Detroit Police, Michigan State Police and ATF agents work the scene at West McNichols and Log Cabin in Detroit on the border of Highland Park, Mich., on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Authorities searching for three aspiring rappers who have been missing for nearly two weeks have found “multiple bodies” at a vacant Detroit-area apartment building. Associated Press

Robin Buckson

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. — Three bodies found in a vacant Detroit-area apartment building during an investigation into the disappearance of three aspiring rappers have been moved to a medical examiner's office for autopsies, state police said Friday.

Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw said in a video update posted on Twitter that the Wayne County Medical Examiners Office would conduct autopsies of the bodies of three males found Thursday.

He said it could take up to 48 hours for results to be released because the autopsies may not be able to be performed immediately “due to weather conditions and the conditions of the victims."

Shaw noted that the bodies were found in “extreme cold" conditions in the basement of an abandoned, rat-infested apartment building in Highland Park, near Detroit.

He said an update would be provided as soon as the bodies are identified and that investigators were reviewing “all the evidence that we gathered in that apartment complex.”

The bodies were found during the police investigation into the disappearance of Armani Kelly, 27, of Oscoda; Montoya Givens, 31, of Detroit; and Dante Wicker, 31, of Melvindale, who vanished nearly two weeks ago.

The Michigan men were supposed to perform at a party at Lounge 31 in Detroit on Jan. 21, but the appearance was canceled. They have not been seen since then.

The three men met while in prison. Kelly and Givens were on parole at the time of their disappearance, according to the state corrections department.