‘MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS’

Mother and Her Sons Found Frozen to Death Outside Detroit

The 35-year-old mother died of hypothermia with two of her children just one mile from their home in Pontiac.

Michigan authorities are blaming a “mental health crisis” after discovering a mother and her two young sons frozen to death on a lake outside Detroit. Monica Latrice Cannady refused help from friends and family, including an attempt to commit her. The 35-year-old mother fled her Pontiac apartment, wandering through the area with her sons, aged 9 and 3, and her 10-year-old daughter in tow. The trio died from hypothermia in temperatures that plummeted to as low as 17 degrees Fahrenheit while Cannady’s remaining daughter ran for help, knocking on doors and reporting that her “family was dead,” according to police. Cannady had been acting strangely for weeks, police said, citing a conversation with her mother, who last saw her on Friday accompanied by the children, cold and shivering, authorities said. Cannady had been struggling for years, according to family. In 2021, the father of her children was murdered, and his accused killer was recently put on trial. She “believed someone was trying to kill her and everybody was in on it,” said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.