Pr. George's police tackle 2 suspicious death cases

Prince George's County police are investigating two suspicious deaths this week, one involving a man found dead in his apartment with a laceration to his forehead, and the other involving a woman found dead in a hallway with no obvious injuries, authorities said.

Neither death has been ruled a homicide, and investigators are waiting for the medical examiner to determine how both people died. In the more recent case, investigators are also working to identify the woman.

The first death occurred just before 11 p.m. Monday, when a resident in the 2200 block of Brightseat Road in the Largo area called police to say he had heard some type of booming noise from his neighbor's apartment. When emergency responders arrived, they found 53-year-old Michael Whitlock lying face down inside with a laceration above his right eyebrow, said Officer Henry Tippett, a Prince George's police spokesman.

Tippett said investigators were exploring whether the man was killed or died of a pre-existing medical condition or after a fall.

"Apparently, there wasn't enough visible trauma to determine if it was a homicide at the moment," he said. "Right now, it's just a death investigation."

On Thursday, just before 4:30 a.m., police were called to the 3400 block of Toledo Terrace in the Hyattsville area to check on a woman lying lifeless in a hallway, authorities said. The woman, who police said was black and appeared to be in her 40s, had no obvious injuries, and investigators have yet to identify her, Tippett said. She was transported to a nearby hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.