Staff report

VINTON - A Michigan man with local relations was murdered in his home last month and authorities are seeking help in finding his killer.

The Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot reported that Edgar Leslie Hawks, 60, of Albion, was shot numerous times and left to die on the concrete floor of his basement on March 22.

An autopsy conducted March 23 found that Hawks' death was a homicide, Capt. Kevin Stellingworth of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department said.

No arrests have been made in the slaying and police are searching for anyone with information on the shooting, the newspaper reported.

Authorities said Hawks was found by his 14-year-old granddaughter, who resided with Hawks and his wife of 17 years, Dawn. The granddaughter called emergency dispatch, the Citizen Patriot reported.

Police originally thought the wife and granddaughter were home at the time of Hawks' death. But the wife later told police she and her granddaughter had left the house and were not home at the time of the shooting, Stellingworth said.

Hawks had worked at Decker Manufacturing Corp. in Albion for about 35 years.

“Everybody we talked to at Decker said he was an excellent worker and a great person,” Stellingworth told the newspaper.

A $1,000 reward has been posted for information in the case.

Hawks, who grew up and attended school in Gallia County, has relatives in the area, including sisters Aleita (Richard) Marshall of Vinton and Kay (Buford) Ball of Bidwell, and brothers William (Ann) Hawks and Randy (Bindy) Hawks, both of Vinton.

Services for Hawks were held in Albion on March 27, and a family member said he is to be laid to rest in the Hawks family plot on Keystone-Jones Road near Vinton.