Cause of death unknown for man found in Ann Arbor home
- Updated article: Police awaiting autopsy results in death of U-M medical student
Ann Arbor police detectives are investigating the death of a man found in a home on North Ingalls Street Wednesday.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
Ann Arbor police officials at the scene Wednesday confirmed the man was found dead and that detectives were investigating. A U-M crime alert was sent out just before 11 p.m. Wednesday stating a cause of death was still undetermined.
The Washtenaw County Medical Examiner’s Office is also participating in the investigation, according to the crime alert.
Medical school officials sent out an email to students and faculty notifying them of a student’s death Wednesday afternoon. Police have not confirmed to AnnArbor.com that the student is the same man found dead in the Ingalls home.
The home had been taped off by investigators, both uniformed and plainclothes, Wednesday afternoon along with the area around the parking lot.
The crime alert was sent out by the U-M Police but the Ann Arbor Police Department is the agency investigating the death investigation because it occurred off-campus.
Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to call the Ann Arbor police anonymous tip line at 734-794-6939, U-M Police at 734-763-1131 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK UP (773-2587).
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
KateT
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 1:52 p.m.
Kyle, all I can say is that you are so patient with people. I'm not sure how you do it!
Sam S Smith
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 12:01 p.m.
Special thoughts and prayers for this young man, his family and friends!
Billy
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 11:57 a.m.
So does this mean they did the preliminary medical exam and came up empty handed? Or is this just information from the crime alert right now?
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 1:28 p.m.
Billy - This is the information from the crime alert right now. I'll check today to see if an autopsy has been done or is scheduled.
PineyWoodsGuy
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 4:06 a.m.
Good decision Kyle. You the Man! Of course we are all concerned about this terrible event, but comments can wait until more information is disclosed by the authorities.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 3:32 a.m.
A couple notes: "Suspicious death" is a very ambiguous term that police often use in the preliminary stages of an investigation. I say this to caution anyone who immediately thinks that term must mean homicide. At this point, it's very much under investigation. I've also been sent the email circulating that was sent by U-M officials about a student's death earlier Wednesday. I would ask no one who is privy to that information post the man's name or anything like that until we can have it confirmed by police that it is the same person. Thank you.
WestSideRaven
Fri, Jul 26, 2013 : 2:53 a.m.
@Macro Ahh... I did not realize UMMS staff received an alert different than the one received by those of us in other areas of the U.
MathGeek
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 8:22 p.m.
Craig, annarbor.com doesn't issue the Timely Warning notification, that's from the University. Seldon is right, it is a good CYA to issue the alert and have it be nothing than to not issue the alert and have it be something and then face public scrutiny as well as hefty fine from the DOE. As Kyle said, think what you want, this is simply an article with initial information and facts. It's a fact that a Timely Warning was issued, it's a fact that someone has died, it's a fact that the police are investigating that death as possibly being suspicious, that's it (at the time of publication).
Macro
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 4:45 p.m.
@WestSideRaven, It's correct that the crime alert did not give the student's name but a separate email, which was sent to all UMMS staff and faculty (but not all students at the university) around 6:15pm on 7/24 did contain the student's name.
WestSideRaven
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 2:51 p.m.
The Crime Alert that was sent around to U-M students and staff doesn't say anything more than has already been mentioned on this site.... just, throwin' that out there for anyone who is wondering.
aaparent
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 2:31 p.m.
@ Kyle - Thanks for being careful about publishing this information. @Johnnya2 said above that suicide is a crime? I had never heard that before. It's sad end to someone's life if it was a suicide, but calling it a crime is out of line, unless it actually is a crime. Who would be charged and prosecuted? My condolences to the family. If it was a suicide, it's a painful and never ending wound for a family that a person who takes his or her own life felt like that was a viable option. There are fantastic resources in Ann Arbor and online, even. Samaritans has a great website on suicide -- if that is even relevant here.
johnnya2
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 1:30 p.m.
Craig, "suspicious death" has more meanings than you might think. Crime alert would also fall in that category. ANY suspicious death should have a crime alert attached to it. He may have committed suicide. That is a crime, but until FACTS are in there is no way the police can make that assessment. It is called taking precautions. If you remember the old Stadium Bridge, the entire bridge was not likely to collapse, but they took the precautionary measure to limit the lanes on it. In this situation, they are telling people, something happened, they are not sure what yet, BUT be mindful that we have not ruled out anything.
Kyle Feldscher
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 1:11 p.m.
Craig - The email comes in with the subject line "Crime Alert," which is why I called it that. You can assume whatever you'd like, I was just trying to give context to the situation and the terminology used by police.
Craig Lounsbury
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 12:07 p.m.
so Ann Arbor.com is at the same time asking us not to assume something bad happened (homicide) but to act like it did (crime alert)? By golly I think I have it now. In any case my condolences to friends and family of the deceased.
seldon
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 11:54 a.m.
(To add to MathGeek's accurate comment about the Clery Act: and they will likely send out a crime alert in situations where they aren't completely sure a crime actually occurred, as a precaution to cover themselves under the Clery Act if it turns out later that one did.) (So they don't get in trouble like EMU did.)
seldon
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 11:52 a.m.
Wouldn't the content of the email itself be newsworthy as a separate article?
MathGeek
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 11:31 a.m.
Craig, it's required by law under the Clery Act. There are a handful of crimes that require a 'timely warning' message being communicated to the university community.
Craig Lounsbury
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 : 11:18 a.m.
Is a crime alert standard procedure with a "Suspicious death"?