Monica Canady and her children froze to death in a field. Can it be prevented?
tDays before Monica Canady and two of her children were found frozen to death in a Michigan field, concerned neighbors began alerting police of a family walking around the area in clothing that couldn’t protect them from the unforgiving cold.
Police in Oakland County said the mother suffered a mental health crisis in the days leading up to the horrific discovery on January 15 and was convinced people were out to kill her. It is said She taught her children – Lilly, 10; Kyle, nine; And the owner of three – to hide if someone approaches them, and to ask them to lie down and sleep in the field.
Only Lily would survive death from hypothermia, and she rushes to a nearby house to seek help after waking up next to the corpses of her mother and siblings.
The local mayor initially reacted to news of the deaths by condemning the country’s broken mental health system — largely ignoring the fact that his agency knew of the dire situation starting January 13th.
records obtained The Independent It has since revealed that at least one deputy who responded to calls from concerned neighbors is now under investigation for allegedly failing to conduct a full search of the area where the family was seen.
Two other deputies called the family—the children were wearing only jackets and wrapped in white bed sheets in the 30F heat—at three different locations and offered them coats. The authorities did not get involved further because Kanade “didn’t appear to be in any medical or mental health crisis and had asked several times to be left alone.”
On the eve of the tragedy, the police ran a welfare check on Cannady and her children found her apartment empty. Two more calls from neighbors led to fruitless searches for the family in the area.
The deputies also didn’t immediately connect their previous encounters with the apparently “apparent” Kanade to her family’s reports that she was paranoid and “believed the police were involved in the plot.”
Within the complex web of factors, including the police response and the mental health crisis, an impossible question emerged: Could the deaths have been prevented?
Canady’s family said she had recently shown signs of her struggle with mental health. She told her aunt Rhodessa Kanade The Independent Cannady has no history of mental health issues, and has always taken care of her children.
“Whatever happened in the last few weeks was a first for her. This tragedy was clearly out of character and just came out of the blue,” said Rhodessa Canady. “She loved her kids and that was the bottom line, that was just who she was. She was an example to.” [great] Illiterate.”
Here’s what you need to know about the case so far:
Shocking discovery
At 3.10pm on Sunday 15 January, Auckland County Deputies were called to an overgrown field near Pontiac, where three bodies were discovered.
Police identified the deceased as 35-year-old Canadie and her two children, Kyle and Malik Milton.
Their death was determined to be an accident caused by hypothermia.
Deputies were alerted to the scene when Canady’s third child, Lily, knocked on a stranger’s door and said her “family died in a field,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
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Monica Canady, 35, was found dead with her two young sons after all three were frozen to death at a Michigan park. A third child survived
(submitted by the family)
The weeks leading up to the tragedy
An attentive and competent mother, Kanade only recently began showing signs of mental health struggles, according to her aunt.
“Whatever happened in the last few weeks was a first for her. This tragedy was clearly out of character and just came out of the blue,” said Rhodessa Canady. The Independent Wednesday. “The children were always beautifully dressed, and the hair always combed. She was a wonderful breadwinner and support for her children.”
Rhodessa Canady said her niece was a hard worker and the sole provider for her children.
“She loved her kids and that was the bottom line, that was just who she was. She was an example to.” [great] Illiterate. A single mom just raising her kids, doing whatever she wants to do.”
“She was totally fine. I don’t live in Michigan and we came home in August for a family reunion, and she was just her normal, quiet person, a really classy girl.”
However, in the past three weeks, Kanade’s family has begun to notice an alarming change in her behaviour. Mr. Bouchard said during a press conference on Monday that her loved ones tried to get her help but the mother-of-three refused.
Police response timeline
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement The Independent A comprehensive review of the events was undertaken at Mr. Bouchard’s request.
Mr. Bouchard said the department analyzed calls, radio traffic, opinion polls and MPs’ interactions with the family. [could] You will probably find ways to prevent such a tragedy from happening in the future.”
The review found that local police tried to help Cannady several times on Friday after receiving calls from neighbors. They received no reports on Saturday or Sunday, before Lily alerted the neighbors.
The family was first located by police around 1pm on Friday (13 January) near Water Street and Mill Street.
The deputy asked if Candy needed help and where she was traveling. Kanade replied that she was fine and did not need any help and quickly walked away from the deputy,” the report reads.
A second deputy approached Canady five minutes later, while she was inside McLaren Oakland Hospital in downtown Pontiac. She reportedly said her family was in the hospital for an appointment while she was being “deeply” questioned, and left the facility after claiming she was waiting for a flight abroad.
The deputy himself followed her out of the hospital and confirmed that he would not ask for her identity and that she was not in trouble. The officer then walked the family to a nearby school and offered Kanade to go to the police station to get coats for the children, who were wearing jackets and bed sheets.
Kanade reportedly refused again, saying she was fine and had family in the area.
The deputy spent about 20 minutes with Cannady until 1:30 p.m. on Friday. In those conversations, she was articulate, did not appear to be in any health or psychiatric crisis and asked several times to be left alone,” the review states.
Two hours later, Kanade visits her mother’s house before an argument about her mental health unfolds between the two. Kanade leaves the apartment and a welfare check is carried out on her private residence but she is not found.
While a family member spoke with investigators later that day about possibly sending Cannady to a mental health facility, a resident reported seeing a woman wandering around in the cold with children near Franklin and Rapid.
“The caller indicated that the children were not properly dressed for the cold temperatures,” the department said.
A deputy sent to the area “did not search the entire area as expected and did not find or contact the family.” He is now under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit.
The commanding officer sent five more deputies on two other occasions but they were unable to locate the family after the area was swept.
There were no reports on Saturday (June 14), but investigators later learned from a resident that Ms. Canady knocked on a door before she left.
Throughout the weekend, Cannady reportedly knocked on random homes asking for food, but would not accept money.
“They were hungry,” said Charles Witherspoon, a resident, whose neighbor communicated with Canady and her family in the days leading up to the death. Click Detroit. I said: what did you do? “I did not let them in,” she said, “but her brother Arthur said he had tried to give the young woman some money and she would not take it.”
Police said they did not understand that the situation was a mental health crisis at play.
“On our part, we have not been contacted about a person or children in crisis,” said Mr. Bouchard He said on Monday. “We’d get a call every now and then, ‘Hey, there’s someone in the area who didn’t seem to be dressed appropriately.'” “The deputies would go there and look, and they weren’t there.”
He added, “We learned that later from the surviving daughter [Cannady] Any time anyone comes near, she told her children, to run.
This tragedy was quintessential evidence of the collapse of America’s mental health system.
“We do not provide enough support for mental health providers and our systems to have enough resources at their fingertips.
“The state and federal government need to provide us with funding that will allow us to perform more mental health services in partnership with the mental health community, including having more mental health practitioners on our team who can be part of a comprehensive response to mental health calls.”
The investigation into the deputy’s response was announced on Wednesday.
She was a loving and caring mother
Family members said Cannady’s kids were her top priority and they don’t know what caused her seemingly sudden crisis.
“She was a loving, caring mother who wasn’t agitated or dealing with mental health issues [in the past]Rhodesia Canaday said The Independent. “A single mom just raising her kids, doing whatever she wants to do.”
Family created GoFundMe to cover funeral expenses.
Kanade’s baby girl, Lily, is in a stable condition at the hospital. Child Protective Services is investigating the case, and it will be released to family members.
Ms Canady said that although her niece was affected by the murder of the father of her children in 2021, she was making the best of her situation and didn’t seem to be struggling until recently.
Christine Plevin, with Common Ground’s mobile crisis team, said during Monday’s news conference.
“We can help and we can connect you to these resources. We can help you navigate through the system.”
Josh Marcus contributed to this report.