UPDATE: Authorities identify the couple as Patty Syrek, 62, and Theodore Syrek, 66, both from Caledonia. An autopsy was performed Wednesday, Sept. 5 and confirmed their deaths were from blunt trauma to the head. Their deaths are being investigated as homicides.
The investigation is active and ongoing, and the Kent County Sheriff's Department has not made any arrests at this time. Anyone with information that relates to this investigation is asked to call 616-632-6125 or they can call anonymously to Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.
ALTO, Mich. - A daughter was concerned because she had not heard from her parents, and she asked police to check on them.
And that's when Kent County Sheriff's deputies say they discovered Ted and Patty Syrek, dead inside their home near Caledonia on Tuesday around 11 a.m. Neighbors and county records identified the married couple.
Investigators call the deaths “suspicious.”
“Two people dying of natural causes at the same time got to be one in a billion," says neighbor Zak Austin. “Normally my 5-year-old is running out here, but right now I don’t really want to do that.”
Neighbors say they did not notice anything unusual over the weekend. Except the couple parked one of their cars out on the road.
“Thought it was weird that it was parked on the hill,” said neighbor Jennifer Endres. “I’ve never seen a car parked there before.”
“I found it odd,” agreed Austin. “He has a very long driveway and a side cut where he always keeps his cars, so they don’t interfere.”
Investigators towed at least two vehicles away from the scene.
According to neighbors, the couple lives in Arizona during the winter and return to their home in Bowne Township in the spring.
“He does all the maintaining of the yard,” says Austin. “She plants the garden and is out there watering. I saw him running a chain saw two weeks ago.”
Although police are investigating the deaths as suspicious, Kent County deputies do not say how concerned people who live in the area should be about the deaths of if they are looking for any suspects.
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