October 2nd, 2012
Police identify body pulled from the Detroit River as missing Dearborn man
The body of Ramas Paull McCrory was found floating along the shipping lane on the north side of Grosse Ile, near Point Hennepin, at about 2:30 p.m.
“Once they got the body, they pulled up to the nearest boat ramp, the Riverview boat ramp, and one of our detectives met them over there,” Wyandotte Police Chief Daniel Grant said . “They were able to search the body — (he) actually had identification and a wallet in the back pocket. It was Ramas McCrory’s ID.”
According to Grant, the 40-year-old man’s body was taken to the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office and an autopsy was done the next day.
Authorities became involved in a search for McCrory shortly after he is believed to have jumped into the river, before they knew his identity.
Wyandotte police were sent to the Bishop Park waterfront at about 12:30 p.m. Sept. 22 after receiving an anonymous call from a man who said he saw a jacket and hat on a park bench, and a pair of work boots on the opposite side of a railing.
An officer found a black jacket liner folded neatly on the bench, along with a starter cap and a pair of prescription glasses inside the cap. On the waterfront of the railing was a pair of brown work boots, still dry and warm to the touch.
The officer noted in his report that the weather was cool, breezy and raining. He said that all outward appearances pointed to someone jumping into the river, and he asked that police request the assistance of the Coast Guard.
Three Coast Guard Auxiliary boat crews, one rescue boat crew from Coast Guard Station Belle Isle, and a rescue aircrew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Station Detroit searched the waters in the Trenton Channel until nightfall, when the search was called off.
By late evening, rescuers discovered who they were looking for. One of the Police Department’s night shift patrol units saw a pickup truck parked in the area throughout the night and after investigating discovered that the license plate was registered to McCrory.
Grant said a detective contacted a woman at the man’s house who identified herself as McCrory’s close friend. She identified the found clothing and boots as belonging to McCrory, who had not returned home and was missing.
The woman told Detective Jerome Yoscovits that the last time she spoke to McCrory he said to her, “No matter what, you will always love me?”
After the man’s apparent suicide, those words could be construed as ominous, but police said that’s not necessarily the case.
“Nobody knew of any intent on his part (to commit suicide) or of any prior problems,” Grant said. “There was no prior mental history, according to his family.”
Grant said McCrory, who was employed by AT&T, was going through a divorce, but all indications are he had a close relationship with his 3-year-old child. His estranged wife lives in Romulus.
Although it’s not known exactly when McCrory jumped into the river, based on his clothing still being warm to the touch when police arrived at Bishop Park, it’s believed it happened a short time before police received the anonymous call. No one saw him jump in, even though many people were at the park at that time.
The case also is unusual in that McCrory apparently took his work boots and other clothing off before leaping into the water.
Grant said it probably never will be known why he did this.
“Sometimes people do some very strange things when they are desperate,” he said.
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