ADRIAN TWP. — An Adrian man’s body was found Monday afternoon about 50 feet from a car that was located in a wooded area off Bent Oak Highway, police reported Tuesday.
Adrian Township police and firefighters were dispatched at 3:49 p.m. Monday to the area of Bent Oak Highway and Shepherd Road for a crash, and a single vehicle was found in the woods along Bent Oak, about 100 feet off the road, a news release from the Adrian Township Police Department said. No one was found in or near the vehicle.
Police and firefighters searched the area and found the deceased man about 50 feet north of the car in heavy brush, the release said.
Police identified the man as being 31 years old and from the city of Adrian. His name was not immediately released.
The crash is believed to have happened late Friday night or early Saturday morning because an area resident saw a small piece of the car on the shoulder of the road Saturday morning. The person did not see the car in the heavily wooded area.
The investigation of the crash found that the car was northbound on Bent Oak when it left the roadway to the right for an unknown reason. The car went into a ditch, struck a metal drain pipe and went airborne, striking several trees about 20 feet off the ground. The driver was ejected from the car at some point and came to rest on the car’s hood. Once the vehicle was removed from the woods, another search of the area was conducted by police and firefighters without finding any other victims, the release said.
It is not known at this point in the investigation whether drugs or alcohol were involved, police said.