Crime & Safety
Police Find Skull, Identification Believed to Belong to Man Found in Detroit River in Wyandotte
A headless, decomposed body was pulled Thursday from a vehicle that had been submerged in the Detroit River for years.
The Downriver Underwater Search and Recovery Team found identification and bones, including a skull, believed to belong to the body of a man pulled from a vehicle found in the Detroit River Thursday.
Divers entered the water to conduct a more thorough investigation of the area and located the identification of Thomas Lange at about 11:30 a.m. Friday, according to Wyandotte Police Chief Daniel Grant.
Lange's family reported him missing to the Lincoln Park Police Department in 2003 after he didn't come home following a brief stop at a grocery store to purchase diapers for his son, according to the National Missing Persons Data System.
Grant said the body recovered from the river fit the known description of Lange and clothing found on the body appeared to be similar to what Lange was last seen wearing.
He added, investigation agencies will not be certain of the identity of the body until they are able to complete a review of dental records or DNA analysis.
Mary Mazur, of the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, said DNA analysis of the body could take up to two weeks.
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