Days after man's death, funeral home finds bullet wound

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) - Days after a 75-year-old man died, staff at a northwest Indiana funeral home discovered a bullet hole in his body, leading a coroner to rule that he succumbed from a gunshot wound, officials said.

After the man died at his East Chicago home on Sept. 11, police were called the scene to assist medics and investigate the death, The (Northwest Indiana) Time s reported.

Medics didn't tell officers about anything out of the ordinary, and a police report didn't indicate any suspicious circumstances or anything criminal in nature at the scene, said Lt. Brian Paine with East Chicago police.

But three days later, Lake County coroner's investigators were dispatched to a Schererville funeral home after staff there found a small bullet wound in the man's body.

A subsequent coroner's release listed the man's cause of death as a gunshot wound.

Paine said a formal investigation is under way, and the coroner's office has made no ruling on the man's manner of death.