Body Found at Brighton Rec Area

Hamburg Police, along with the , are investigating the discovery of a human body at

According to Hamburg Police Lt. and Acting Chief Brian DeNoyer, a kayaker paddling through Murray Lake on Thursday afternoon reported the grisly discovery to police.

DeNoyer said the body was so badly decomposed that police could not determine sex or age.

Media reports that it was decapitated were mistaken, he said. DeNoyer said the body was partially submerged and buried in the muck, leading the kayaker to believe it was headless.

"The water was so dark and black, and the way the body was positioned, you couldn't tell it had limbs," DeNoyer said. "It looked like just a torso because it was half-buried in peat, but after we got it out of the water, that wasn't the case."

It took police about five hours to remove the body, DeNoyer said.

"It's very marshy down there. The terrain is very inhospitable, very difficult," DeNoyer said. "I would say the remains have been in the water for quite some time, months."

DeNoyer said the body was taken across the water to solid ground using a Hamburg Fire Department airboat, with assistance from the Howell Fire Department, led by Chief Andrew Pless, and the . Then, the body was taken to the medical examiner's office at Sparrow Hospital near Lansing for an autopsy, where it remains, the chief said.

WWJ reported that residents are suggesting that the body might be someone who fell through the ice during the winter. DeNoyer couldn't confirm that, pending an autopsy, but he said murder is not suspected.

"I don't have anything to lead me to believe it was foul play," DeNoyer said.

Murray Lake, one of many lakes in the 4,900-acre state park, is located off the Bauer Road entrance, north of Maltby and south of Cunningham Lake roads (see ).