Friends, family relieved by discovery; Autopsy reveals no foul play involved in Poole’s death

• Tweet
• 

Mark Fralick said he looked in the field behind Sam’s Club after a visiting friend went missing in early February.

So when the body of Matthew Owen Poole turned up about 100 yards from the Union Township establishment, 4850 Encore Blvd., the Walled Lake senior was stunned.

It was unfortunate Poole’s body was not visible because of the weather, he said.

“I was relieved, in a way,” Fralick said of finally having closure. “I was shocked to finally hear that he’s gone.”

Poole’s sister, Weslee Rock, 29, also was relieved to hear her brother was found, though her words were few when asked how she took the news. She said she was disappointed with the circumstances of her brother’s death.

“The weather caused him to stay away from us,” Rock said, choking up.

Poole, 22, of Wolverine Lake was last seen at 10:52 p.m. Feb. 5 walking southbound near US-127. He was in Mount Pleasant that weekend to visit friends and had been turned away from O’Kelly’s Sports Bar & Grille, 2000 S. Mission St., because he appeared to be heavily intoxicated.

Friends say Poole left without telling them. A missing person’s report was not filed with Mount Pleasant police until 24 hours later.

At 7:24 p.m. Thursday, Central Dispatch received a call that Poole’s body was found. Isabella County Sheriff’s deputies responded.

The caller, unknown until Saturday, has been identified and interviewed, Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said. The caller had legitimate reasons as to how he discovered the body, he said. Mioduszewski would not comment further.

On Friday, the Sheriff’s Department and Mount Pleasant Police held a joint press conference to confirm it was Poole’s body that police discovered.

To locate Poole after he went missing, Anthony Gomez-Mesquita, Mount Pleasant director of Public Safety, said officials used “investigative efforts,” including an area LEIN broadcast, a background check, contact with hospitals and country jails.

Michigan State Police, Central Michigan University Police, the county sheriff and Mount Pleasant Police collaborated on a search across campus and the city of Mount Pleasant by vehicle, foot, bicycle and helicopter.

“(We) have had a number of snow storms which, unfortunately, hampered our ability to identify where the body was in the location that it was discovered,” Gomez-Mesquita said.

Mioduszewski said an autopsy was complete Friday afternoon — the results of which determined no foul play in Poole’s death.

“It looks, right now, that it’s natural causes,” he said.

Toxicology results will not be available for a few months, Mioduszewski said.

Family members say Poole will be cremated. A funeral is scheduled for noon Tuesday at the Walled Lake Missionary Church, 1795 North Pontiac Trail in Walled Lake.