BYRON CENTER, Mich. (WOOD) — The suspicious death of retired pastor Dale Cross Sr., whose body was found six weeks ago next his disabled truck, was at first considered a suicide until an autopsy confirmed the path of the fatal shot.
The autopsy found he was shot in the top-left side of his head and that the bullet exited below his right ear, according to a search warrant affidavit released Thursday.
“This wound path was found to be suspicious as the victim is known to be right handed and carried his pistol on his right waistband," a detective wrote in the affidavit.
Passersby found Cross's body just before 6 p.m. on Aug. 6 next to his disabled SUV along 68th Street SW between Burlingame and Clyde Park avenues in Byron Township.
They said it looked like Cross was changing a flat tire when the shooting happened.
Cross's wife told deputies her husband had left their home not far away about an hour earlier to return something at Menard's. He was planning to pick up ice at a gas station before returning home, she said.
Less than an hour later, the passersby found his body.