Frozen deaths still a mystery to loved ones

Pontiac — Nearly two weeks later, Monica Cannady's loved ones are no closer to understanding why she and two sons laid down in an empty field and froze to death.

They pondered the question on a cold Friday afternoon during visitation services for the family at a Pontiac funeral home.

“Nobody will ever know,” said Christine Harris, 35, a former classmate and coworker of Cannady’s. “People go through a lot.”

Harris was among the mourners who filtered into Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home, some in groups and some alone. One group tearfully hugged each other in the parking lot.

Cannady, 35, who was experiencing mental health issues, was discovered Jan. 15 near downtown Pontiac. Beside her were Kyle Milton, 9, and Malik Milton, 3. They died from hypothermia.

Rolanda Crawford was childhood friends with Cannady but lost touch with her after high school. She said she was shocked when she heard her old friend had dealt with paranoia and other issues.

“That didn’t sound like her,” said Crawford, 34, of Pontiac. “She was down to earth, just a real sweetheart.”

Other grievers said there shouldn’t have been a visitation at all, that Cannady should still be alive.

Althia Lewis was critical of law enforcement after reading press reports that two deputies with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office had been in contact with Cannady before her death.

Lewis, 67, who knows Cannady’s family through church, said the deputies should have done something to help her, especially given the way she had been behaving. Cannady and her children walked around a neighborhood in skimpy clothes and bedsheets on the cold day.

“It’s horrible. I can’t even describe it,” Lewis said. “I’m so broken down I don’t know how to feel.”

She said she immediately began crying when she learned about the death. At the time, she didn’t realize it was Cannady, whose family she knows from their membership at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.

When she learned who had died, her heart felt like it would break, she said.

One of Cannady’s children, a 10-year-old daughter, survived the ordeal and went to a nearby home to get help.

As for law enforcement’s role, at least one deputy is under investigation as the Sheriff’s Office reviews its handling of the incident.

According to a timeline released by Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard last week, deputies were first notified that Cannady and her three children had stopped on Mill Street in downtown Pontiac around 1 p.m. Jan. 13 seeking help. Two separate deputies ended up having contact with Canady.

Within 10 minutes, a deputy found Cannady and her children near Water Street and Mill Street. Cannady told the deputy she "did not need any help and quickly walked away from the deputy," according to a Sheriff's Office release.

Five minutes later, a second deputy spotted her inside McLaren Oakland Hospital in downtown Pontiac, "questioned her in depth" about needing help, but Cannady said she was "fine" after a visit and awaiting a ride.

The woman again refused assistance. Even after the deputy followed Canady and the children down Woodward and to a nearby school, she continued to refuse all attempts for assistance made by the deputy, according to the Sheriff's Office.

After Cannady went back to her apartment and then fled after an argument with relatives, the Sheriff’s Office dispatch also was notified around 4:43 p.m. that a woman walking with several children not properly dressed had been spotted near Franklin and Rapid in Pontiac.

A deputy responded for an area check "but did not completely search the area as he was expected to and did not find or make contact with the family," officials said.

That deputy's actions were under investigation.

More searches continued that Friday without success. While there were no calls to the Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications and Operations Center on Saturday related to the family, authorities learned Cannady knocked on the door of a residence in the 200 block of Branch St. at 4 p.m. that day but told the resident she was at the wrong address then walked away.

It wasn't until the next day that Cannady’s daughter knocked on the door of a home and told the residents that her family was dead in an adjacent field.

The deaths were ruled accidental, and the Oakland County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death for each as hypothermia.

Cannady's daughter was hospitalized but has since been released, according to a GoFundMe campaign that seeks to raise $50,000.

fdonnelly@detroitnews.com