Pontiac Mother and Two Young Sons Found Dead from Hypothermia in Field

(OCSO, Jan. 18, 2023)

Pontiac, MI – A Pontiac mother and her two young sons were found dead Sunday afternoon after spending the previous night in a vacant field with temperatures well below freezing. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard identified the victims as Monica Latrice Cannady, 35, and her sons, Kyle Milton, 9, and Malik Milton, 3.

The deaths were ruled accidental. The cause of death for each was hypothermia, according to the Oakland County Medical Examiner Office, which completed autopsies earlier today. “This is a horrific tragedy that could be prevented by a society wide-community approach to mental health challenges,” Bouchard said today during a news conference at the Sheriff’s Office in Pontiac.

“We all have to communicate more, support each other more and ensure that people don’t fall through the cracks.” Bouchard was joined at the news conference by Pontiac Mayor Tim Greimel, Pontiac City Councilwoman Melanie Rutherford, Oakland County Commissioner Angela Powell, and representatives from Common Ground and the Oakland County Community Health Network, which offers services for those in crisis or who have other mental health needs.

The family was found Sunday shortly after 3 p.m. in a field near the 200 block of Branch St. in Pontiac. The field was once the location of the Lakeside Housing Project.

A 10-year-old girl – Cannady’s daughter – knocked on the door of a Branch Street residence and told the occupants that her family was dead in an adjacent field.

Sheriff’s Deputies and Detectives responded to the area and discovered the mother and her two sons lying on the ground obviously deceased.

The daughter was rushed to a nearby hospital where she is being treated and is listed in stable condition. She will be placed with family members after she is discharged. Family members advised investigators that the mother was recently experiencing mental health issues. She believed that an unknown person (or persons) was trying to kill her, and the police were involved in the conspiracy.

Family members attempted to get Cannady mental health treatment, however she refused and fled with her children. The surviving 10-year-old daughter later told investigators her mother told the children to run if they saw the police and they were not to be trusted.

Bouchard implored state and federal officials to increase funding for mental health services. He said that the Sheriff’s Office had to cut $1.3 million from its annual operating budget. Bouchard added two positions dedicated to servicing the mental health needs of the community. A licensed mental health practitioner which accompanies Deputies on calls where an individual may be suffering a crisis, and a full-time Peer Support Deputy dedicated to agency personnel.

“Mental health is one of the largest challenges of this time,” Bouchard said. “Even when I had to cut my budget by a significant amount last year, I made it a priority of having mental health services in my budget. The state and federal government needs to provide us with funding that allow us to perform more mental health services in partnership with the mental health community, including having more mental health practitioners on our team that can be part of a holistic response to mental health calls.”

If you or anyone you know is having a mental health crisis or lacks food, housing, or other needs, you are encouraged to call the Common Ground 24-hour Crisis Hotline at 1-800-231- 1127.