Family found hunter dead in Michigan woods four years ago, cops say. Now two arrested

Four years ago, Chong Yang didn’t come home from a hunting trip, so his family went looking for him, Michigan police say.

They went to Rose Lake State Park, a piece of wilderness the 68-year-old outdoorsman often hunted, the Michigan Attorney General’s office said. Yang’s family found his car in a parking lot and followed a pair of footprints beside it, leading them into the woods and to Yang, face down in the dirt with a gunshot wound to the head.

Some of his things were missing, his family told TV station WLNS, and the circumstances of his death left a great deal of uncertainty. They held yearly vigils in his honor and spoke on the importance of hunter safety, perhaps believing Yang’s death was an accident — that although he was wearing a bright orange vest, some other hunter didn’t see him or mistook him for game.

But after four years of investigation, police arrested two men on Dec. 21 in connection to Yang’s death, according to a Bath Township Police Department news release.

Thomas Olson and Robert Rodway, both 34-year-old Michigan residents, have been charged with murder, an Attorney General’s release said.

Olson and Rodway are accused of killing Yang while hunting, then stealing his backpack, headlamp, knife and shotgun, according to the release.

Attorney General Dana Nessel credits a cooperative investigation by Bath Township police and the FBI for solving the case, adding that witness testimony and a plastic bag with hunting spray is what ultimately led authorities to Olson and Rodway.

“I am grateful for their persistence and hard work in pursuing this case,” Nessel said. “Chong Yang’s family deserves justice, and we are working hard to make sure they receive it.”

Olson and Rodway are being held without bond.

This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Family found hunter dead in Michigan woods four years ago, cops say. Now two arrested."