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Deputy under investigation for improper search in days before Pontiac mom, 2 sons freeze to death
We’ve learned a deputy responded to the call to check an area out but did not do a thorough check…and did not find or make contact with the family. He’s being probed by the Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit.
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - An Oakland County sheriff's deputy is under investigation as the office released a timeline in the case of a mother and her two young children freezing to death in Pontiac.
"I wanted to really examine what happened in totality," said Sheriff Michael Bouchard.
Bouchard directed a deep dive into the events that transpired before 35-year-old Monica Cannady and her sons, 9-year-old Kyle Milton, and 3-year-old Malik Milton, were found frozen to death Sunday near the former Lakeside housing projects in Pontiac - dead from hypothermia.
"How do we not just as a police agency, but societally, how do we prevent stuff like this in the future?" Bouchard said. "How do we prevent people from falling through the cracks."
A detailed timeline from the Sheriff’s Office goes like this:
Investigators say deputies were first told that Cannady and her kids stopped at a spot on Mill Street in downtown Pontiac around Friday at 1 p.m. to get help.
Deputies then launched a drone search for the family. About 10 minutes after that first call, a deputy found Cannady and the kids near Water and Mill Streets. The deputy asked if she needed help and where she was going.
Cannady answered that she was okay, did not need help, and walked away.
"It would have potentially been a different situation had we known that this person was in a mental health crisis when they encountered her," Bouchard said. "We didn’t get that information until afterwards."
Minutes later, a second deputy found her inside McLaren Oakland Hospital and asked her some in-depth questions to figure out if they were alright.
The deputy repeated an offer to help, but the mother said she was fine and was there for a medical visit for her son and was waiting for a ride. The sheriff’s office says the mother again refused help and left.
The deputy followed the family as they walked down Woodward and repeatedly tried to convince Cannady to come to the nearby Pontiac substation or get in the patrol car to be taken somewhere to get out of the elements.
"The deputy persisted," Bouchard said. "(He said) 'I’ll get you coats for free, I don’t need to know your name.' That’s before we even knew who she was, 'I don’t need to know your name, I don't need to know your kids' names. Just come with me and I’ll get you free coats and you can be on your way.'"
Investigators say the mother was wearing a coat and the kids had on sweatshirts and were wrapped in bed sheets. Sources say she continued to refuse offers of assistance.
She was followed to a nearby school where the deputy again pleaded with her to take the help and offered to take the family to the substation so the kids could get some coats.
Once again, she declined and said she had family nearby and left.
"She didn’t appear to be mentally or physically in danger, neither did the kids," Bouchard said. "She was very clear, 'No I’m good, I don’t need anything. Why are you asking me so many questions?'"
By 3 p.m. Friday Cannady’s family says she and the kids went to her mom’s apartment and took a nap. About 30 minutes later she woke the kids up and they took off after Cannady’s mother argued about her mental state.
The family later told detectives that Cannady had been suffering from mental health problems for the past three weeks.
At 4:30 p.m. Friday, deputies met with Cannady’s aunt on how to get her help. Deputies did a welfare check at Cannady’s apartment and did not get an answer.
Investigators would later learn Cannady believed someone was trying to kill her and that the cops were in on it. The kids were told to run, if they saw the police.
Going into the weekend there were more sightings with people reporting the kids were not dressed for the cold.
We’ve learned a deputy responded to the call to check an area out, but did not do a thorough check and did not find or make contact with the family.
He’s being probed by the Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit in the sheriff's office By Friday evening…more searches were ordered and nothing was found.
By Saturday at 4 p.m. a canvas of the neighborhood showed that Cannady knocked on the door of a house on the 200 block of Branch, but when someone answered, Cannady said she was at the wrong address and left.
There was no call made to dispatch.
By Sunday at 3 p.m. Cannady’s 10 year old daughter tells neighbors her family was dead after knocking on the door of a house. She told the neighbor her family was dead in a nearby field.
Medical examiners say the family froze to death.
"I would love to have the federal government and state government pay to have someone embedded on our staff," Bouchard said. "A social worker, mental health worker so that when they come across someone in any situation, if it's not an acute crisis like it didn't appear, that's when we have our social worker come in and say is there systemic thing we can help you with? Connect you with resources."
The 10-year-old daughter is still hospitalized in stable but improving condition. She will stay with extended family once she is released.