JACKSON (WWJ)-- Police located the body of the Jackson area doctor who has been missing since Thursday.
The Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Department said in a statement on their Facebook page divers recovered the body of Dr. Bolek Payan, a doctor of psychiatry at Henry Ford Jackson Hospital, from a pond near his home around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Police said detectives were able to access his password-protected home surveillance camera system. On it, they saw footage of Dr. Payan walking away from his house on Thursday mid-afternoon.
“The property had been checked with K-9 dogs, drones and on foot,” the Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Department said in a statement on Facebook. “After not locating anything on land, holes were cut in the ice of a pond on the property yesterday and divers located Dr. Payan’s body under the ice today.”
Dr. Payan was reported missing on Christmas Eve, two days after he was last seen leaving his job at Henry Ford Jackson. Detectives had located his car but there was no sign of him. He’d had no contact with family, friends or his employer.
“Detectives believe Dr. Payan would have been deceased, prior to when he was reported missing, due to the weather conditions on the day that he left his residence and the fact that he was in the water,” the statement said.
The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy and a toxicology report to assist in the investigation, police said.
No additional details were provided.
According to his professional page on Henry Ford Health’s website, Dr. Payan D.O. specialized in psychiatry. He graduated from Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2017. He completed psychiatry residencies and internships with Henry Ford Allegiance Health in 2020 and 2021.
Authorities said the Jackson County Dive Team, Michigan Search and Rescue, J-DART, the neighbors and the community all assisted in the investigation.
Police concluded the statement: “Our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Payan’s family.”