Police said that a man was found dead outside of a vacant Whitehall apartment early Saturday morning.
According to police, Michael Payne was found shortly after 4 a.m. along the 4000 block of Eastway Court.
Police said that Payne, 38, was found by a man on his way to work.
Payne would prepare on his porch every morning for his job delivering newspapers. It was on the same porch that his father received the news of his son’s death.
"I said ‘What's this about?’ They said Mike was involved in a crime…the detective said he was killed,” said David Payne.
The last time his parents saw Michael was around noon Friday.
“I thought he had an appointment to have his window repaired, and he also had a job interview at two which I don't even know he made it to that,” said his mother, Deborah Payne.
Police said someone heading to work discovered Michael's body at the apartment complex on Eastway Court just before 4:30 Saturday morning.
An area, friends say, Michael would never go to on his own.
“It really shocked me that someone would want to hurt him because he was a nice guy and he never did anything wrong to anybody,” said neighbor Maria Russell.
That is why it is so hard for this family to process what has happened.
“He was full of smiles, everybody loved him. He had friends no matter where he went,” added his mother.
Police said that they believe Payne was strangled to death. There have been no arrests in the case.
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