Missing Doctor Found Dead in Frozen Pond

A doctor whose body was found under the frozen surface of a pond near his Michigan home was probably dead days before he was reported missing, authorities say. On Christmas Eve, authorities said Dr. Bolek Payan, a psychiatrist at the Henry Ford Allegiance Health hospital in Jackson, was last seen leaving the hospital two days earlier, NBC reports. The Blackman-Leoni Township Department of Public Safety said his vehicle was found at his home but friends and family had not heard from him. In a Facebook post Tuesday, the department said Payan's body was found after detectives gained access to his password-protected home video camera system, which showed him leaving the residence on foot last Thursday afternoon, the day he was last seen.

"The property had been checked with K-9 dogs, drones and on foot," the department said. "After not locating anything on land, holes were cut in the ice of a pond on the property yesterday and divers located Dr. Payan’s body under the ice today." The department said detectives believe the doctor "would have been deceased, prior to when he was reported missing, due to the weather conditions on the day that he left his residence and the fact that he was in the water." The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy and toxicology testing, WXYZ reports. (More Michigan stories.)