Elderly Man Found Dead In Macomb County Backyard
BRUCE TWP. (WWJ) - Authorities are investigating a suspected homicide after an elderly Macomb County man was found dead in his backyard.
Michigan State Police say the man's body was discovered around 7:25 p.m. Wednesday outside of his home in the 8000 block of Pippen Drive, near 32 Mile and Campground roads in Bruce Township. A cause of death wasn't immediately released.
Detectives from the MSP Special Investigation unit canvassed the neighborhood, but turned up few clues.
Other circumstances surrounding the man's death remain unclear. Authorities are awaiting autopsy results to shed some light on the situation. Lt. Mike Shaw said they're also awaiting a warrant to search the man's home.
Bruno Mariani, who lives in the neighborhood, said he arrived home Wednesday night to find his street crawling with police officers.
"One of my neighbors, which is the daughter of the person who live in the house, she told me that her dad had passed away and her brother had found him," Mariani told WWJ's Charlie Langton.
Mariani said the man was in his 80s and a father of 11 children.
"His wife had passed away a couple years ago so he was pretty reserved," he said. "We hardly ever saw him in the past couple years. He just, you know, lives in his house by himself. He's got a huge garden in the back that he tended, but he was quiet."
Mariani said police were investigating the possibility that the man could have been shot, and he would be shocked if that turns out to be true.
"That doesn't happen in this neighborhood," he said. "We've lived her for about 20 years. It's a pretty quiet street. The most we've ever gotten, because the high school is at the end of our street, is sometimes during graduation we get a couple mailboxes knocked over."
An investigation is ongoing.
