GARDEN CITY, Mich. – A woman was found dead Tuesday in the backyard of a home on Alvin Street in Garden City.
Chief Robert Muery said the woman did not live at the address on Alvin Street. He said she was found in the backyard and she was not dressed for the cold weather. She did have shoes on and was found with a dog. Police have tentatively identified her as a 53-year-old Canton Township woman.
Neighbors described the woman's body as being partially undressed, causing alarm that she may have been attacked. Police believe the woman may have been chasing her dog in the dangerous morning cold.
The dog did not have a tag on, but did have a microchip embedded in it. That chip lead police to a home just up the block where the woman had been staying.
Muery said police were called about 10 a.m. on the report of a body or blow-up doll in the backyard of a home in the 31900 block of Alvin Street.
"It appears to be a white female in her later 40s, bleach-blonde hair. She was accompanied by a small white dog, but that's really just about all we know right now," said the chief Tuesday morning. "She is completely unknown by the resident of the home."
Whether the cold played a factor in the woman's death is under investigation.
"It is very cold. We have to investigate the circumstances of how she came to be here, whether she succumbed to the weather or something else," said Muery.