6-year-old discovers woman's body in backyard, husband in custody

DETROIT (WJBK) - A 6-year-old boy discovered the body of his neighbor in her backyard around 7 p.m. on Thursday on Detroit's east side.

The woman, 60-year-old Vanessa Knight Lee, was found partially clothed, according to police.

"There were several injuries on her," said Detroit Police Sgt. Michael Woody . "I don't want to go too much into much into detail about those injuries. Obviously we've got a long way to go into this investigation."

According to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's office, Lee's cause of death is still pending.

Police said an arrest was made in this case and the person in custody is well known to the victim

"The husband became known to us as a part of this investigation and interviewing him, investigators felt that they had enough probable cause to make the arrest and so he is in custody right now," Woody said. "Of course, it'll be up to the prosecutor's determination once they review the case whether or not any charges will actually be filed against him."

Neighbor Perry Knight was out Friday afternoon doing work on his house.

"It was still light out and I saw an ambulance come, and a fire truck come so I thought one of the people had a heart attack," he said.

Knight said he still can't believe what happened Thursday evening a few doors down from him on Edgefield Street.

"I was surprised that they came for that occasion," he said.

Neighbors said the victim was new to the area and that she and her husband had only lived in the house for about 3 months

"I was shocked and I knew the man real well," Knight said. "He was real quiet and soft spoken."

Despite the fact an arrest has been made, police said the investigation is still ongoing.

"Right now, the investigation is very fluid, it's very active," Woodd said. "We're not ruling anything out or anybody out."