Update on the Ashley Ann Pierce Investigation

CANTON TOWNSHIP-Ashley Ann Pierce, nineteen years old, lay dead under a pile of dirty laundry located in the in the living room of the apartment in the 41000 block of Heathmore. Her roommate, a twenty eight year old female, called the dead girl's father repeatedly over a three-week period and told him his daughter needed money, police alleged.

"The father thought he was sending money to his daughter, but in essence it was going to the other roommate," said Canton Township Police Detective Sgt. Rick Pomorski. "She was acquiring the money in an effort to buy more drugs." The dead girl's father is a northern Michigan man.

Pomorski further stated, "She was ... calling the father and saying 'Hey your daughter needs money,'" and the father would then send the money, believing all the while that his daughter was receiving it, unaware of the fact that she had died.

Pomorski said Ashley Ann Pierce likely died of a drug overdose, but the cause of death is currently listed as "pending," and authorities are awaiting autopsy reports from the county medical examiner's office. The coroner has stated that more tests are needed for true cause of death to be known.

The investigation is ongoing and charges are possible, as the case has been forwarded to Wayne County prosecutors, the Canton Township Police Detective said. He further stated that due to the condition of the body, the county medical examiner was unable to determine if drugs indeed were the determined cause of the young girl's death.

"The body had been in decomposition for three weeks so tissue samples are being used to come out with the final information," Sgt. Pomorski said.

Though the twenty eight year old roommate is still currently being questioned in the death of nineteen year old year old Ashley Ann Pierce, Pomorski contends that he is not aware of any law that makes it a crime for the woman to have lived with Pierce's dead body in her apartment for three weeks without reporting it to any authorities.

An anonymous tip was received by the police late Tuesday night about Ashley Ann Pierce's body still under the laundry inside the apartment. Police immediately responded, being shocked to have found what they did when they arrived to investigate the complaint.