Missing Grosse Pointe Park Man Found Dead on Belle Isle

police found the dead body of 46-year-old resident, James Scott Ivers, Thursday afternoon behind the Nature Center on Belle Isle in Detroit. He was lying facedown in what the public safety director described as a swampy area with pools of standing water.

Park Public Safety Director David Hiller said shortly after discovering Ivers' body Thursday that although the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office will determine his cause of death, investigators have no reason to believe it was a homicide or suicide. Hiller described it as a "horrible tragedy," and he believes Ivers may have become disoriented after a crash.

During the search on Belle Isle, investigators also found the body of another person who has yet to be identified. The two cases appear unrelated.

Ivers, of Grosse Pointe Park, left his house Sunday shortly after 12 p.m. and never returned home. His wife, Tammy Ivers, called Grosse Pointe Park police mid-morning Monday to report that her husband never returned home Sunday.

As officers began the search for Ivers, they discovered that Detroit Police had impounded his car Sunday afternoon following a crash on Belle Isle. A family had been on the island taking a walk and, when they returned to their parked car, they discovered a 2000 white Chyrsler Concord abutting their car, Hiller said. It had crashed into the parked vehicle.

No one was around and Detroit Police impounded the car as being unclaimed. They were processing the car from the crash when it was discovered it belonged to Ivers, Hiller said.

The keys were removed from the car and officers continued looking for Ivers, who did not have any known medical conditions, Hiller said. His family did not know why Ivers was on Belle Isle but said he used to like to go there, Hiller said.

Public safety officials found Ives' body Thursday while performing searches using Michigan State Police cadaver dogs. He was frozen and lying facedown in an area Hiller described as dense and swampy.

Officers remained at the scene late Thursday afternoon awaiting the arrival of the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. An autopsy will be performed on Ivers on Friday to determine the official cause of death but Hiller said at this point, police have no reason to believe Iver's death was anything but natural. 

He did not have any apparent wounds on his body. There were no signs of a struggle in his car or nearby it, Hiller said. According to the information his family provided to police, Ivers was not having problems in any area of his life, Hiller said.

He was wearing a flannel shirt and jeans when officers found him. Hiller could not recall if he was also wearing the blue ski jacket his wife reported he was last seen wearing, but said there was nothing out of the ordinary about his appearance when he was discovered Thursday.

Investigators are not sure how Ivers got to the area where he was found, considering the difficult time even they had getting to his body. The crash happened at the curve in the road on the Canadian-facing side of the park near the intersection of Casino and Lakeside. His body was found about 75 to 100 feet away but could not be seen from the roadway, Hiller said.

A short time before his body was found, investigators began searching the area on horseback, Hiller said. He believes Ivers must have been disoriented after the crash. If he had been going to seek help following the crash, the U.S. Coast Guard office was nearby but it would have been unlikely that Ivers had knowingly walked in the direction where he was found because of the amount of vegetation.

Ivers is survived by his wife and two high-school aged children, Hiller said. The family was notified before Hiller's press conference about the discovery of Ivers' body. Patch is attempting to reach the family.

Meanwhile, during the search, which included the Detroit Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard, the FBI and the Park, the cadaver dogs led officers to another body that was pulled from the water earlier in the day Thursday.

Hiller said that person appeared to have been in the water for two to three months and that the medical examiner's office would be working to identify the person. He said the person appeared to have been elderly but his body was deteriorated to the point that officers could not even determine race of the person.