A doctor who went missing in the US has been found dead in a frozen pond close to where he lived.
Security footage from his home in Leoni Township, Michigan shows Dr Bolek Payan leaving his residence on foot on Thursday afternoon. He had not been seen since.
His body was pulled from an icy pond by divers around 12.30pm yesterday, according to the Blackman-Leoni Township Department of Public Safety.
Police had initially searched the woods around his home using dogs and drones, before authorities cut holes in ice covering the pond, reports The New York Post.
The Department of Public Safety said in a statement: “Detectives believe Dr Payan 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.”
Nicole Keiser, a family friend of Dr Payan said he dropped his dogs off with her around 8am on Thursday and was expected to pick them up that evening but didn't.
Speaking to WILX-TV before Dr Payan’s body was discovered, she said it was “out of character” for him to drive home without getting the dogs.
Dr Payan worked at Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan. According to his bio on Henry Ford Health’s website, Payan specialised in psychiatry. He graduated from Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in Illinois in 2017, it said.
The county’s medical examiner is expected to carry out an autopsy plus toxicology test on Dr Payan.
More than 60 people have been killed in weather-related incidents in the US in recent days, with temperatures plummeting to as low as -45C in some areas.
The winter storm has caused fatal crashes, power outages and disrupted infrastructure across the country.
The extreme weather has also forced the cancellation of thousands of flights, including about 4,800 on Tuesday morning alone.
People in Buffalo - where 27 have died - are looking for cars buried in snow drifts and searching for more victims after one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit the western part of the US
A state official said that military police had been brought in to help manage traffic in the city, where a driving ban was in place. Looting was also reported in parts of the city.
Conditions in the country are now expected to improve, with slightly warmer weather on the way.
