PONTIAC, Mich. — A mother and her two children were found frozen to death after a county sheriff said she experienced a "mental crisis" over the weekend.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said 35-year-old Monica Cannady "believed someone was trying to kill her and that everybody was in on it" before she and her children died, CBS News reported.
Authorities found the two sons, ages 3 and 9, and Cannady on Sunday in a wooded area of Pontiac, which is about 20 miles northwest of Detroit.
The sheriff confirmed the cause of death was hypothermia, according to CBS Detroit.
Investigators also found a 10-year-old girl and brought her to a hospital. Bouchard described her condition as stable.
Bouchard said Cannady's family tried to help her before she left with her children, but she refused. When the family arrived to the wooded field, Cannady told her children to lie down and sleep.
Investigators said the family could have been in the cold for at least three days, despite having a home about a mile away from they were found, CBS Detroit said.
"Over the course of a couple of days, we actually had been getting calls about a woman and kids not dressed appropriately for the conditions," said Sheriff Bouchard. "Deputies would go there, look all through the area and couldn't find anybody."
Bouchard advocated for better mental health support on Monday, saying more can be done regarding crisis response and long-term solutions.
"It takes strength to ask for help. It's not weakness. It's encouraged," Sheriff Bouchard said.
