(WXYZ) — A Macomb County family is demanding answers after 53-year-old Moneque Cook was found dead behind a building in freezing temperatures, with her daughters questioning the circumstances surrounding her death.
Watch Randy Wimbley's video report:
Cook's body was discovered by a Priority Waste driver behind a building early Tuesday morning. According to her family, Cook had left her sister's Eastpointe home in the middle of the night Monday to visit a friend in Mt. Clemens.
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"No shoes, no coat, laying on her back. She would never lay down and die in the freezing cold; that is not my mother, that is not of her character," Cook's daughter Antonia Cook said.
Antonia Cook says the circumstances surrounding her mother's death don't add up. She noted that her mother's face was swollen and her lip was split when she was found.
"She didn't leave her sister's house like that," Antonia Cook said.
The family went to the scene after Cook was discovered and say some of her belongings were still there, including what they described as pants with blood and drag marks on the knees.
"They need to come get this evidence that my niece and them went up there and got what they left on the scene. My niece had to jump in the dumpster and got my sister's stuff," Cook's Uncle, Darryl Cook said.
The family also questions why Cook's friend hasn't contacted them.
"He hasn't shown his face, reached out to anybody, nothing," Antonia Cook said.
"I believe they were maybe having a drink or something, that's what they did, and something happened in between that time," she said.
The Macomb County Medical Examiner's Office says Cook's autopsy results are still pending, and a toxicology analysis is underway.
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Cook's death has raised concerns about the plight of the unhoused as temperatures drop to the coldest of the season. However, her family says she was not homeless but rather a woman who fell on hard times and would stay with different family members as they helped her get back on her feet.
"She was just-they put her off as a homeless woman, died behind a dumpster, and that is not Moneque's story," Antonia Cook said.
As the family waits for answers, they hold on to memories of Cook. They have also set up a GoFundMe page to help pay funeral costs.
"My mother is love, love. So sweet. So sweet she would give anybody anything," Antonia Cook said.
The Macomb County Sheriff's Office says this remains an active investigation. Cook's family says until they get answers, they're left waiting for the closure they desperately need.
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