Eaton county sheriff Tom Reich was pleased with the results of an investigation that started early Friday morning.
"It was a relief that we found no body," Reich smiles.
Instead he and his detective found 26 marijuana plants after getting reports of a man carrying a body into a wooded area. Turns out the witnesses thought the plants were a body.
"You could see he was there recently," claims Riech, "with buckets of water, tending to plants, carrying new plants out there to have them planted in the soil."
The blanket witnesses thought was covering a body was being used to protect the plants...
"The suspect that they encountered on the road coming out of the woods, I believe is in custody," says MSP's Brian Bahlau.
Investigations like these are nothing new to the tri-county metro narcotics squad, and detective first lieutenant Brian Bahlau says this one isn't that unique:
"This isn't the first time that we've got plants off of 96 in such an area, it's common for people to pick locations like that that wouldn't normally be traveled by foot traffic."
Not only less traveled places, but also ones that have no connection to the grower. MSP believes that's why this plot was on m-dot property...
With plots like these being common in Eaton county, and across Michigan, the state is starting it's annual searches...
"Recently we had the Michigan national guard helicopter units where they were searching for marijuana in Eaton county," explains Sheriff Reich. "We do this periodically this time of year due to it's time to harvest."
But Reich hopes that future marijuana investigations won't be as dramatic as Friday's.
