Mom, 2 Sons Found Frozen To Death In Field After Her 10-Year-Old Informs Neighbor

A mother and her two sons were found frozen to death in a wooded area in Michigan.

The deceased bodies were found after the woman's 10-year-old daughter told a nearby resident that her "family was dead," officials said.

Cannady refused help from her family members and was later found dead with her two sons in a wooded area of Pontiac at around 3:10 p.m. Sunday. An autopsy report revealed that the mother and the boys, aged 9 and 3, died of hypothermia, according to AP News.

The mother, Monica Cannady, 35, was having a "mental health crisis" before her death and "believed someone was trying to kill her," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said Monday at a news conference.

" ... The mom, was having a mental health crisis," Bouchard said. "She believed someone was trying to kill her and that everybody was in on it, (that) it was a conspiracy, so, including the police, were in on this, trying to kill her."

"The family was trying to get her help, trying to get her committed and get some help, and she refused and fled," Bouchard added.

Cannady's mother offered to help her Friday after she noticed that the children were cold. However, Cannady denied the help and left her apartment with her kids — 3-year-old Malik Milton, 9-year-old Kyle Milton and the 10-year-old girl.

It is believed Cannady and her three children spent parts of Friday, all of Saturday, and parts of Sunday outside in the freezing cold, officials said, ClickOnDetroit reported.

Cannady told her kids to lie down and sleep while they were in the wooded area, the 10-year-old girl informed officials. The girl said she eventually woke up to find her family unresponsive. She went to a nearby resident and knocked on the door, saying her "family was dead in a field," Bouchard said.

Before the bodies were ultimately located, the sheriff's office had received multiple calls during the weekend about a woman and children roaming around the streets without the right clothes for the freezing temperature.

"From our side, we were not called about a person or kids in crisis," Bouchard said. "We would get an occasional call, 'Hey, there's somebody in the area that doesn't look like they're appropriately dressed.' Deputies would go there and look, and they weren't there."

The 10-year-old girl told investigators that their mother would tell them to run whenever somebody approached them. She was taken to the hospital and is on the path to recovery.

The children's father was murdered in 2021, Bouchard informed.

The sheriff said Cannady and her sons' deaths were "accidental/preventable" and stressed the need for better mental health support.

"If we have more conversations -- sometimes tough conversations that it takes strength to ask for help. It's not weakness. That it's encouraged, and we have more available mental health services to everybody, I think it'll go a long way," Bouchard said.