Mayor’s daughter finds dead body in Belleville; two in custody

Two men are in custody in connection with the suspicious death of a 65-year-old man, Belleville Police said in a release.

A man’s body was found on Tuesday evening by the mayor’s daughter in Belleville.

St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye said the man was pronounced dead at 10:05 p.m. The man’s family had not yet been notified as of 10 a.m. Wednesday so officials were not releasing the man’s name.

Police did not provide any further information about the two suspects who had been arrested.

Kate Eckert, 29, had left her parents house on Tuesday about 9 p.m. when she called back home to tell her dad she thought a man was lying in the road on Bornman Street.

“I said, ‘Stay in your car, I’ll be right there,’” Mayor Mark Eckert said. He said he called police, and as he arrived could see “a puddle of blood” so he called the police again and asked for an ambulance.

He said the first officer was there within seconds, and Eckert and the officer tried to revive the man.

“There was nothing we could do,” Eckert said.

Eckert said the man appeared to have hit his head, and was lying just off the curb and on the street.

The mayor previously worked for an ambulance service, he said.

“It’s extremely sad,” Eckert said. “Police are investigating what happened leading up to that.”

Come back to bnd.com for more on this developing story.

This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 10:06 AM.