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

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rkendmar said:
I'm trying to piece together the timeline of Tuesday, August 24, 2021.
Jelani appears at the student center at 7:20am dressed professionally so he must have been scheduled to see a client in the campus Speech-Language Pathology clinic on that day.
He had plans to meet with the Dir. of Clinical Education that morning also, but he did not show up.
He also missed a class that day and did not show up to see the client in the clinic.
On 9:12am on that same day he is seen dressed casually at a cannabis dispensary in Bloomington. He would have had to change his clothes back to professional dress before seeing the client at the campus clinic (not sure of the appointment time).
I don't know the time of his appointment with the faculty member, the time of his class or the time of the clinic appointment.

I am very familiar with graduate programs in Speech-Language Pathology and not showing up for a meeting with a faculty member and not showing up to see a clinic client are major infractions which could very possibly get one thrown out of a graduate program.
JMO but I don't believe that Jelani would have jeopardized his future career plans lightly.

I hope that LE has been able to find out who Jelani communicated with on Monday and Tuesday, August 23 & 24 as I believe that would answer a number of questions.
JMO but I do not believe this is a case of suicide.
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just saw this and i'm sorry for his family. my question is poised because of the change of clothes. Did they find his earlier formal attire back at his home or in his car? Nothing earth shattering from me but it's curious about the change of clothes.
 
collectiveagency said:
Yes, the missing license plate!!! Who would even think to take it & why? To DELAY identification/verification of the car.
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Agreed, I certainly believe it was an attempt to delay. If his back plate was taken (which some reports differ in this respect -- I have read that his back plate was missing, both plates, one plate, etc), it makes me wonder if whoever did this was from out of state. Maybe they took the back plate not realizing that there was a front plate (as required in IL) because 19 to 20 states (conflicting sources) in the US do not require a front plate. Those surrounding IL that do not require a front plate include Indiana and Michigan.

Sources, if desired:

Which States Require a Front License Plate?

The Front License Plate Debate | MyImprov
 
rkendmar said:
JD completed his undergraduate degree in 2018 and had been working in Danville, his home town IIRC.
I'm speculating he:
1) Saved money from his job (very likely).
2) Had student loans very likely.
3) Was very likely (but not 100% sure) a graduate assistant in the Communication Disorders Department. Graduate Assistants receive tuition $$ and a stipend for books and living expenses.

JMO but I think his phone, car and living by himself in an apartment may have attracted the wrong kind of attention.
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He must have been doing very well during those gap years to support himself and save money. Does anyone know where he worked? Nothing from his previous employer or comments from coworkers?
My nephews needed a side hustle and had to budget carefully, the grad assistant pay was around $24,000 per year. A roommate was a necessity.
JMO
 
collectiveagency said:
This faculty member contacting the police so soon is, I believe, a glaring RED FLAG. Professors who teach grads & undergrads do not report students missing to police when they miss a day or two of classes. Students miss classes all the time, for various reasons. It is rare for professors to keep such tight tracking reins on students. It is also rare and academically unethical, unsound & unprofessional to texts & call students, as opposed to just more appropriately emailing them - especially for simply setting up a meeting. Plus, he's a grown grad student, you don't need to call him because grad students faithfully live by their iphone calendar reminders. Then for her to go try tracking him down in the classroom??? All of this seems unduly urgent & uncharacteristically invested. Something is off.
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I don't think her actions are a RED FLAG, unethical, unsound, unprofessional, uncharacteristic, and everything else you described.


This was not some undergrad at a community college who blew off a lecture hall class.
He's a new grad student, invested and committed to his education and the program. There is nothing bizarre about a clinical director being actively involved with students, in fact, she is doing her job and doing it well.

They had set up an appointment. He missed it. He didn't get in touch. At that level of education, you are expected to show up, be responsible. Whether her initial reaction was concern or peeved that he didn't contact her, I don't find it strange for her to follow up. As his silence continued, I can understand her panic growing.

She called campus police. That is also reasonable and not an overreaction to me.

Something is definitely off in Jelani's death, but the clinical director's actions are the least of the concerns imo. If anything, thank goodness she set the ball in motion when she did.
 
LotusPawprint said:
I don't think her actions are a RED FLAG, unethical, unsound, unprofessional, uncharacteristic, and everything else you described.


This was not some undergrad at a community college who blew off a lecture hall class.
He's a new grad student, invested and committed to his education and the program. There is nothing bizarre about a clinical director being actively involved with students, in fact, she is doing her job and doing it well.

They had set up an appointment. He missed it. He didn't get in touch. At that level of education, you are expected to show up, be responsible. Whether her initial reaction was concern or peeved that he didn't contact her, I don't find it strange for her to follow up. As his silence continued, I can understand her panic growing.

She called campus police. That is also reasonable and not an overreaction to me.

Something is definitely off in Jelani's death, but the clinical director's actions are the least of the concerns imo. If anything, thank goodness she set the ball in motion when she did.
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I agree. And if this were my child I would hope someone would do the same.
 
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MimosaMornings said:
He must have been doing very well during those gap years to support himself and save money. Does anyone know where he worked? Nothing from his previous employer or comments from coworkers?
My nephews needed a side hustle and had to budget carefully, the grad assistant pay was around $24,000 per year. A roommate was a necessity.
JMO
Click to expand...

"After Day graduated from Alabama A&M, the two [Jelani Day and Kris Bell] worked together at a family advocacy organization to help others with parenting and anger management."
Family and friends of Jelani Day pushing for justice
 
MimosaMornings said:
He must have been doing very well during those gap years to support himself and save money. Does anyone know where he worked? Nothing from his previous employer or comments from coworkers?
My nephews needed a side hustle and had to budget carefully, the grad assistant pay was around $24,000 per year. A roommate was a necessity.
JMO
Click to expand...

Keep in mind Jelani had three years between graduation from undergrad and starting at ISU.
That's a good deal of time to make money for grad school and living expenses, and / or to help out his family if he was doing that.

An article mentioned that he had worked at a YMCA in his hometown (NOT the one near where his car was found abandoned).


My 22 year-old family member who just started grad school worked from the time he was 15 or 16, mostly during summers and sometimes on weekends. He worked at a summer camp- was /is very responsible with money - saving and budgeting, planning for what he wanted and would need. Over the years, he saved most of the money he received from family for birthdays, holidays, and one inheritance from a late family member.
No fancy job or crazy hours, just focused and very smart with money.
He bought himself a car around 19 or 20. Always takes advantage of iPhone upgrades.


That personal anecdote only to say that ,for me, nothing seems surprising about how Jelani was living or what he had.
 
Gloomy Bear said:
I'll also mention IL outside of the Chicago area is not a super expensive place to live. You can rent an apartment in the Bloomington area for as little as $500/$600 per month.
Click to expand...


Wow. Yep, that checks out. Great point.


Definitely very different from city living or living in a hot real estate market.
 
Gloomy Bear said:
I'll also mention IL outside of the Chicago area is not a super expensive place to live. You can rent an apartment in the Bloomington area for as little as $500/$600 per month.
Click to expand...
Wow. That’s cheap! Falls into the Section 8 price range here. I don’t live in a big city and the cheapest one bedroom starts at $850-$900 range.
 
Family Lawyer Claims Foul Play Was Involved In Death Of Jelani Day: 'I Have No Doubt In My Mind' — Oxygen

“Jelani Day’s mother, Carmen Bolden Day, has maintained that she doesn’t feel like she’s getting the assistance she hopes for from authorities.

“All I know is that law enforcement, the local law enforcement, is not doing their job,” Jelani’s mother told Newsy. “And if they can’t do their job, get somebody in who can. Get the help you need. Put aside your ego, get me the help. Because it’s not about them, it’s not about me. It’s about my son.”

Jelani was an aspiring doctor on the fast track to success and part of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.”

What’s going on? The authorities won’t communicate with her? Or did they tell her that they aren’t investigating? Or that they didn’t have the time or resources? It’s heart breaking to see her grief. :(

https://mobile.twitter.com/officialoppf
 
License plates get stolen. It's an old trick. Who steals them? Crooks steal them and put them on the "vehicle of the hour"...They use them to avoid detection by cops and other people.

When they're done with their stolen plates, they ditch the stolen plates and steal another.
 
Gloomy Bear said:
One interesting thing the Day's family attorney noted was that Jelani had never in his life been to Peru, IL and there is really no fathomable way he could have known about the area (eg to park in that exact spot to hide his car; it's not like he would have known the area around the YMCA like that; etc).

As we get to know more and more about this case, the further it's looking like foul play.
Click to expand...

What really surprises me is changing clothes.

If he was - like some posted - depressed, concealing it from everyone, decided to end his life (happens!), maybe smoked some pot before that to relax - why would it matter to him that his clothes would smell of pot?

Him being seen in the campus in official clothes, then putting on the T-shirt, then changing clothes again - would make no sense for a person who plans to kill himself. Especially by jumping off a bridge.

This is why it looks like foul play to me.
 
Charlot123 said:
What really surprises me is changing clothes.

If he was - like some posted - depressed, concealing it from everyone, decided to end his life (happens!), maybe smoked some pot before that to relax - why would it matter to him that his clothes would smell of pot?

Him being seen in the campus in official clothes, then putting on the T-shirt, then changing clothes again - would make no sense for a person who plans to kill himself. Especially by jumping off a bridge.

This is why it looks like foul play to me.
Click to expand...

A lot of things in this case don't really make much logical sense, whether that be self-harm or foul play.

There seems no obvious/discernible motive for someone to harm JJ. Also, why would anyone have driven the car so far before abandoning it, in an area at least a mile away from the river? The car didn't seem valuable (at least, for taking to a chop shop or to strip down and sell for parts).

I think self-harm is more likely, but it's like a 55-45; both theories seem overly complicated and unlikely, at least with the known/reported facts at present.

License plates theft is a thing, but IMO stealing the registration tags is far more common: it's far less noticeable and LE will pull cars over if the registration is expired.
 
collectiveagency said:
This faculty member contacting the police so soon is, I believe, a glaring RED FLAG. Professors who teach grads & undergrads do not report students missing to police when they miss a day or two of classes. Students miss classes all the time, for various reasons. It is rare for professors to keep such tight tracking reins on students. It is also rare and academically unethical, unsound & unprofessional to texts & call students, as opposed to just more appropriately emailing them - especially for simply setting up a meeting. Plus, he's a grown grad student, you don't need to call him because grad students faithfully live by their iphone calendar reminders. Then for her to go try tracking him down in the classroom??? All of this seems unduly urgent & uncharacteristically invested. Something is off.
Click to expand...

Far from a red flag. Being in graduate school myself it's not a red flag at all. These programs are highly competitive with small cohorts of students. Students also have meeting with faculty. It's easy to tell if someone is missing in these classes because we tend to sit in the same seats day after day. I am going to guess the graduating class is about 25-30 students that attend all classes together to every class.

If you are to miss class you are more than likely encouraged/required to email to get the notes
 
If no one who knows Jelani can think of any motive for someone wanting to hurt Jelani, his clothes and lanyard were found by the river where the body was, and his phone was intentionally turned off, then foul play seems unlikely. If his family says he was not depressed, his car was hidden in an area only familiar to locals and a distance from the river, and the wallet was dropped on a street, and police now have an unknown person of interest they are looking for on camera, self harm seems unlikely. The family is stating they've been given the indication that law enforcement thinks it is possible Jelani put himself in the water. Maybe it is possible for this case to involve both? A witness saw the car being driven into the wooded area one day after Jelani went missing, and from my understanding the wallet was ditched a day later. Is it possible that Jelani and an unknown person he had never previously met (since sources say he has never been to Peru) arranged to meet at a park or location by the river (which would have been a straight shot from Bloomington Normal and a quick peek at Maps)? Then mystery person robbed Jelani and took off with his grandpa's car, his clothes, his wallet and phone, in a town he's never been in and with no chance of making it back to class after having already missed school. Law enforcement reported a plate missing, so maybe the original intent was to steal the car and commit robbery leaving him, but once Jelani was reported missing so soon, that could have thrown the person off guard and they dumped his stuff? The idea that someone would murder Jelani but then not hide the clothes or body or leave any sign of a crime scene at the river or in the car is perplexing which is why I'm wondering if this is more complicated than that. Just a thought based on some of the evidence I've seen from interviews.
 
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