UPDATED: Police Identify Bodies, Rule Out Carbon Monoxide Poisoning and Murder-Suicide

This story was updated at 2 a.m.:

Police have ruled out murder-suicide and carbon monoxide poisoning in the deaths of two men, including a police officer, whose bodies were discovered in Dearborn Heights garage Friday morning.

Dead are Police Sgt. John Burdick, 44, of Dearborn Heights, and Robert McEwen, 45, who lived at the house, The Detroit News reports. The two men were friends, and neighbors said they had frequently attended community gatherings.

Earlier Friday, authorities said they didn’t suspect foul play, but late Friday, Lt. Mike Shaw of the Michigan State Police said authorities aren’t ruling that out. There were no signs otrauma to the bodies.

Shaw said police aren’t looking for any suspects, and reassured neighbors that the area in the vicinity of 8500 block of Lochdale, where the bodies were discovered about 9:20 a.m. Friday, is safe.

“I can tell you that portion of it right now, but I can’t rule out foul play until we get the autopsy results from the medical examiner’s office,” he told the newspaper.

Autopsies will be performed Saturday, Ryan Bridges, a spokesman for the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office, told the Detroit Free Press.

Shaw said drug abuse hasn’t been ruled out as a case. “”We’re looking at all kinds of things,” he said.

A police dog searched the back yard and around some of the landscape of the property around 4 p.m. The Detroit News said police carried six paper bags from the back of house and stored them in a state police trailer parked at the scene.

Burdick was a veteran police officer with 18 years at the Dearborn Heights Police Department Police Chief Lee Gavin said in a statement.

Dearborn Heights Mayor Dan Paletko said he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by Burdick’s death.

“I knew Sgt. Burdick for many years, and throughout that time was always impressed by his desire to represent the community and our police department so professionally,” Paletko told the Free Press.

Shaw would not say how long the men had been in the garage in the before their bodies were discovered by McEwen’s girlfriend, who called 911.

This story was updated at 1:45 p.m.:

Two men whose bodies were found inside a Dearborn Heights garage Friday morning, including a police officer for the city, showed no clear signs of trauma, but their deaths are being treated as a double homicide, police said.

The bodies of the two men, who neighbors described as close friends, were discovered around 9:20 a.m. Friday in the garage at the residence in the 8500 block of Lochdale.

Dearborn Heights Police Chief Lee Gavin told WDIV-TV the circumstances surrounding the two men’s deaths are “strange.”

Authorities don’t suspect foul play, but their deaths are being treated as a double homicide, Lt. Mike Shaw of the Michigan State Police said.

“Any time there’s a deceased person, we always assume that there’s some type of homicide until the medical examiner tells us something different,” Shaw told The Detroit News. “Once we get the autopsy results, it may prove that this was a natural death but we’re going to treat it as a homicide until that occurs.”

A neighbor, Elaine Lajiness, told the Detroit Free Press the other victim lived with his girlfriend at the residence where the bodies were found. Two teenaged children, the girlfriend’s by a previous marriage, also lived at the address, The Detroit News reported.

The investigation into the men’s deaths is being handled by the Michigan State Police because a police officer is one of the casualties.

A woman who said she was the girlfriend of the other victim reportedly called 911 when she discovered the bodies, according to the WDIV report. She said hadn’t seen her boyfriend, who lives a block away from the garage, since Thursday night, according to the television station’s report.

It’s unclear if the 911 caller was the same woman who lived at the house.

Patch’s earlier report:

Michigan State Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a Dearborn Heights police officer and another person found dead at a residence in the 8500 block of Lochdale at 9:20 a.m. Friday.

No details have been released, but a source told WJBK-TV that the men were found inside the garage.

Neighbors who spoke with WXYZ said the two men were friends.

This is a developing story. It’s not known if the officer was on a service call, or how the two died. Check back with Patch for updates.