11-11-2011 Michigan:(WZZM) -- The Newaygo County Sheriff's Department says Cecil Wallis Sr., 43, a person of interest in the Amanda Lankey murder who was to appear in court Thursday on separate sex assault charges, died in an apparent suicide before his court hearing.
Officials say Wallis' family was reported missing before his scheduled court hearing on sex assault charges.
Deputies found his body in a remote area of Goodwell Township in Newaygo county at 10 a.m. Thursday.
They say their preliminary investigation is that Wallis died of a self-inflicted wound.
Wallis' death is still under investigation pending autopsy results.
(WZZM) -- Newaygo County workers say Cecil Wallis Sr., a person of interest in the Amanda Lankey murder who was to appear in court Thursday on separate sex assault charges, has died before the court hearing.
The administrative assistant to Sheriff Michael Mercer confirms that Wallis died Thursday. She says county officials will release more information later Thursday afternoon.
Wallis was arrested in late October on charges he sexually assaulted two minors between 1998 and 2002.
Prosecutors say the sex assault charges were the result of leads generated by investigators looking into the cold case murder of Amanda Lankey, but are not part of the Lankey case.
Lankey was last seen at Wallis' house on June 21, 2004. Mushroom hunters found her body weeks later in the Manistee National Forest.
Investigators have said Wallis Sr. and his son, Cecil Wallis Jr., were both persons of interest in the Lankey case.
We have crews working the story, and will have more online and on WZZM 13 News at 6 p.m. ..Source.. by WZZM 13 ONLINE
No comments:
Post a Comment