Update: Canton Man Found in Atlanta Storage Unit

Everytime the phone rang the last few weeks, his stomach turned.

With his son missing, Freddie Peete didn't know what he'd hear on the other end.

He didn't want to think the worst. His faith taught him to remain hopeful that maybe - just maybe - would be found safe.

Friday morning, the phone rang. When he and his wife answered, all they heard was uncontrollable sobbing. It was English's girlfriend, along with one of his brothers and a sister-in-law.

English, 40, of Canton, had been found dead in a storage unit at an Atlanta apartment complex.

"I wanted to think that he could've been injured or anything else," Freddie Peete said, "but not dead."

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Authorities made the discovery on Friday, Det. Candy Worthy said Monday morning. Some family members were on the scene at the time.

Worthy didn't say where English was found, what time he was found or how long it appeared he'd been dead. She referred all questions to the Atlanta Police Department. That agency's spokesman, Sgt. Curtis Davenport, did not have any details on Monday.

Mike Guilbeau, senior investigator with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office, said "the cause of death has not yet been determined."

Nancy Peete, English's stepmother, said that's not what the family was told.

"He died, the cororner says, from carbon monoxide poisoning."

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She said a maintenance man found the body at an apartment complex in Atlanta's Princeton Lakes neighborhood. She didn't know the name of the facility, but said English used to work there.

"They were going to cut the lock on the storage unit," Nancy Peete said. "He was supposed to come and get the stuff a couple weeks ago, but he hadn't. They had to open the door to the storage unit and when they did, that's when they found him."

She said authorities have told the family - unofficially - that it appears English got cold. He got in his car to warm himself, started the ignition and pulled his vehicle into the garage.

"There was no indication of foul play," Nancy Peete said.

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It was just six days ago that law enforcement officials issued a missing person's alert for English, who was in the process of moving from Canton to Hampton when he vanished on or around Jan. 13. Family members, who filed a missing person's report on Jan. 25, had always disputed that date as well as suggestions that English was on depression medication.

Freddie and Nancy Peete said English left his girlfriend's house on Jan. 13. He told the woman that he'd be back, that he was headed to Canton to retrieve the last of his belongings and to tie up some loose ends.

English spoke to his girlfriend on Jan. 14 and one of his brothers on Jan. 16. That was the last time anyone heard from him.

Freddie and Nancy Peete last spoke to English on Dec. 23, 2010. Over the course of an hour, English talked about his car detail business, his upcoming move, his plans to visit them in Oregon.

"He was just really positive," Nancy Peete said. "Real high spirited. And hopeful."

They never nailed down a date for the visit, which made Friday's news all the more devastating.

"When we got the call," Nancy Peete said, "it was just, 'Wow!'

"It's really a hard thing. He loved Jesus, his father and his kids more than anything."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Check back with canton-ga.patch.com for updates on this developing story.