Mummified Body Found at Foreclosed Detroit Home

The body of a woman whom neighbors say they last saw several years ago was found in an SUV parked in the garage of a foreclosed home northwest of Detroit. An employee of a property management company working for a bank that now owns the house stumbled upon the body in the rear seat of the vehicle while doing a walk-through yesterday, the Oakland County sheriff's office said. The body was described by the sheriff's office as being "in a mummified state."

An autopsy performed today by the county medical examiner's office found no trauma to the body, reports the Detroit Free Press. A cause of death has yet to be determined. "She's been dead years," says an official in the ME's office. The body is believed to be that of the former homeowner who would have been 49 in 2008, when authorities believe she died. "She had $54,000 in her account and her bills were being deducted," says a police official. "Eventually, the money ran out and her house went into foreclosure." (More Detroit stories.)