Dearborn Heights Police Officer, Second Man Found Dead In Garage

DEARBORN HEIGHTS (WWJ) - Dearborn Heights Police and Michigan State Police are investigating after two men — one a police officer — were found dead in a garage.

Officers crowded the scene Friday at a home, in the 8,500-block of Lochdale Street near Beech Daly and Joy roads, where the bodies were found shortly before 9:30 a.m.

State police identified the victims as 44-year-old Dearborn Heights Police Sgt. John Burdick and 45-year-old James McEwen. The pair, police said, had been longtime friends.

MSP Lt. Mike Shaw told WWJ's John Hewett the cause of death for both men is still under investigation.

"There's no signs of a struggle or any type of foul play right now, so we're kinda starting to put it together ourselves," said Shaw, adding, later in the day, that investigators have been able to eliminated a few possibilities.

"Based on what we found inside we were able to rule out a couple of things that we talked about before: the murder/suicide aspect, and we were able to rule out the carbon monoxide poisoning," he said. "Everything else right now is on the table, and the reason for that is we haven't had the autopsy results yet."

Investigators spent the day interviewing potential witnesses, including a few people who'd stayed at the home the previous night and were there when the bodies were found.

"...Our detectives are starting to do our canvass," Shaw said, Friday afternoon. "The crime lab is here to start collecting our evidence throughout the area to see if we can figure out exactly what occurred over here."

A local resident, who lives across the street, said word about the situation was spreading through the neighborhood.

"I found out that there were two bodies in the garage, but didn't know who they were at first," said the woman, who didn't want WWJ to use her name.

"Someone talked to someone — you know who that goes — and found out that it was the boyfriend of the woman that lives in the house and a friend...of which the friend is a Dearborn Heights police officer."

Shaw said autopsies on both men would be conducted over the weekend.

Investigators said the two men had been longtime friends.