Oakland County Sheriff’s Office car.Photo: Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Facebook
A Michigan mother and two of her three children were found frozen to death in a vacant field after authorities said she suffered a mental health crisis.
Monica Cannady, 35, “believed someone was trying to kill her and that everybody was in on it,” before she, and her sons, Kyle Milton, 9, and Malik Milton, 3, died of hypothermia on Jan. 15, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said during a press conference.
Around 3:10 p.m., deputies were called to the wooded area in Pontiac, after a 10-year-old girl – later confirmed to be Cannady’s daughter — “knocked on a door and said her family was dead in a field,” the sheriff said.
The girl was rushed to a local hospital where she was listed in stable condition, authorities said. She will be placed with family members after she is discharged.
Family members told investigators that Cannady had recently been experiencing mental health issues and believed the police were involved in the conspiracy that someone was trying to kill her, according to a news release from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Over the course of a few days, the sheriff’s office said they had received several calls about a woman and children who were not dressed appropriately for the frigid weather. Deputies searched the area but were unable to find anyone.
The surviving daughter later told investigators her mother told the children to run if they saw the police and they were not to be trusted, a press release states.
When the family was in the field, “[Cannady] told the kids to lay down and sleep,” the sheriff said. “Unfortunately that’s where they perished.”
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If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
source: people.com
