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Some Michigan Folks Don’t like to Part with Their Dead



Angela Shock (above), 49, of Monroe, Michigan, has been arraigned after police discovered she was living with the corpse of her boyfriend, who had been dead several weeks, the latest in a series of similar cases in Metro Detroit.



According to Monroe police, around 3 p.m., Wednesday (April 3), officers conducted a welfare check on a home in the 600 block of Harrison Street after family members told police they had not heard from or seen their 61-year-old relative for some time. Police were unable to reach the man, so they contacted the property owner and gained access to the house, where they encountered Shock. Because of the stench, officers quickly determined there was a decomposing body on the premises and Shock admitted her boyfriend died several weeks earlier.



Shock, who had been using the man’s bank card, was transported to a local hospital for a medical evaluation and interviewed by officers the following day. She was eventually arrested and booked into the Monroe County Jail on charges of concealing the death of an individual.



Living with corpses is nothing new in Michigan as evidenced by several recent cases. In December 2017, David Hall, 49, also of Monroe, was found living with the body of Kandace Simmons, his lady friend, who had been dead for approximately a month. Lieutenant John Wall of the Monroe Police Department said the corpse was discovered December 31 in a bedroom of the apartment on East Noble Avenue after the landlord, who had not seen Simmons for some time, requested police conduct a welfare check. The landlord and neighbors had also noticed a window open in the apartment even though it was extremely cold and, according to the landlord, Hall kept making excuses as to why Simmons wasn’t available to discuss the rent. Upon entering the apartment, officers discovered Simmons’ decomposing body. “He [Hall] opened the windows and lit some candles to mitigate the odor in the apartment,” Wall explained.



The medical examiner estimated Simmons had been dead around a month. There was nothing at the scene to suggest homicide, according to Wall, who added that Hall couldn’t provide “any good reasons for why he didn’t call to report the death.” Hall was arrested on outstanding warrants and later charged with concealing the death of an individual.



In July of last year, police discovered the body of a 47-year-old woman in her mother’s home on Seabaldt Street on Detroit’s west side. The deceased, who had health problems, had been dead eight months. Neighbors told investigators the grieving mother just didn’t want to let go of her child.



In April 2018, a 62-year-old woman on Burgundy Avenue in Warren declined to report the death of her boyfriend, George Curtis, 68. Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer told the Free Press the badly-decomposed body was found in bed. “The scene was terrible,” he recalled, adding the condition of the home was “a total disaster.”



Family members had become concerned about Curtis, who, so far as is known, had no serious health issues. “It’s extremely unusual, disturbing that someone could live in a home where you have a badly decomposed body with a very strong odor,” Dwyer continued. “It’s bizarre and it’s something you might see in a movie rather than real life.”



Under Michigan’s Public Heath Code, failure to report a death to law enforcement is a crime. Those violating the code may be imprisoned for no more than a year or fined up to $1,000.



Sources: Mican Walker, The Detroit Free Press, April 5, 2019; Christina Hall, The Detroit Free Press, April 24, 2018; Ann Zaniewski, The Detroit Free Press, January 10, 2018; and WJBK News.