Frank Witsil

Detroit Free Press

A 6-year-old girl was rescued Thursday evening by police from a home in Mount Morris Township after she posted photos online of her dead father and unconscious stepmother.

A pit bull, police said, had been gnawing on the 40-year-old man's face.

"Her actions, we believe, actually saved a life," said Mount Morris Township Police Chief Terence Green, who described the child as resourceful and bright. "This 6-year-old went through a traumatic event — and she saved a life."

Authorities were alerted to the macabre situation on the 1200 block of Oleander Drive by the child's grandparent, who lives in Tennessee and saw the photos on Facebook, Green said.

By early Friday afternoon, the girl was with her biological mother, he added.

The stepmother, 36, was taken to a local hospital, where she is stable, but in intensive care and unable to tell police what happened.

Green said the couple appears to have suffered a drug overdose.

It was unclear what kind of drugs they were — or where they came from. Green did not release names because the next of kin had not been notified.

Mount Morris Township, which has a population of about 21,000, is in Genesee County.

Green said the child's grandparent reportedly saw the photos of the adults on Facebook, which the child posted with a mobile phone to get help. The grandparent called 911, which went to police in Ingham County and was passed to Mount Morris Township police.

When police went to the house, the officer heard the little girl screaming.

Green said she told the officer that "the dog was chewing on someone's face."

The officers broke into the house, found the girl's father, who was dead, and stepmother, who had been unconsciousness for at least 24 hours. The girl had not had anything to eat for a day — maybe longer.

The child told the officers she had woken up early Thursday and thought her parents were still sleeping. She tried to get them up, too. When they didn't respond, she splashed water on their face — but they still wouldn't waken.

Green said detectives are now contacting relatives, neighbors and anyone with information to try to establish a timeline — and chain of events leading up to what likely was an overdose.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

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