Officials: Woman Froze To Death In Garden City Backyard
GARDEN CITY (WWJ) - An autopsy conducted on the body of a woman found with a dog in the backyard of a home in Garden City shows she apparently froze to death.
The woman, who was discovered around 10 a.m. Tuesday, has been identified by family members as 53-year old Tina Crosson of Canton Township.
Charles Wood, who lives on Alvin Street — near Merriman and Cherry Hill — was the one who found her body.
"I go to put my coffee cup on my truck and that's when I heard the dog barking," Wood told WWJ Newsradio 950. "I turned around and I looked and I saw her lying right by the fence."
"At first, you know, I almost thought it was somebody playing like a Halloween prank on me — I know it's kinda cold to say that now, but...I thought that it was maybe a scarecrow or something in the backyard."
When Wood approached and learned it was indeed a dead body, he called 911.
Police said a "microchip" in the dog's neck helped lead to the tentative identification of the deceased woman: a 53-year-old Canton resident with family ties to the area where the body was discovered.
Officials said preliminary results of an autopsy show there was no foul play — the woman apparently froze to death.