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

[carbuff]

That's what came to mind for me too and is the only reasonable explanation for 'not having the chemical', so does that mean that departments across the country don't have access to this chemical ? I haven't read about this being the reason for delays in other cases where a body is found and waiting to be IDed, but it's possible.

I don't know about recent cases; I mostly work with long-term unidentified. I know many of those cases were backlogged in the first half of 2020. Many of the labs were closed for Covid and then when they reopened, they ran into various shortages. I would assume that some labs had more supplies in stock than others, so the delays probably weren't consistent.

 

[MyJoey]

You know what if it was a higher ups family member, I’m sorry they would get the job done. Seriously unacceptable.

 

[GuyfromCanada]

FBI has officially joined the case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's, FBI, field office in Springfield, Illinois, has stepped in to help local law enforcers who are investigating the disappearance of an Illinois State University graduate student.

The FBI is helping Bloomington with certain resources, but they can't divulge what the agency's exact involvement is in the case.

FBI helping in case of missing ISU graduate student

 

[LotusPawprint]

This interview with his mom is from 9/20

New info to me... His wallet was found, prior to the unidentified body being found. It was found on some street by an individual (unknown to Mrs day) who claims to have seen another person drop the wallet
.. May have been wearing a red shirt or red shorts.. But they didn't tell the police until several day after the wallet was found. His lanyard with school ID was found close to the river where the body was found.


Jelani Day's Mother Speaks To Newsy About His Disappearance

 

[MyJoey]

This interview with his mom is from 9/20

New info to me... His wallet was found, prior to the unidentified body being found. It was found on some street by an individual (unknown to Mrs day) who claims to have seen another person drop the wallet
.. May have been wearing a red shirt or red shorts.. But they didn't tell the police until several day after the wallet was found. His lanyard with school ID was found close to the river where the body was found.


Jelani Day's Mother Speaks To Newsy About His Disappearance

WOW that kind of changes things. Unless the wallet was left in the car and someone took it. So many questions, like were the car doors locked? They seriously need to ID the body that was found ! I’m wondering if they already know it’s him but they are trying to get leads. IDK its puzzling for sure.

 

[carbuff]

This interview with his mom is from 9/20

New info to me... His wallet was found, prior to the unidentified body being found. It was found on some street by an individual (unknown to Mrs day) who claims to have seen another person drop the wallet
.. May have been wearing a red shirt or red shorts.. But they didn't tell the police until several day after the wallet was found. His lanyard with school ID was found close to the river where the body was found.

Jelani Day's Mother Speaks To Newsy About His Disappearance

The bolded part: okay, if the lanyard was found near where the body was found, now I'm going to be surprised if the body isn't his.

 

[scriabina]

His family last heard from him on August 23rd. The following morning, security cameras captured him on campus in a button-down shirt and black pants around 7:20 am. His bank account showed he’d bought Starbucks coffee there, but he didn’t show up for a meeting with a faculty member and missed class after that. Instead, security cameras captured him just after 9 a.m. entering a nearby cannabis dispensary wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Thank you for posting this article! This is the first article that clearly states that Jelani's meeting was for the SAME morning he was seen. I will try to get my timeline from earlier in the thread revised to reflect this.

The faculty member he was supposed to meet with notified the police, because Day’s absence was uncharacteristic and he was not responding to calls or texts. His family filed a missing persons report after failing to reach him within a day

Now it's starting to make more sense. Faculty member CB likely called campus police that same day, and then the parents notified BPD the following day.

I still would like to know for what exact time was that morning meeting scheduled. I still don't feel 100% sure that he ditched the meeting to buy pot instead. It's possible he thought he had time to buy the pot and then return to campus in time for the meeting.

 

[LotusPawprint]

WOW that kind of changes things. Unless the wallet was left in the car and someone took it. So many questions, like were the car doors locked? They seriously need to ID the body that was found ! I’m wondering if they already know it’s him but they are trying to get leads. IDK its puzzling for sure.

Also what was still in the wallet and what, if anything, was missing?

So at this point - clothing, lanyard, car, wallet all found. And found at different locations (woods near YMCA, a random (unknown to J's mom) street, near the river.

It sounds like the phone is the only item still missing.

 

[MyJoey]

Also what was still in the wallet and what, if anything, was missing?

So at this point - clothing, lanyard, car, wallet all found. And found at different locations (woods near YMCA, a random (unknown to J's mom) street, near the river.

It sounds like the phone is the only item still missing.

Super strange ! I’m really going to have to think about this one. It seems early on he left on his own, he changed clothes went to the dispensary. After that? I’m thinking maybe the wallet was with the clothing and someone found it. Way to many questions for my brain tonight lol.

 

[dotr]

• Danville mayor asks for information about Jelani Day

Bloomington police have provided an updated description of the clothing Jelani Day may have been wearing when he went missing on Aug. 24.

 

[scriabina]

“I need him to come home so that he could continue his journey of becoming Dr. Jelani Day,” she said.”
Was this his dream or his mother’s?

His brother DD gave more info on Jelani's career aspirations. I believe they were Jelani's and not pushed by family:

“Jelani is an amazing person. He’s very smart, he’s very athletic, he’s very ambitious. He has big dreams,” [DD] said.

One of those big dreams is speech pathology.

[DD] said his brother wanted to be a speech pathologist after witnessing a friend with a speech problem being bullying when he was younger.

“The reason why he wanted to become a speech pathologist was because when he grew up he had a friend that had problems with talking, people would make fun of him and (Jelani) didn’t like that people were mocking his friend,” [DD] said. “He wanted to be able to help out so another child wouldn’t feel left out or neglected or feel pushed aside because of their disability.”

What we are missing is information from his friends, his possible roommate(s), his social circle, etc. What does he enjoy doing? Favorite hangout? Place to get away?
Is there a FB page set up for him by the family? What about any social media for him?

True, there is very little we know about Jelani outside of what his family has stated. It would be helpful to learn about his habits and hobbies but so far we have scant info. I haven't heard a peep from any friends -- perhaps they were told to stay silent for some reason? -- and I suspect that Jelani doesn't use social media.

The two Jelani Day Missing facebook groups I found were not run by family and did not seem official.

 

[mpnola]

This feels like a mental health situation, to me. I'm worried for him.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Still dental records would tell if it was him.

Exactly!

 

[LaborDayRN]

FBI spokesperson said discussions are in the works but did not say if the agency is involved.

DBM. I see the FBI is now assisting.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Thank you for posting this article! This is the first article that clearly states that Jelani's meeting was for the SAME morning he was seen. I will try to get my timeline from earlier in the thread revised to reflect this.



Now it's starting to make more sense. Faculty member CB likely called campus police that same day, and then the parents notified BPD the following day.

I still would like to know for what exact time was that morning meeting scheduled. I still don't feel 100% sure that he ditched the meeting to buy pot instead. It's possible he thought he had time to buy the pot and then return to campus in time for the meeting.

Because of the stress of grad school, I suspect there are protocols in place in the event a student doesn't show up for a scheduled meeting. Faculty may need to call the student and if they are unable to contact the student in a timely manner, they may need to notify authorities.
The protocols (if there are any) may be in place due to past experiences. I imagine there have been numerous cases of students under a huge amount of stress & pressure who fear not being able to succeed and sadly want a way out. (I'm not saying that's what happened here, just that it may have happened enough in the past to have protocols in place)

 

[sleepysleuth]

I wonder if they have any information regarding what he was doing the night prior? Perhaps he spent the night away from home and the clothes he was wearing that morning were from the night before? I agree with others, it feels very unlikely that the body found in the river isn't Jelani. But that still doesn't explain how he ended up there. I think they should be looking into his dating habits.

The two most likely scenarios in my mind (based on the weird clothing situation) are:

1. After picking up the weed, he drove to the place he left his car, took off his shirt and walked to the river, and committed suicide.
2. He met up with someone to smoke the weed, they were physical in the car (where he took off his shirt) and then that person harmed him and dumped him in the river.

 

[HopeForTheBest]

I also find it interesting that the faculty member called the police after missing a meeting and not answering the phone. Did they mean campus police? That seems more likely to me - to call campus police and ask them to check on him. But if it’s local law enforcement that was called, that seems….odd. I don’t know if a single one of my college professors who would’ve done that, for me or anyone else.

I wonder about FERPA. The law is very strict about protecting college students’ privacy; you can’t even tell parents about their classes without the student’s permission and this school official/professor is telling the news all this? I know professors who have called the school’s crisis team about students they think are having a hard time and those individuals then called/visited/asked for a welfare check, etc. because they are trained and that is what professors are told to do because they typically are not trained in mental-health care. I do know a professor who called 911 after the student sent an email saying they were suicidal and what they were planning to do asap. In MOO, the professor/director who called had a reason to call police such as being worried about his mental or physical health, and I’m sure it was not campus police she called since he didn’t live on campus and wasn’t there then. I find it odd or naive or something else that she would say that “none of their grad students would do this”. The pressures on grad students are high and top students sometimes have the hardest time. If you’ve always been at the top of the class without much effort, it can be very upsetting to feel you’re having a harder time in grad school especially at the start when it’s new and you think you’re the only one. His mom said he had two As and two Bs already but I can’t see how; it was the third class meeting. Few professors have grades in by then and even if so, for good or for bad, the first few grades are not always indicative of later performance especially when a program is new to a student. And while you do often meet or talk with your professor in grad school, it would concern me as a student if that were happening when it wasn’t scheduled as a routine meeting. I can see a student nervous about their performance in a new grad program arriving for a meeting like that and then just feeling overwhelmed and not up to it—and leaving. Then that likely would further stress the student especially one used to being a high performer. Perhaps that was why he went to the dispensary. I don’t know about those; can anyone of age buy there or is a prescription required? If the latter, that’s an indicator of a possible concern since the person may have physical or mental issues causing them stress. All of this is just based on my anecdotal experiences and it’s MOO. I just hope he’s ok.

 

[rats]

hopefully jelani gets home safe - ive been seeing his case everywhere.

 

[AmandaSkis]

I have felt self-harm from the beginning; however, reading that the FBI has joined the case gives me pause on that original theory. I cannot see the FBI getting involved in a case where the top theory is suicide.

But why would the FBI join the case and not just leave it to local LE, even if murder?

 

[Gloomy Bear]

I have felt self-harm from the beginning; however, reading that the FBI has joined the case gives me pause on that original theory. I cannot see the FBI getting involved in a case where the top theory is suicide.

But why would the FBI join the case and not just leave it to local LE, even if murder?

Maybe they are joining so local LE finally gets access to that chemical to identify the body already.