Mummified Body Discovered in Detroit Garage

(Updated) DETROIT, MI — A decomposing and mummified body was discovered Thursday inside a Detroit garage by a man interested in buying the property, according to media reports. It’s unclear when or how the person died.

The body was discovered on the 19900 block of Spencer Street around 1 p.m. it was inside a 1990 or 1991 Plymouth Acclaim. The home had been occupied by tenants, who told told reporters they never used the garage.

The prospective buyer made the grisly discovery during a walk-through of the home, Detroit police said. It’s unclear who owned the car. Police said they’re researching property owners to determine who else lived in the house.

Detroit police spokesman Officer Dan Donakowski told the Detroit Free Press the body had been in the garage “for quite some time.”

Cindy Johnson, a neighbor, told WJBK-TV that it’s “real scary” to know that a dead body was across the street.

At this point, authorities don’t know if the body is that of a man or a woman. Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office spokesman Lloyd Jackson told the Free Press an autopsy will be conducted next week when an anthropologist is in town.

“It’s badly decomposed,” he said of the body. “And it’s mummified.”

In 2014, a contractor working on a home in Pontiac discovered the mummified body of Pia Farrenkopf. The mystery of how Farrenkopf died — and why no one noticed she was missing for about five years — captivated readers around the globe. Her mortgage payments and other living expenses were automatically deducted from her bank account, and it wasn’t until the loan was in arrears and foreclosure was underway that her body was discovered.

DNA finally established Farrenkopf’s identity, but how she died — natural causes, suicide or homicide — may never be known. Officials said at the time there wasn’t enough tissue remaining on the badly decomposed body to perform a thorough autopsy to determine the cause of death.

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