Officials say a lady and two of her kids were discovered dead in a field over the weekend after walking the streets of Pontiac, Michigan, for nearly three days in cold conditions.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard says the killings may have been averted.
Pontiac Mayor Tim Greimel stated at a press conference that this is a tragic, heart-wrenching tragedy.
Monica Latrice Cannady, 35, and her boys, Malik Milton, 3, and Kyle Milton, 9, were discovered dead about 3 p.m. Sunday, according to Bouchard.
He described them as underdressed and out in public.
Cannady’s 10-year-old daughter, who survived, fell asleep in the field with her mother and brothers, awoke, walked to a neighboring property, and tapped on a door to seek for assistance, according to Bouchard.
“The daughter took the coat off of Mom when she came to,” he said.
He characterized the area as one of several plots of ground in the neighborhood where residences formerly existed and automobiles were dumped. He stated during the press conference that the mom did not seem to take refuge.
Over the weekend, temperatures in Pontiac dropped into the low and middle teens at night, with daytime temperatures reaching the mid- to high-30s on Sunday. Bouchard said the family resided in an apartment and had been strolling about their neighborhood since Friday.
Cannady claimed he once took the family to a lake so she could drink the water.
According to an autopsy, the reason for death was hypothermia, according to Bouchard. He noted the cause of death was classified as accidental, but he added his own asterisk that he goes with accidental-slash-preventable.
According to Bouchard and her brother, the woman had been behaving paranoid in recent days. Bouchard stated that she feared officials were following her phone with a microchip and that she distrusted officials.
The woman, the mother, was going through a mental health crisis.”She thought someone was attempting to kill her and everybody, as well as the cops, was in on it, Bouchard added.
He said that the dad of the kids was murdered in 2021. The killer’s trial just took place.
He genuinely seeks answers since that isn’t her, Cannady’s brother, Andre Harsten, stated. She looked after her kids. That was her number one priority.
Cannady’s conduct, he added, went from regular to strange this month. Harsten informed that she had recently purchased a new automobile and that she was in good health. He claims she disregarded their mother’s advice to get counseling.
Since the sheriff’s office had been notified about individuals strolling the streets without suitable winter clothing, and since her relatives pushed her to seek assistance, Bouchard believes there were several occasions in her chronology where involvement may have saved lives.
He stated that deputies attempted to call the family but were unable to locate them. The surviving daughter subsequently informed investigators that her mom had advised the kids to escape if anybody approached them.
Bouchard stated that mental health doctors and mental health emergency response teams — his office has two individuals who can react to complaints of disruptive persons in crisis — require additional financing from Michigan legislators as well as those in Washington, D.C.
According to Bouchard, worrisome suicide numbers, especially those for law enforcement, which often outnumber line-of-duty deaths in the United States, reveal that mental health issues are pervasive and frequently ignored.
He stated that every day, one sees mortality as a part of the mental health epidemic. And it would be great if Washington and Lansing would pay attention to it.”
Melanie Rutherford, a Pontiac City Council member, said the epidemic affects her community differently, with Black women being pushed to be tough and avoid getting help.
They need to have an open discussion about mental health, particularly in the African American community, she stated.
Rutherford stated that those suffering from mental illnesses, as well as their relatives and friends, may seek care and medicine, which is often provided for free, without fear of being judged.
It’s nothing out of the ordinary. It is a curable condition. It’s valid, Rutherford said, and most significantly, one can receive the correct sort of treatment and medicine.
