Found Deceased IL - Jelani 'JJ' Day, 25, ISU grad student, missed class, Bloomington, 23 Aug 2021 #2

[Seattle1]

Just a few statements of several that stood out to me from this article:

Read the documents: LaSalle County emails give insight into Jelani Day investigation | Local News | pantagraph.com

"I want the Illinois Attorney General; I need the Illinois Department of Justice; I need the FBI because obviously the state police didn’t think it was important for them to take over," Day's mother, Carmen Bolden Day, said to a crowd in Peru last month. "They just wanted to oversee. Now I need more than oversight; I need more than oversight. I need justice for Jelani."

However, in the documents, The Pantagraph found several other agencies have had contact with the case. Among the 20 identified in the county email exchanges are four police departments, four fire departments, four emergency management agencies and three specialized search and rescue agencies, as well as Illinois State Police, two FBI offices and the bureau’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.

Law enforcement officials have said several additional agencies were contacted during the missing person search, extending from Tazewell County to Day’s hometown of Danville.

The FBI’s role has been limited as the agency has thus far declined to take the lead on the investigation. The Pantagraph last week reported the FBI can take the lead on a local investigation only when a federal law is violated or a case crosses state lines.

5 items sent to lab and media interest
According to emails sent between LaSalle County and Bloomington police, five items of evidence from Day’s car have been sent from Bloomington to ISP forensic labs. Those include:

• Steering wheel swab,
• Front driver side interior door handle swab,
• Front passenger side interior door handle swab.
• Blue straw from a Styrofoam cup,
• Partially smoked cigar blunt.

An email between Bloomington detectives indicates ISP labs in Morton, Joliet and Belleville would accept five items from each department involved in the case, but a list of items sent from LaSalle County officials was not found in The Pantagraph’s review of the emails.

Thanks for this link@BackyF as this publisher is often paywalled for me. From the emails provided, sure put the Coroner's job in perspective and the difficulties he encountered identifying JD when both the dental records he had to work with were fractured and the recovered victim also missing teeth (by decomposition). Clearly, one more example of communication that was misrepresented. MOO

 

[BeckyF]

Also, I may have overlooked it, but when have we heard from LE they were considering MOD a suicide? I've only heard Carmen mention it, and I can't help but wonder if the case turning into a much larger issue meant they had to fully look at other possibilities and not so quickly lean to suicide. Seems to me that's all Carmen has been asking for.[/QUOTE]
RSBBM As far as I know no law enforcement agency has stated a manner of death or even hinted at it.

 

[Seattle1]

I recall it was when the FBI Behavioral Unit was brought in to help on the case that CBD was unhappy as she believed the questions leaned towards suicide when in actuality, the FBI was probably attempting the same as we've tried to do: build a victim profile for the period of time leading to when JD disappeared under very suspicious circumstances.

To this date, we also don't have answers to very pertinent questions including whether or not JD was under financial stress, a recent break-up, dropped any courses, and/or was considering leaving the program and going to work for the Danville elder (as youth director).

Jelani Day case: Family upset FBI looking at 25-year-old's death as possible suicide

 

[Seattle1]

In following criminal cases, there's definitely much more information about the forensic psychology of offenders, their relationships, and/or targets for crime. However, since establishing behavioral units in law enforcement agencies including the elite FBI Behavioral Unit, I think there's finally more information on victimology available. For example, the textbook Criminology (Larry Siegel) provides four theories of victimology:

1. Victim precipitation theory

2. Lifestyle theory

3. Deviant place theory

4. Routine activities theory

Since we know that there's no evidence that JD was the victim of gun violence or robbery, IMO, it makes profiling the victim even more important to solving the mystery surrounding his disappearance and death.

Victimology: Four Major Theories — The Law Project

 

[SolR1]

In following criminal cases, there's definitely much more information about the forensic psychology of offenders, their relationships, and/or targets for crime. However, since establishing behavioral units in law enforcement agencies including the elite FBI Behavioral Unit, I think there's finally more information on victimology available. For example, the textbook Criminology (Larry Siegel) provides four theories of victimology:

1. Victim precipitation theory

2. Lifestyle theory

3. Deviant place theory

4. Routine activities theory

Since we know that there's no evidence that JD was the victim of gun violence or robbery, IMO, it makes profiling the victim even more important to solving the mystery surrounding his disappearance and death.

Victimology: Four Major Theories — The Law Project

Do you mean there's no evidence or just no evidence released? Again, I may be overlooking it, but I haven't heard LE confirm they've found no evidence of such.

 

[everybodhi]

Do you mean there's no evidence or just no evidence released? Again, I may be overlooking it, but I haven't heard LE confirm they've found no evidence of such.

Jelani Day autopsy report found 'no evidence' of assault on 'severely decomposed' body

• There was no evidence of pre-death injury or assault, altercation, sharp, blunt or gunshot injury.
• No projectiles or foreign objects were found, although “abundant insect larvae” were found within and throughout the body and clothing.
• There were no hand or finger fractures.
• “There is no evidence of tool or sharp force marks in the external tissues or exposed bones," the report said.

 

[SolR1]

I wonder where Jelani changed out of his dress clothes and into his workout clothes. I'm thinking if he intended to blow off the day and end his life, there would have been no purpose for him to keep the clothes in his trunk. Seems he may have intended to change back into them at some point and perhaps make the obligations he had later that day.

Also, if he was operating in reckless abandon, why toss the phone but keep the dress clothes stored safely in the trunk? I think it's been confirmed he did not have any other GPS, and with several reports from locals who say it's highly unlikely he would have navigated blindly to any of the locations where his car or body were found, it's seeming more unlikely Jelani traveled to Peru alone.

If Jelani is not alone in Peru, then the car was likely ditched since the license plates were removed and the car was found some distance away.

If the car was ditched, it seems a likely explanation that his other belongings were also spread out to delay/confuse an investigation.

I suppose he could have done all of this in a weed-induced psychosis, but having actually experienced one in college, I can attest that the strategy and focus it would have taken for him to arrive in this predicament is highly unlikely.

Also, the autopsy report was literally made from what was left of the body, so not finding any harm done to the body doesn't mean there was none. It more likely means the body was too decomposed to know.

These are all reasons why I suspect Jelani did not put himself in the IR. Even without much released evidence, IMO, I think there's a high likelihood someone else tossed his phone, hid his car and removed the tags, scattered his belongings, and then disposed of his body. And that's really sad and unfortunate, because what an amazing life. Now gone.

 

[Seattle1]

These are all reasons why I suspect Jelani did not put himself in the IR. Even without much released evidence, IMO, I think there's a high likelihood someone else tossed his phone, hid his car and removed the tags, scattered his belongings, and then disposed of his body.

^^rsbm

JD was not a runaway, a druggie, homeless, or hitchhiking (high-risk crime victims).

JD also didn't reside, work, or attend school in a socially disorganized high-crime area where he had a great risk of coming into contact with criminal offenders, irrespective of his own behavior or lifestyle (i.e., major theories of victimology).

Is there a history of individuals being kidnapped and/or highjacked from the Beyond Hello Dispensary near ISU and forced to drive 60 miles to Peru?

So what made JD the target of an alleged offender that did not fatally wound or injure him, damage his vehicle, or steal anything from him including his vehicle or clothes before putting him in the river? JD was allegedly a great swimmer -- why didn't he save himself after being forced into the water?

And what would be the motive for an offender to toss his phone (worth at least $80 at Walmart Kiosk), remove his tags, and scatter his ID and clothes near the river after drowning him?

Why? What's the motive? Because JD wouldn't share his weed purchase?

 

[BeckyF]

And that's really sad and unfortunate, because what an amazing life. Now gone.[/QUOTE]

RSBBM You know, whenever a person at the young age of 25 dies suddenly, or even not so suddenly, it is sad and unfortunate, no matter the circumstances, even if they did not have an amazing life. I feel sad for any and all of them.

 

[rainyday412]

In our area, we have had a couple people toss their phone in the ditch before committing suicide. So tossing of the phone doesn’t throw me into one category or another (suicide or not). And the phone lended no clues afterwards.

 

[SolR1]

^^rsbm

JD was not a runaway, a druggie, homeless, or hitchhiking (high-risk crime victims).

JD also didn't reside, work, or attend school in a socially disorganized high-crime area where he had a great risk of coming into contact with criminal offenders, irrespective of his own behavior or lifestyle (i.e., major theories of victimology).

Is there a history of individuals being kidnapped and/or highjacked from the Beyond Hello Dispensary near ISU and forced to drive 60 miles to Peru?

So what made JD the target of an alleged offender that did not fatally wound or injure him, damage his vehicle, or steal anything from him including his vehicle or clothes before putting him in the river? JD was allegedly a great swimmer -- why didn't he save himself after being forced into the water?

And what would be the motive for an offender to toss his phone (worth at least $80 at Walmart Kiosk), remove his tags, and scatter his ID and clothes near the river after drowning him?

Why? What's the motive? Because JD wouldn't share his weed purchase?

1. We don't know if he was fatally injured or not. The body was too severely decomposed to know. "No evidence found" literally means that the body was too decomposed to show evidence.

2. You're leaving out the possibility of Jelani being harmed by someone he knew or by someone connected to someone he knew. A possible motive could easily have been as simple as him being involved with someone's significant other.

3. Motive for his items being tossed would be to delay/confuse an investigation.

4. Jelani could have been dead when he entered the water. Again, the coroner suggests there was not enough of his body left to forensicly prove or rule out drowning or a fatal wound or injury. The COD in this case is administrative, not circumstantial. Literally "no evidence found" means nothing could be found on a body that decomposed, not that it didn't happen.

 

[Seattle1]

Coroner says Jelani Day drowned, with no evidence of trauma before his death

10/25/21

LaSalle County Coroner Richard Ploch said Monday the cause of death has been determined as drowning. But authorities still don’t know how Day ended up in the river.

[..]

“There was no evidence of any antemortem (pre-death) injury, such as manual strangulation, an assault or altercation, sharp, blunt or gunshot injury, infection, tumor, natural disease, congenital abnormality, or significant drug intoxication,” Ploch said.

“The manner in which Mr. Day went into the Illinois River is currently unknown,” he added.

Peru Police, LaSalle Police, Bloomington Police, the LaSalle County sheriff’s office, and State Police continue to investigate the case.

Jelani Day autopsy report found 'no evidence' of assault on 'severely decomposed' body

10/27/21

An autopsy report of Jelani Day released Wednesday says there was “no evidence” of assault or altercation on the body and further demystifies several longstanding rumors in the case.

The report was drafted by forensic pathology Scott Denton based on an autopsy that happened Sept. 5, the day after the body was found in the Illinois River in Peru. The report was submitted to the LaSalle County coroner on Oct. 23 and released to WGLT on Wednesday through the Freedom of the Information Act.

Details in the seven-page report appear to align with the previous cause of death (drowning) released by Coroner Rich Ploch on Monday:

• There was no evidence of pre-death injury or assault, altercation, sharp, blunt or gunshot injury.
• No projectiles or foreign objects were found, although “abundant insect larvae” were found within and throughout the body and clothing.
• There were no hand or finger fractures.
• “There is no evidence of tool or sharp force marks in the external tissues or exposed bones," the report said.

[..]

But it was apparently clear early on the unidentified body was an adult Black male. The color of the body’s skin is “most consistent with Black race,” according to the autopsy report.

Day was wearing a tank top T-shirt and underwear, with a black sweatshirt tied around his waist at the time of his autopsy and presumably when he was discovered.

Authorities said little in the month after Day was positively identified. False rumors have swirled on social media about the condition of Day’s body. The autopsy report provides some clarity:

• The jaw (mandible and maxilla) was removed for dental identification purposes. They were returned to the body before release the family and funeral home, the report said.
• “Organs appear intact, complete, and within their usual anatomic positions,” the report said.

Coroner: Grad Student Jelani Day Drowned, but No Manner of Death Determined

10/25/21

Illinois State University grad student Jelani Day died from drowning, the LaSalle County coroner said Monday, but he did not determine a manner of death.

Coroner Richard Ploch said he saw no evidence of injuries “such as manual strangulation, assault or altercation, sharp, blunt, or gunshot injury, infection, tumor, natural disease, congenital abnormality, or significant drug intoxication” and said it was still unclear how Day ended up in the Illinois River, where his body was found on September 4, WHOI reported.

Medical examiners typically attempt to determine the cause and manner of death. Cause of death is the precise cause of a person’s death, such as drowning, gunshot, strangulation, blunt trauma, disease etc. Manner of death is more or less what caused the cause. In the United States, that’s typically natural, homicide, suicide, or accident.

Day, 25, was last seen on security footage at a Bloomington cannabis store on the morning of August 24, as CrimeOnline previously reported. His car was found two days later in Peru, about 60 miles from Bloomington.

 

[SimplyCass]

I wonder where Jelani changed out of his dress clothes and into his workout clothes. I'm thinking if he intended to blow off the day and end his life, there would have been no purpose for him to keep the clothes in his trunk. Seems he may have intended to change back into them at some point and perhaps make the obligations he had later that day.

Also, if he was operating in reckless abandon, why toss the phone but keep the dress clothes stored safely in the trunk? I think it's been confirmed he did not have any other GPS, and with several reports from locals who say it's highly unlikely he would have navigated blindly to any of the locations where his car or body were found, it's seeming more unlikely Jelani traveled to Peru alone.

If Jelani is not alone in Peru, then the car was likely ditched since the license plates were removed and the car was found some distance away.

If the car was ditched, it seems a likely explanation that his other belongings were also spread out to delay/confuse an investigation.

I suppose he could have done all of this in a weed-induced psychosis, but having actually experienced one in college, I can attest that the strategy and focus it would have taken for him to arrive in this predicament is highly unlikely.

Also, the autopsy report was literally made from what was left of the body, so not finding any harm done to the body doesn't mean there was none. It more likely means the body was too decomposed to know.

These are all reasons why I suspect Jelani did not put himself in the IR. Even without much released evidence, IMO, I think there's a high likelihood someone else tossed his phone, hid his car and removed the tags, scattered his belongings, and then disposed of his body. And that's really sad and unfortunate, because what an amazing life. Now gone.

Everything you're saying to argue for foul play/murder can just as well be used to argue against foul play/murder.

Body Disposal: Spatial and Temporal Characteristics in Korean Homicide - PubMed

in summary, they studied 54 Korean homicide victims. In 47 of them, the offender knew the area where they dumped the body. A "majority" were dumped within 30 km (18 mi) of the fatal encounter, while some were over 40 km (24 mi) away.

There is no reason to seriously believe that a third party would have traveled 60 miles, to a small town, to dump JJ's body. As someone else said, it's a small town where people talk and are nosy; it's hard to think that they'd have chosen this area, when there are many other remote areas/places to go.

There is no known financial motive. The car was abandoned, not driven to a chop shop; the wallet was dropped on the street. JJ had just started at grad school; he didn't have a high-paying job.

Is it possible that someone is such an expert at staging a homicide to look like a suicide? Only in fiction. IMO/JMO.

 

[Seattle1]

Missing Alabama A&M grad Jelani Day died from drowning, Illinois coroner rules

[..]

The Chicago Tribune reported Day was spotted walking into Bloomington, Ill. cannabis dispensary Beyond/Hello, according to Bloomington police. He was reported missing the following day, and his car was found Aug. 26 concealed in a wooded area in Peru, in LaSalle County.

Family members said they last spoke to Day on Aug. 23 and he did not show up for class for several days at his university, Bloomington police said. Family members and an ISU faculty member reported him missing Aug. 25.

His mother, Carmen Bolden Day, recalled in a recent interview the last phone conversation she had with her son.

“He said, ‘OK momma, I just wanted to hear your voice.’ And that’s what he did. He said that to me all the time,” she told Newsy. “He told me he was going to class and that he would call me later. He called me later on that night. (He) didn’t want nothing, we were just talking. And he said again, ‘OK momma, I’ll talk to you later. I just wanted to hear your voice.’ And that was our last conversation, on Monday the 23rd.”

At Alabama A&M, Delani ran track, then decided to go to graduate school to study speech pathology and become a doctor, “so that his mom would never have to work again,” his mother previously told the Chicago Tribune.

[..]

 

[MimosaMornings]

Missing Alabama A&M grad Jelani Day died from drowning, Illinois coroner rules

[..]

The Chicago Tribune reported Day was spotted walking into Bloomington, Ill. cannabis dispensary Beyond/Hello, according to Bloomington police. He was reported missing the following day, and his car was found Aug. 26 concealed in a wooded area in Peru, in LaSalle County.

Family members said they last spoke to Day on Aug. 23 and he did not show up for class for several days at his university, Bloomington police said. Family members and an ISU faculty member reported him missing Aug. 25.

His mother, Carmen Bolden Day, recalled in a recent interview the last phone conversation she had with her son.

“He said, ‘OK momma, I just wanted to hear your voice.’ And that’s what he did. He said that to me all the time,” she told Newsy. “He told me he was going to class and that he would call me later. He called me later on that night. (He) didn’t want nothing, we were just talking. And he said again, ‘OK momma, I’ll talk to you later. I just wanted to hear your voice.’ And that was our last conversation, on Monday the 23rd.”

At Alabama A&M, Delani ran track, then decided to go to graduate school to study speech pathology and become a doctor, “so that his mom would never have to work again,” his mother previously told the Chicago Tribune.

[..]

So how long for him to get through grad school, be employed and make the money needed to support himself and his mother?
10 years? He won’t be taking month long vacations once he starts working to support both of them, he will be tied down to his career and his job. Is there big bucks in his field?

“So his mother would never have to work again” is at odds with his persistent requests for money to the point of repeatedly calling until he got the money.
JMO

 

[rainyday412]

So how long for him to get through grad school, be employed and make the money needed to support himself and his mother?
10 years? He won’t be taking month long vacations once he starts working to support both of them, he will be tied down to his career and his job. Is there big bucks in his field?

“So his mother would never have to work again” is at odds with his persistent requests for money to the point of repeatedly calling until he got the money.
JMO

We have an opening in our hospital for a speech pathologist, and the pay range is $40-$57 an hour. It’s enough to support a wife and kids, but not a mother too.

 

[MimosaMornings]

We have an opening in our hospital for a speech pathologist, and the pay range is $40-$57 an hour. It’s enough to support a wife and kids, but not a mother too.

Interesting. Big plans, perhaps too big.
Perhaps the plan was for JJ and his mom to live together so she could retire early? Because it could be a while to get to top pay. Make big “doctor” bucks. Maybe he wasn’t planning on marrying and having children for a while.
JMO

 

[Seattle1]

So how long for him to get through grad school, be employed and make the money needed to support himself and his mother?
10 years? He won’t be taking month long vacations once he starts working to support both of them, he will be tied down to his career and his job. Is there big bucks in his field?

“So his mother would never have to work again” is at odds with his persistent requests for money to the point of repeatedly calling until he got the money.
JMO

IMO, Jelani must have placed a tremendous amount of pressure on himself -- promising to take care of his mother financially when by her own account, JD was not able to support himself without his family's assistance.

Based on how quickly SM turned on and attacked JD's grad school program director, I'm beginning to think it was more likely that Jelani could not face whatever news she was delivering that day, and instead, he abruptly left campus, picked up some weed, and was never seen again.

An impulsive act? Probably but I also think disappointing his mother was a greater worry for Jelani.

Looking back, I thought it odd that CBD would be badgering JD for his grades which he finally sent a screenshot of to her shortly before he disappeared. Also, if JD sent his mom an altered report -- this might also explain the hate spewed at the director if she provided authorities news inconsistent with what he provided to his mother.

If there were no issues at school, I think his family would have announced that long ago -- like from the rooftops.

MOO

 

[JustCommonSense]

Jelani Day - Google My Maps

More updates.
- It was reported that the clothing was found near the river a mile away from the location of JJ's body. I'm presuming that the clothing was a mile EAST, but this is just an assumption.
- Added driving directions from Bone Student Center to Beyond/Hello
- I believe that the Interstate exit where the phone was found is Exit 164 on I-55. It's in Bloomington, on the route to Peru, and there is a Dollar General nearby where CBD was looking at video footage (source)

The area that the young man described the phone found in, was the same area that I originally had searched that exit. I didn't search that area, but the exit that the road leads to get off on that, I was there and I had told the police that that is an area that needs to be looked at, cameras need to be looking at that on that road.

[The area] was in Bloomington. [...] Actually I found a Dollar General in that area that let me sit in that store for four hours to watch their cameras where I believe I saw Jelani's car and I did let the police know that I saw that exit that was on that road and I wondered is this a way that my son's car could have went.

It's possible that is the area the phone was found, but I would not reach that conclusion from the facts as presented here. There are just too many inconsistencies/lack of clarity with CBD's statements to support it.

1) She asks for others to pay special attention to the East Main Street area in Bloomington. Main runs north-south, there is no East Main. She could be referring to South Main St which would run through Bloomington or to a main thoroughfare in east Bloomington, which would be Veteran's Parkway (the road upon which the Bloomington Beyond/Hello is located and where the family initially focused their searches.)
2) The Dollar General you mapped is actually in Normal, not Bloomington and it does not sit on Main St, but two blocks off with cameras that would not pick up either the interstate or Main St. It doesn't seem likely CBD would spend 4 hours watching cameras for a sighting of Jelani's car there. There is a Dollar General on South Main in Bloomington that would have Main St visible in their parking lot cameras. It also faces the same Veteran's Parkway upon which Beyond Hello is located after is curves around the south side of the city. Because the Parkway is actually the old interstate, it still has exit ramps to get on and off of Main St. That would also be they same area CBD would have been most familiar with in travelling from Danville.
3) CBD mentions just interstate, and that from the area she searched she saw the exit that led to the road where the phone was found. Unfortunately because of the beltway nature of the interstate system around Bloomington-Normal, that could be easily said for either I-55, I-74 or I-39 from any exit.
4) While the map is accurate, if Jelani's intent was to drive from Bone Student Center, to a dispensary, then to Peru, why not just go to the Normal Beyond/Hello which was actually closer? It is located off of Main St about two blocks north of the 164 exit you referenced and actually opens an hour earlier than Normal's.

 

[Seattle1]

4) While the map is accurate, if Jelani's intent was to drive from Bone Student Center, to a dispensary, then to Peru, why not just go to the Normal Beyond/Hello which was actually closer? It is located off of Main St about two blocks north of the 164 exit you referenced and actually opens an hour earlier than Normal's.

^^rsbm

I don't know where JD's apartment located but wonder if he first stopped at his place which was closer to Beyond/Hello on Veteran Pkwy. Nonetheless, I don't think the stop he made was inconvenient or out of the way. MOO