MDOT Worker Find Body Along US 23

WHITEMORE LAKE, Mich. (WJBK) - A Michigan Department of Transportation worker finds a body along US 23 in Green Oak Township, and the discovery may bring an end to a missing persons case from 2005.

Investigators have a lot of work in front of them. Police do not know the identity of the victim or how long he may have been near this stretch of highway. However, they say a missing persons case from almost five years ago could help solve this mystery.

An employee with MDOT sent out to do some maintenance work on a drain at M-36 and US 23 near Whitemore Lake is startled and disturbed by what he finds.

"They walked up to the area where they thought the drain might be. It's normally marked by a stake of some sort. There was nothing there," said Green Oak Township Police Chief Robert Brookins. "They found a bunch of debris, cattails, and they saw a foot with a shoe."

Police are summoned and the Green Oak and Hamburg Township departments respond immediately, along with the Livingston County Medical Examiner and forensic anthropologists from Michigan State.

Police are obviously calling this discovery suspicious. Currently there are more questions than answers, but Brookins can not ignore one possibility, a cold case that dates back nearly five years ago.

"In January of 2005, there was a missing persons report taken by Hamburg Township Police Department. That individual hadn't been seen by his family for a period of time. That individual's vehicle had been involved in a crash approximately 250 feet from where we're standing at right now," Brookins said.

Police found the car and then the hunt was on for the missing man, 62-year-old John Gilboe of Hamburg Township.

"We searched that day and we conducted four organized search after that with helicopters, mounted patrol officers on horseback, ORVs, people on foot," said Brookins.

It's possible he may have walked this marshy area the night of the accident. There was snow and ice on the ground, but Gilboe may have fallen in and landed far too deep to be found.

"There's a possibility that it is this individual or it could be somebody else," Brookins said.

Chief Brookins says that the Gilboe family has been told about the body that was found Wednesday. Police wanted to prepare them for the possibility that it could be their loved one, but again, they do not know if it is him.

Investigators believe they will have more information about the victim on Thursday.