BATTLE CREEK (WLKI) - A 34-year-old Battle Creek man has been arrested and charged with open murder after a missing-person investigation led police to locate the missing person deceased within the city.
The investigation began last Thursday after the Marshall Police Department received a missing-person report. The Battle Creek Police Department Detective Bureau and the Calhoun County Major Crimes Task Force later joined the investigation.
Police say officers responded to an unrelated felony complaint involving the missing person's vehicle on the same day. Investigators used commercial surveillance video and the city's license-plate recognition technology to identify the vehicle.
Authorities say they later located the vehicle in the possession of an adult man in Battle Creek. He was initially arrested on charges unrelated to the missing-person investigation.
As detectives continued following leads, they determined the missing person had been in Battle Creek. Through interviews and an examination of evidence, police later found the person dead within Battle Creek city limits.
Investigators are treating the death as a homicide.
The suspect has been charged with open murder and is awaiting arraignment in Calhoun County District Court.
The Battle Creek Police Department has not released the names of the victim or suspect, and the investigation remains ongoing.