A county sheriff reported Monday that a mother and her two children were discovered frozen to death over the weekend after the mother went through a “mental health crisis.”
Before she and her children perished, Monica Cannady, 35, “thought someone was attempting to kill her and that everyone was in on it,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a news conference on Monday.
The sons, who are 9 and 3 years old, as well as their mother were located on Sunday in a wooded region near Pontiac, about 20 miles northwest of Detroit. According to CBS Detroit, Bouchard verified that hypothermia was the cause of death.
A 10-year-old girl was also located by investigators and taken to a nearby hospital, where Bouchard reported on Monday that she was in a stable condition. According to Bouchard, the young girl had knocked on a door and claimed that her “family was dead in a field.”
A mother who was found dead with two of her three children in Pontiac was suffering from a mental health crisis, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. https://t.co/chWqI5VwqW
— CBS Detroit (@CBSDetroit) January 17, 2023
Before she left with her kids, family members tried to assist Cannady, but she refused, according to Bouchard. Cannady instructed her kids to settle down and go to sleep when the family reached the forested field.
Despite owning a home about a mile from where they were found, investigators say the family might have been outside in the cold for at least three days, according to CBS Detroit.
According to Sheriff Bouchard, “over the period of a few of days, we actually had been getting calls about a mom and kids not clothed adequately for the weather.” “Deputies would go there and search the entire region, but they couldn’t find anyone.” At the Monday press conference, Bouchard argued for improved mental health care, saying there is “so much more” to be done in terms of crisis response and long-term fixes.
“It takes courage to ask for assistance. It’s not a weakness, “said he. It is recommended.
Charles Witherspoon claimed to live nearby and told CBS Detroit that locals had seen the family. When Cannady begged a neighbour for food because she was starving, Witherspoon claimed that the neighbour denied knowing that they were camped close to his house.
It’s awful, he declared. “It’s awful,”
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