Cops: Man without family dead on kitchen floor for year

Lisa Roose-Church | (Livingston County, Mich.) Daily Press & Argus

TYRONE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Police have discovered the body of a man who likely has been dead in his home for a year.

Livingston County deputies checked in at the home of Gary Richard Buys, 69, around 7:30 a.m. ET Friday at the request of a neighbor who watches his cabin in northern Michigan, Sheriff Bob Bezotte said Tuesday. They found Buys' deteriorated body on the kitchen floor.

“We believe he died from natural causes,” the sheriff said. “It still remains open until an autopsy is completed.”

Officers found “quite a few liquor bottles” in the tri-level home, but whether alcohol was a factor in the man’s death was not immediately known, Bezotte said.

Foul play is not suspected, both the sheriff and Undersheriff Michael Murphy said.

Buys does not have any known family, they said. His parents are dead, he was retired and he was not married.

Neighbors indicated that they noticed Buys' yard had overgrown with grass, but they believed Buys, a quiet man who enjoyed his privacy, was at his cottage in northern Michigan.

The neighbor at the cabin, whose name was not released, had reported not seeing Buys in a long time. He grew concerned when he was unable to reach Buys after a tree fell on his cottage.

The man called the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department early Friday and asked for the welfare check.

"It's sad no one was checking on him or paying attention to him," Bezotte said. "His (utility) services were still on, so he must have paid through automatic payment plan."