Detroit police are investigating the deaths of three men found in the basement of a southwest Detroit house after officers in the area for a missing-person call were approached by a man who said he had been assaulted inside the home and that people were dead inside.
The victims were identified as Norman Hamlin, 66, William Barrett, 72, and Mark Barnett, 65, police said. Authorities said all three suffered blunt force trauma and two also had stab wounds. The killings, discovered Feb. 18, have left detectives working to piece together who had access to the house, when the men were attacked and whether the deaths connect to the missing-person report that brought officers into the neighborhood.
Police said officers were near Fort Street shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, canvassing about a missing person, when a man ran up and told them he had been assaulted inside a nearby house on Edsel Street. Detroit Police Cmdr. Rebecca McKay, who oversees the department’s major crimes work, said the man told officers there were dead people inside the home. Officers entered the house in the 3100 block of Edsel Street, near Francis Avenue and close to Fort Street and Outer Drive, and found three adult men in the basement, McKay said. She described the victims as appearing to have been “brutally assaulted.” Investigators said blood was visible throughout the home and that the men were found wrapped in towels and carpeting. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald said Thursday night that the men were left in the basement under coverings that suggested an attempt to conceal them. “They were left in a basement area covered in old, dirty clothing, and one person was covered in a carpet,” Fitzgerald said. Fitzgerald said detectives believe the killings occurred sometime between Tuesday afternoon and early Wednesday morning. Police have not released a detailed timeline of when each man was last seen alive, but authorities said Hamlin, the homeowner, had not been seen since Monday and was reported missing Wednesday, the call that initially drew police to the area. Investigators said the man who approached officers claimed he had been attacked at the house the day before and struck twice in the back of the head with a hammer. Police have not publicly said whether that man is being treated as a victim, a witness or a suspect.
Authorities have not announced an arrest in the case, and they have not publicly named a suspect. Fitzgerald said police had identified a person of interest. By late Thursday, police would not confirm whether anyone had been taken into custody. One local television outlet reported that a suspect was in custody, citing a source, while noting police had not released a name. Investigators have not said whether the attacks were targeted, whether the men knew their killer, or whether a dispute inside the house sparked the violence. Fitzgerald said speculation about drugs inside the home had circulated, but he told reporters that police could not confirm that information as the investigation continued.
Detectives have described the house as a place where people came and went, which they said complicates the effort to narrow who was present around the time of the killings. Fitzgerald said the man who lived at the home opened it to many people. Police have not said whether Barrett and Barnett lived there, were visiting, or were being held at the house. Authorities also have not said whether the victims were killed in the basement or elsewhere and later moved. Investigators have not publicly described any weapon recovered from the scene, and they have not said whether the hammer described by the man who approached officers has been located. Police said autopsies were expected to determine exact causes of death and help establish a clearer timeline.
The neighborhood reaction has mixed shock with a grim familiarity, according to residents who watched the investigation unfold behind yellow police tape. Thomas Barnes, who lives nearby and leads the local block club, said he did not hear anything unusual around the time investigators believe the killings happened. “It just leaves you kind of like, what do you do, what do you say?” Barnes said in an interview carried by local media. Barnes said the area’s block club recently changed its name to Harmony Village, a detail he described as painfully ironic in the wake of the discovery. Another neighbor, Joel Bond, described Hamlin as a Marine veteran and “a good man” who struggled with addiction. Bond said Hamlin appeared to have tried to create a place where others could come over, adding that the arrangement could be dangerous because of the unknown people it attracts.
Police said investigators spent the night after the discovery searching for evidence, looking for video and working to identify who might have been near the house. Fitzgerald said detectives were seeking surveillance footage and other technology that could help establish who entered or left the area. “We were out there all night, looking for any kind of evidence we could find, video assets, any kind of technology we could discover to help move things along,” he said. Retired Detroit Police Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt, speaking in a televised interview, said the intensity of the violence could suggest the attacker was known to the victims and that investigators would likely focus on associates and frequent visitors connected to the property. He said the account from the man who reported being assaulted, along with any video, could be critical in building a case.
Investigators have not said whether the triple homicide is connected to the missing-person inquiry beyond Hamlin being listed as the missing man, and they have not explained why officers were canvassing near Fort Street when the witness approached them. Police have also not said whether there were earlier calls for service tied to the address, whether anyone else was inside when officers entered the home, or whether residents had complained about activity around the property. Authorities have not released information about vehicles associated with the home or whether any were seized as part of the investigation, though local reporting described law enforcement activity continuing at the scene for hours as evidence markers were placed and the block was held.
The investigation now moves into the early procedural steps typical in a violent-crime case with an unclear suspect picture: detectives reviewing statements, checking nearby cameras, tracing phones and vehicles, and waiting for medical examiner findings that could narrow the window of time and clarify how the injuries were inflicted. Police have urged anyone who saw unusual activity near Edsel Street, Francis Avenue, Fort Street or Outer Drive from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning to share what they know. Investigators said tips can be directed to the Detroit Police Department’s homicide section and to Crime Stoppers. Police have not said when they expect to release additional details, and they have not announced a scheduled public briefing.
As of Thursday night, police said the case remained active and preliminary, with detectives still working to lock down basic facts, including the full sequence of events that led to three men being found dead in a basement after a missing-person call. Authorities said they would release more information as identifications, evidence and next steps are confirmed.
Author note: Last updated February 19, 2026.