at 269-673-0442.
