DAYTON, Ohio » An adolescent boy found the mummified body of a man hanging in a closet while exploring what appeared to be an abandoned house in southwestern Ohio.

The director of the Montgomery County coroner’s office in Dayton says the body found Sunday had the hardened, leathery appearance of a mummy because 53-year-old Edward Brunton’s tissue had dried up and was preserved in his home’s cold, dark conditions.

Director Ken Betz says Brunton was homeless before inheriting money from his mother to buy the house in October 2009 and probably died soon after that. Betz says Brunton’s death was ruled a suicide caused by hanging by the neck.

Betz says Brunton’s house appeared vacant and the property was overgrown with weeds and posted with city cleanup warnings.