TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A Traverse City man lay dead inside his unheated home for months before police officers found his body on a couch.

Traverse City police Capt. Jeff O’Brien said a relative of Douglas Wilson Rose, 54, contacted authorities after she hadn’t heard from him in months. Her calls went unanswered and her mail to him bounced back. O’Brien said officers on Thursday checked Rose’s home and found him dead inside with “mountains” of beer cans surrounding his body.

“He had been there since December we think, on his couch,” O’Brien said.

December is when a neighbor last spoke with Rose, O’Brien said. He said the home had mail stacked up in front and the post office stopped delivering Jan. 24, which ultimately led a concerned member of Rose’s family to contact authorities.

“There was no heat in the house so he was preserved,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien said a medical examiner determined Rose’s death to be from natural causes.