Shriveled Body Found

A Monday June 16, 2014, photo is of a vacant house in Dayton, Ohio. An adolescent boy found the mummified body of a man hanging in a closet in the house on Sunday while exploring what he thought to be an abandoned house.

(AP Photo/The Dayton Daily News, Marshall Gorby)

DAYTON, Ohio -- An adolescent boy found the mummified body of a man hanging in a closet while exploring what appeared to be an abandoned house in southwestern Ohio.

The body found Sunday had the hardened, leathery appearance of a mummy because 53-year-old Edward Brunton's tissue had dried up and was preserved in his home's cold, dark conditions, said Ken Betz, director of the Montgomery County coroner's office in Dayton.

Brunton was homeless before inheriting money from his mother to buy the house in October 2009 and probably died soon after that, Betz said. Brunton's death was ruled a suicide caused by hanging by the neck.

Betz said Brunton's house appeared vacant and the property was overgrown with weeds and posted with city cleanup warnings.