Police arrest man in connection with woman's body found in Saginaw Township hotel

SAGINAW TWP, MI — Police have arrested a man who left a woman's body at a Saginaw Township hotel, but what caused the woman's death remains unknown.

The matter began at about 1:15 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1, when police rushed to the Rodeway Inn & Suites, 4930 St. Mary's Lane. A person there had called 911 after a man he knew only by his nickname asked him to go to room 324. Once inside, he saw a dead woman under a blanket on a bed, according to Saginaw County Central Dispatch recordings available on Broadcastify.com.

The caller told the switchboard operator that the man had told him the woman had died of natural causes.

The man left the scene before police arrived and entered a grove of trees near the hotel and Interstate 675, police said.

In room 324, officers found the body of 46-year-old Teressa M. Johnson. Her body showed multiple injuries, police said.

Police set up a perimeter and used a drone and sniffer dogs to find the escaped man. At around 4 p.m., an informant called police and reported seeing the man near the racetrack at 2215 Tittabawassee Road. Officers responded and arrested the man after finding him in a wooded area.

After questioning the 46-year-old man, police took him to the Saginaw County Jail. He was charged with assault with intent to murder and concealing the death of a person. MLive will not release his name until he has been arraigned.

An autopsy was performed, but the pathologist did not conclude that Johnson died by homicide, said Detective Sgt. Chad Brooks of the Saginaw Township Police. Further analysis to determine Johnson's cause and manner of death is pending.

Brooks described Johnson and the man as transients who stay in RVs and hotels in various locations. The man is a registered sex offender in the state of Florida, but his convictions stem from crimes committed in Genesee County. He was sentenced to prison in 2012 after pleading guilty to second-degree sexual abuse.

The couple's last known address is listed in Midland County.