By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
TAYLOR – A River Rouge man who’d been missing for more than a week was likely killed in Taylor before his body was discovered May 14 in Ypsilanti.
Police Chief Mary Sclabassi said two Taylor men were arrested soon after the discovery of a body believed to be Michael Lee Strafford, 38, was found in a field in Ypsilanti.
Final identification of Strafford was expected to be confirmed this week.
Strafford man had been missing since May 7, when he left his River Rouge home for a motorcycle ride and never returned. Sclabassi said his motorcycle was last seen at a home on Brian Street in Taylor.
On May 14, a 41-year-old Taylor man turned himself in at the Taylor police station, and city and state police spend the afternoon searching the man’s Brian Street home. The man’s brother, a 36-year-old Taylor man, was arrested Sunday in Detroit.
As of yesterday, the two remained in police custody pending charges.
“It is believed the murder occurred on May 7,” Sclabassi said. “Both defendants’ family members were cooperative with police in the investigation.”
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])