DETROIT – A man’s body was found inside a burned-out home Monday on Detroit’s east side.
Police began a homicide investigation after the discovery was made inside a home on Hollywood Street near 7 Mile Road and East Outer Drive.
Family members of the victim were heartbroken by the news.
“That’s my brother,” Ishmael Melton said.
Melton is still in shock. Police said his brother, Larry Najee Melton, 49, had blunt force trauma to his head.
A witness found the body while walking in the neighborhood.
“They put him with his pants down and put his head up against the brick, and all you can see is blood and everything just going down the brick,” a witness said.
Family members filed a missing person report after Larry Melton didn’t show up to work around March 18.
“I didn’t get a call from him," Ishmael Melton said. "The family started calling around, was asking, 'Y'all ain't heard from him?' I was, like, 'No.' We just went and looked for him. That’s when we started really getting concerned. No answers from calls, text messages -- no nothing. His friends haven’t seen him."
Police said they believe Larry Melton was killed somewhere else and then brought to the abandoned home.