EAST LIVERPOOL — After receiving a call reporting a frozen deceased male, East Liverpool Police Detective Jon Price responded to the residence at 725 Lincoln Ave. on Jan. 21 at approximately 2:40 p.m., where he met with someone who told him he came to the residence to check on his friend Daniel Cunningham who had been sick with pneumonia and found him dead on the floor.

Price, according to the police report, found Cunningham on the living room floor of the condemned residence, among trash and filth.

Price was unable to visually determine how long Cunningham may have been dead. The caller told other officers he had seen Cunningham approximately four days prior.

Cunningham was found wearing boots, jeans, a hoodie and an unzipped coat. Officers found a small crack rock in a silicone container, other miscellaneous items and a bottle of Metronidazole (antibiotic) 500mg pills.

East Liverpool EMS arrived and did an assessment of the situation also.

Price noted in his report that the home, which according to the Columbiana County Auditor’s website is owned by Larry Cunningham, was in deplorable condition with no heat in single digit temperatures. A water pipe had burst in the kitchen, leaving water to gush into the basement and the floor bowing inward ready to collapse.

Price checked the upstairs of the house and found Cunningham’s dog, a blue pit bull terrier without food or water and in a possible condition of hypothermia. Price noted the dog was so thin he could see his skeleton through his coat and his nose was bleeding. Price notified police dispatch to call the dog warden to come get the dog.

The coroner was called to remove the body and a staff member from the dog warden’s office took the dog.