Police Release Cause Of Two Niles Deaths

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Police have determined two people found dead in a home in Niles last month froze to death. The Niles Police Department tells us 81-year-old Albert Bivens and his daughter, 55-year-old Patricia Bivens, were found in their home on Woodruff Street on January 3 after neighbors requested a welfare check. Although there was gas and electric working in the home, the temperature inside was below freezing. Both victims were found frozen. Autopsies were done at Western Michigan University, and the report concludes the cause of death was hypothermia. The two victims had sought help to get their furnace fixed not long before they were found dead.