Missing Michigan doctor found dead in frozen pond
A Michigan doctor who has been missing for five days was found dead in a frozen pond near his home.
Dr. Bolek Payan was last seen leaving his workplace, Henry Ford Jackson Hospital in Jackson, Michigan, on Dec. 22. After several days with "no contact with his employer, family or friends," the Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Department wrote on Facebook on Christmas Eve that he was a missing person and asked the public for help in finding him.
On Tuesday, the public safety department said that divers had recovered Payan's body. Detectives investigating Payan's disappearance were able to access a home video camera system and saw footage that showed Payan had left his home on foot in the afternoon of Dec. 22. After searching the area around his home with the assistance of K-9 dogs and drones, the decision was made to cut holes in the ice of a pond on Payan's property, the public safety department said.
"Detectives believe Dr. Payan would have been deceased prior to when he was reported missing due to the weather conditions on the day that he left his residence and the fact that he was in the water," the public safety department said. "Our thoughts are with Dr. Payan's family and friends."
From the afternoon of Dec. 22 — the day Payan was last seen — to Dec. 25, the Michigan area dealt with a powerful arctic cold front, according to the National Weather Service. The primary impact of the cold front was "wind and cold," with temperatures falling rapidly on Dec. 22, including by more than 35 degrees in parts of Michigan. Air temperatures in Michigan remained in the single digits until Dec. 25, with wind gusts creating wind chills in the negative teens.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy and toxicology testing on Payan's body, the public safety department said.