Michigan Man Pleads Guilty To Not Reporting Woman Found Dead After House Party

BAY CITY, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A 22-year-old central Michigan man has admitted to leaving a woman's body in his house after a night of drinking and not notifying police.

Austin Carruthers pleaded guilty in Bay County District Court on Tuesday to one count of failing to report the discovery of a dead body.

He faces up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine on the misdemeanor charge and is scheduled for sentencing next month. Carruthers also pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of larceny and aggravated domestic violence — unrelated to this case.

The Bay City Times reports that Carruthers' girlfriend called police on March 4 after discovering 25-year-old Heather Jo Campau had died in her Fraser Township home.

According to a police report, witnesses said Campau was "really, really drunk" when she arrived at the party and continued to drink into the night before she was carried to bed at around 2 a.m.

Carruthers said that when he and Campau's boyfriend found her dead in the morning he panicked because he had warrants out for his arrest.

The boyfriend, who left the home with Carruthers after they found the body, also is charged with failing to report a dead body. He's scheduled for an arraignment on Aug. 27

An autopsy determined that Campau, a mother of one, died of alcohol poisoning. Her blood alcohol level was 0.347, according to the autopsy report. Her Facebook page says she worked as a contractor at S.C. Johnson and as a bartender in Pinconning.

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