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

[cnmccarthy]

I agree with you that there may have been two separate events here. The first being the self harm event, where as you surmise, his car and his possessions were left by wherever he actually jumped. Then the second event where a passerby with bad intentions found an unlocked car and took off with it, and then when the story surfaced in the media decided to ditch the car closer to where they lived.

As an aside, in my area it is very common for thieves to break in and steal things from unlocked vehicles at parks, trails, nature preserves.

I've been in the self harm camp from the beginning, but the details of this or confusing and I definitely am open to foul play as well.

This would explain the license plate being removed too.

 

[Dénouement]

Spoiler: Warning graphic autopsy info

The corpse had no eyeballs, only sockets. The river’s water had run her course, soaking the body through and through.

The body was missing its front top and bottom teeth, Day and Bezner said, citing a second autopsy performed by a private forensic pathologist at the request of the family. His jawbone had been “sawed out.”

The family’s private forensic pathologist could find no brain, according to Day and her attorney. No organs. Neither liver. Nor spleen.

Bezner said the LaSalle County coroner had explained that, according to their pathology report, the organs were “completely liquefied.”

The body had suffered innumerable fish and turtle bites and was maggot-infested, said Bezner, citing information both she and Day said they received from the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office, which has not yet released its autopsy report to the family, according to Day and Bezner.

The genitalia were unidentifiable, according to the private forensic pathologist’s report, but determined to be “flayed,” according to the county coroner’s forensic pathologist, Bezner said.

Bezner said she continues to investigate, to seek plausible, perhaps scientific explanations, for the severely decomposed state of Jelani’s body while keeping an open mind, though no question rings more loudly than this one:

Some things no mother should have to endure
Does this make sense to anyone especially the bold?

 

[rainyday412]

Is that normal for a corpse that is in the river during the heat?

 

[bombardier]

Spoiler: Warning graphic autopsy info

The corpse had no eyeballs, only sockets. The river’s water had run her course, soaking the body through and through.

The body was missing its front top and bottom teeth, Day and Bezner said, citing a second autopsy performed by a private forensic pathologist at the request of the family. His jawbone had been “sawed out.”

The family’s private forensic pathologist could find no brain, according to Day and her attorney. No organs. Neither liver. Nor spleen.

Bezner said the LaSalle County coroner had explained that, according to their pathology report, the organs were “completely liquefied.”

The body had suffered innumerable fish and turtle bites and was maggot-infested, said Bezner, citing information both she and Day said they received from the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office, which has not yet released its autopsy report to the family, according to Day and Bezner.

The genitalia were unidentifiable, according to the private forensic pathologist’s report, but determined to be “flayed,” according to the county coroner’s forensic pathologist, Bezner said.

Bezner said she continues to investigate, to seek plausible, perhaps scientific explanations, for the severely decomposed state of Jelani’s body while keeping an open mind, though no question rings more loudly than this one:

Some things no mother should have to endure
Does this make sense to anyone especially the bold?

****warning - discussing graphic autopsy results*****
hmm...I can't come to any conclusions unless I see the wording on the report, rather than what's been paraphrased by the mother/her attorney.
Strangest aspect of the statement is the 'jaw bone sawed out', for sure, which is why I'd love to see the full autopsy report. I'm guessing this is the second pathologist describing what the first pathologist had done; removing the jaws from his skull in order to facilitate a dental identification, if possible. For the mother, I'm sure this sounds really barbaric and horrible, but I'm guessing that the first pathologist had a good reason to go this route. While I'm training to do autopsies currently but have not done any yet, I'm guessing when the body is obviously decomposed to the point that an open-casket funeral/showing the family the body is not possible, they can take some liberties with how they choose to remove tissues/bones because they don't have to make the body 'presentable' at the end. Also wondering if they wanted to clean soft tissue from the jaw bone if that was getting in the way of dental ID? In that case, makes sense that they removed it.
I am surprised that being in the water no longer than Aug 24 - Sept 4 so severely degraded his organs, but it's not unheard of, especially considering warm weather (averages in Peru IL were between 80F - 69F around that time) + his body was apparently infested by maggots. Maggots release digestive enzymes that accelerate tissue decomp and, as is stated, 'liquifies'. I don't find the lack of discernable organs suspicious, but it is unfortunate because it limits what can be determined, forensically.
And it might make you cringe to think about it, but I've seen it in case studies...fishes/turtles will target the penis and eyeballs (as well as fingers, toes, facial features etc) before other tissues. They are soft, accessible parts of the body with thin skin that can be punctured easier than i.e. thigh skin.
The bit about his missing teeth is also a bit weird (I'm sure we've all followed cases where the skeleton has all teeth intact and that allows a dental identification!) but since it was specifically the front teeth missing, I'm guessing he might have hit something while in the water that knocked his teeth out when they were already loosening due to the soft tissues parts of the periodontium (what holds teeth into the jaw bone) degrading away.

 

[rainyday412]

I suppose the mother is being led by emotion (understandably so), but I wish the press wouldn’t print stuff like this when there is a logical explanation for the jaw bone being like that. Sometimes I feel like all these stories are just leading up to a giant lawsuit by the mother…

I keep thinking that’s is more likely suicide anymore. Even the most unlikely people commit suicide.

 

[Seattle1]

WS is full of cases of young men aged early 20's with changing or unexplained behavior that are reported missing and the case later deemed a suicide. Medical journals report it's the onset age of many mental disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar, etc.

Nobody is exempt from mental illness including rising stars such as JD. I'm also curious if he was a HS or college football athlete with prior concussions and susceptible to CTE.

Age of onset of mental disorders: A review of recent literature

 

[Seattle1]

There are two things which have puzzled me:

1) After showing up in the student center dressed in professional clothes at 7:30am, Jelani is next seen at 9:17am at the cannabis dispensary dressed in casual shorts and T-shirt. He did not show up for a meeting with the clinical directer that morning which was arranged the evening before.
2) Jelani's phone no longer 'pinged' after 9:20am that morning. The phone had to have been turned off to stop the phone 'pinging.'

Something changed that morning between 7:30 and 9:17am.

Although it's been reported that family talked to JD the day before he disappeared, we really don't have a definitive timeline of this contact and/or his verified activity 24 hours leading up to when JD was seen in the student center.

I'm inclined to believe that when we saw JD in his dress clothes at the student union at 7:30 am, he'd probably been out and still wearing his evening clothes. Unless evidence presents otherwise, I'm thinking JD likely made his last rounds of his life before heading to the dispensary. MOO

 

[rkendmar]

Although it's been reported that family talked to JD the day before he disappeared, we really don't have a definitive timeline of this contact and/or his verified activity 24 hours leading up to when JD was seen in the student center.

I'm inclined to believe that when we saw JD in his dress clothes at the student union at 7:30 am, he'd probably been out and still wearing his evening clothes. Unless evidence presents otherwise, I'm thinking JD likely made his last rounds of his life before heading to the dispensary. MOO

"likely made his last rounds of his life before heading to the dispensary."

Sorry, but I don't understand. Please clarify. Thanks.

BBM

 

[ForensicToxicologist]

****warning - discussing graphic autopsy results*****
hmm...I can't come to any conclusions unless I see the wording on the report, rather than what's been paraphrased by the mother/her attorney.
Strangest aspect of the statement is the 'jaw bone sawed out', for sure, which is why I'd love to see the full autopsy report. I'm guessing this is the second pathologist describing what the first pathologist had done; removing the jaws from his skull in order to facilitate a dental identification, if possible. For the mother, I'm sure this sounds really barbaric and horrible, but I'm guessing that the first pathologist had a good reason to go this route. While I'm training to do autopsies currently but have not done any yet, I'm guessing when the body is obviously decomposed to the point that an open-casket funeral/showing the family the body is not possible, they can take some liberties with how they choose to remove tissues/bones because they don't have to make the body 'presentable' at the end. Also wondering if they wanted to clean soft tissue from the jaw bone if that was getting in the way of dental ID? In that case, makes sense that they removed it.
I am surprised that being in the water no longer than Aug 24 - Sept 4 so severely degraded his organs, but it's not unheard of, especially considering warm weather (averages in Peru IL were between 80F - 69F around that time) + his body was apparently infested by maggots. Maggots release digestive enzymes that accelerate tissue decomp and, as is stated, 'liquifies'. I don't find the lack of discernable organs suspicious, but it is unfortunate because it limits what can be determined, forensically.
And it might make you cringe to think about it, but I've seen it in case studies...fishes/turtles will target the penis and eyeballs (as well as fingers, toes, facial features etc) before other tissues. They are soft, accessible parts of the body with thin skin that can be punctured easier than i.e. thigh skin.
The bit about his missing teeth is also a bit weird (I'm sure we've all followed cases where the skeleton has all teeth intact and that allows a dental identification!) but since it was specifically the front teeth missing, I'm guessing he might have hit something while in the water that knocked his teeth out when they were already loosening due to the soft tissues parts of the periodontium (what holds teeth into the jaw bone) degrading away.

*another graphic trigger warning*
This leads me to a couple of questions. How long was he “floating” to become infested with maggots? Maggot activity usually begins in 24-72 hours with post-mortem access, but it seems like they’d been there quite a while to absolutely “infest” the body and not be in beginning stages. Flies can’t lay their larvae underwater as far as I know... If they’d been active for multiple days then that leads me to question how his body decomp was so water logged and liquified from being in the river if it was actually just on the surface most of the time. Trying to make these two scenarios match in my mind and hoping you can help. It’s awesome that you’re training to do autopsies! I admire that. I’m graduating in 2 months for forensic toxicology but we had to have some general classes (including info on decomp and entomology) before getting into our specialty. Additionally, I just met with a board certified forensic entomologist last week and hearing her talk about experiences (completely unrelated to this case!) it just seems odd to me. I can make one of those fit with zero problem. But both together?

 

[bombardier]

*another graphic trigger warning*
This leads me to a couple of questions. How long was he “floating” to become infested with maggots? Maggot activity usually begins in 24-72 hours with post-mortem access, but it seems like they’d been there quite a while to absolutely “infest” the body and not be in beginning stages. Flies can’t lay their larvae underwater as far as I know... If they’d been active for multiple days then that leads me to question how his body decomp was so water logged and liquified from being in the river if it was actually just on the surface most of the time. Trying to make these two scenarios match in my mind and hoping you can help. It’s awesome that you’re training to do autopsies! I admire that. I’m graduating in 2 months for forensic toxicology but we had to have some general classes (including info on decomp and entomology) before getting into our specialty. Additionally, I just met with a board certified forensic entomologist last week and hearing her talk about experiences (completely unrelated to this case!) it just seems odd to me. I can make one of those fit with zero problem. But both together?

im jealous, i wish i got to do entomology classes i'm more training to do the grunt-work and subsequent gross analysis of run-of-the-mill autopsies so i don't get any classes on forensics. as someone with no entomology knowledge...heres some papers i found
Information archivée dans le Web | Information Archived on the Web When still submerged, aquatic invertebrates i.e. Caddisflies (which do produce larvae) were seen on the submerged body parts, but then I believe when the carcasses resurfaced those submerged bits were no longer colonized? Also mentions that unclothed portions of the body were the bits that got colonized while submerged.
Seasonal study of the decomposition pattern and insects on a submerged pig cadaver - ScienceDirect banger of an article, confirms that 'submerged fresh' carcasses have some aquatic insects but no terrestrial insect activity. Also, the aquatic insects were 'waiting around' waiting for the bloating stage until they laid their eggs, so it seems that although insects might be associated with a submerged carcass, maggots would not be. Once the body does surface, though, these insects are primed n ready to go and they act FAST

tldr: youre right, the maggot activity must have happened entirely while he was not submerged in the water. I'm finding it hard to find a conclusive answer on how soon humans, in warm water, will go from submerged -> floating (I'm mostly finding it in pigs), but it seems to be under...12 days.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

Is that normal for a corpse that is in the river during the heat?

****warning - discussing graphic autopsy results*****
hmm...I can't come to any conclusions unless I see the wording on the report, rather than what's been paraphrased by the mother/her attorney.
Strangest aspect of the statement is the 'jaw bone sawed out', for sure, which is why I'd love to see the full autopsy report. I'm guessing this is the second pathologist describing what the first pathologist had done; removing the jaws from his skull in order to facilitate a dental identification, if possible. For the mother, I'm sure this sounds really barbaric and horrible, but I'm guessing that the first pathologist had a good reason to go this route. While I'm training to do autopsies currently but have not done any yet, I'm guessing when the body is obviously decomposed to the point that an open-casket funeral/showing the family the body is not possible, they can take some liberties with how they choose to remove tissues/bones because they don't have to make the body 'presentable' at the end. Also wondering if they wanted to clean soft tissue from the jaw bone if that was getting in the way of dental ID? In that case, makes sense that they removed it.
I am surprised that being in the water no longer than Aug 24 - Sept 4 so severely degraded his organs, but it's not unheard of, especially considering warm weather (averages in Peru IL were between 80F - 69F around that time) + his body was apparently infested by maggots. Maggots release digestive enzymes that accelerate tissue decomp and, as is stated, 'liquifies'. I don't find the lack of discernable organs suspicious, but it is unfortunate because it limits what can be determined, forensically.
And it might make you cringe to think about it, but I've seen it in case studies...fishes/turtles will target the penis and eyeballs (as well as fingers, toes, facial features etc) before other tissues. They are soft, accessible parts of the body with thin skin that can be punctured easier than i.e. thigh skin.
The bit about his missing teeth is also a bit weird (I'm sure we've all followed cases where the skeleton has all teeth intact and that allows a dental identification!) but since it was specifically the front teeth missing, I'm guessing he might have hit something while in the water that knocked his teeth out when they were already loosening due to the soft tissues parts of the periodontium (what holds teeth into the jaw bone) degrading away.

Spoiler: Warning graphic autopsy info

The corpse had no eyeballs, only sockets. The river’s water had run her course, soaking the body through and through.

The body was missing its front top and bottom teeth, Day and Bezner said, citing a second autopsy performed by a private forensic pathologist at the request of the family. His jawbone had been “sawed out.”

The family’s private forensic pathologist could find no brain, according to Day and her attorney. No organs. Neither liver. Nor spleen.

Bezner said the LaSalle County coroner had explained that, according to their pathology report, the organs were “completely liquefied.”

The body had suffered innumerable fish and turtle bites and was maggot-infested, said Bezner, citing information both she and Day said they received from the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office, which has not yet released its autopsy report to the family, according to Day and Bezner.

The genitalia were unidentifiable, according to the private forensic pathologist’s report, but determined to be “flayed,” according to the county coroner’s forensic pathologist, Bezner said.

Bezner said she continues to investigate, to seek plausible, perhaps scientific explanations, for the severely decomposed state of Jelani’s body while keeping an open mind, though no question rings more loudly than this one:

Some things no mother should have to endure
Does this make sense to anyone especially the bold?

Spoiler: Warning graphic autopsy info

The corpse had no eyeballs, only sockets. The river’s water had run her course, soaking the body through and through.

The body was missing its front top and bottom teeth, Day and Bezner said, citing a second autopsy performed by a private forensic pathologist at the request of the family. His jawbone had been “sawed out.”

The family’s private forensic pathologist could find no brain, according to Day and her attorney. No organs. Neither liver. Nor spleen.

Bezner said the LaSalle County coroner had explained that, according to their pathology report, the organs were “completely liquefied.”

The body had suffered innumerable fish and turtle bites and was maggot-infested, said Bezner, citing information both she and Day said they received from the LaSalle County Coroner’s Office, which has not yet released its autopsy report to the family, according to Day and Bezner.

The genitalia were unidentifiable, according to the private forensic pathologist’s report, but determined to be “flayed,” according to the county coroner’s forensic pathologist, Bezner said.

Bezner said she continues to investigate, to seek plausible, perhaps scientific explanations, for the severely decomposed state of Jelani’s body while keeping an open mind, though no question rings more loudly than this one:

Some things no mother should have to endure
Does this make sense to anyone especially the bold?

We've seen photos of skeletons with their teeth intact but that was before, not after the jaws were separated for casting, X-rays, etc. Skulls that were buried are more likely intact. I have seen photos of the mandible, detached from the skull by animals, and teeth missing. Jelani's front teeth, upper and lower jaw, may have fallen out in the river or during the autopsy, possibly from casting. I do think it's possible that his face struck rocks as it floated near the shore. I do not think the jaw removal was in any way "taking liberties", it was just doing what was necessary. I had a friend that died face down and the mortuary refused to allow a viewing as the face could not be made "presentable".

*another graphic trigger warning*
This leads me to a couple of questions. How long was he “floating” to become infested with maggots? Maggot activity usually begins in 24-72 hours with post-mortem access, but it seems like they’d been there quite a while to absolutely “infest” the body and not be in beginning stages. Flies can’t lay their larvae underwater as far as I know... If they’d been active for multiple days then that leads me to question how his body decomp was so water logged and liquified from being in the river if it was actually just on the surface most of the time. Trying to make these two scenarios match in my mind and hoping you can help. It’s awesome that you’re training to do autopsies! I admire that. I’m graduating in 2 months for forensic toxicology but we had to have some general classes (including info on decomp and entomology) before getting into our specialty. Additionally, I just met with a board certified forensic entomologist last week and hearing her talk about experiences (completely unrelated to this case!) it just seems odd to me. I can make one of those fit with zero problem. But both together?

Within minutes after death, the body starts decomposing, digesting itself. The body's own bacteria and enzymes are released, no flies are needed. In the case of Jelani, it's likely that the body was submerged/sunk soon after death, the putrification process continued. Due to gasses from decomposition, the body resurfaced 2 or 3 days later. Immediately after surfacing, flies would find him and lay eggs. I think there should be a tremendous amount of maggots, continuous fly egg-laying for a full week. That would really speed things up, not to mention the fish and turtles feeding, extra river bacteria, the warm weather, and extra fluid in the tissues.

 

[scriabina]

First of all, I'm really sorry that Jelani's mom had to endure such insensitivity from the coroner. Calling her and saying cheerfully he had "good news" regarding a positive ID? That's just cruel. And then getting angry with her just because she had questions. OF COURSE she would have questions!

(I typed the last part of my post re: maggots a while ago and when I came back to finish it off, I saw several others had brought up the same topic! I'll leave my post the way it was so we can compare impressions.)

I don't think there is anything suspicious about how the body was found with one exception: the maggots. Maggots can survive in still pond water but as far as I know they don't survive in rushing rivers (with the exception of caddisfly larvae who are mainly herbivorous and feast on algae & plant material, and whose eggs are typically laid in the water on plants for them to eat upon hatching). A fly wouldn't lay eggs on a body in the river. So was Jelani's body washed up for a period of time? Let's say the body washed up and within an hour a fly landed and deposited eggs onto Jelani's body. It takes 24-48 hrs for the eggs to hatch. Then the maggots would need ample time to feast on the body. Maggots typically feed for 3-5 days. If his body was swept back into the harsh river, wouldn't those maggots be washed away? Is it even feasible for his body to have been exposed on land for several days without anyone finding him?

I guess I also don't know for sure if his body was found in the water or washed up? Maybe it's possible he was found on land and had been washed up for several days before being found?

 

[scriabina]

Within minutes after death, the body starts decomposing, digesting itself. The body's own bacteria and enzymes are released, no flies are needed. In the case of Jelani, it's likely that the body was submerged/sunk soon after death, the putrification process continued. Due to gasses from decomposition, the body resurfaced 2 or 3 days later. Immediately after surfacing, flies would find him and lay eggs. I think there should be a tremendous amount of maggots, continuous fly egg-laying for a full week. That would really speed things up, not to mention the fish and turtles feeding, extra river bacteria, the warm weather, and extra fluid in the tissues.

That makes sense for the most part. So you think his body was floating in the water and the flies laid eggs upon his floating body? But wouldn't the rushing river water rinse off the eggs? Or do you think he washed up on land after surfacing? I don't recall any article clarifying if his body was found in the water or on land along the edge of the river.

 

[bombardier]

@scriabina
I wrote out a long rambly post in agreeance and then found an actual link that confirms your theory
This article, from when the body was found (and not yet identifies), says the body was found "in the Illinois River east of Illinois Route 251 bridge along the south riverbank."
So yes, it does seem like it had washed up somewhat on the bank. This, I think, explains the level of decomp.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

I suppose the mother is being led by emotion (understandably so), but I wish the press wouldn’t print stuff like this when there is a logical explanation for the jaw bone being like that. Sometimes I feel like all these stories are just leading up to a giant lawsuit by the mother…

I keep thinking that’s is more likely suicide anymore. Even the most unlikely people commit suicide.

I agree, I find the article offensive and inflammatory. Especially the statements about the organs. There are postings, on many websites, that claim people (including Jelani) are routinely being murdered for organ harvesting. I find it hard to believe that this reporter is not aware of this and that his words won't be interpreted and posted as "they stole Jelani's organs". The fact that upon his recovery, his torso was not cut open, his ribs were not cut and his skull was intact, will not be pointed out by the reporter or Jelani's attorney.
The part about the bone, the best source of a DNA sample from a decomposed body. Why would she have been concerned about that, the body hadn't been identified and she was sure it was not her son. How is that a "drastic" way to get DNA?

 

[bombardier]

I'm not too good at cardinal directions but if the body was found east of the bridge, on the south riverbank, I believe it's somewhere in the area that I circled. Makes sense that it wasn't found quickly because this area is not easy to get to.

 

[scriabina]

@scriabina
I wrote out a long rambly post in agreeance and then found an actual link that confirms your theory
This article, from when the body was found (and not yet identifies), says the body was found "in the Illinois River east of Illinois Route 251 bridge along the south riverbank."
So yes, it does seem like it had washed up somewhat on the bank. This, I think, explains the level of decomp.

Thanks for your thoughts and the link!

In that article you cited above, the wording is ambiguous to me w/r/t where the body was found, but I think it's saying the body was found in the river and not on the riverbank?

First they say the body was found in the river:

"A search team found a body in the Illinois River Saturday morning in LaSalle County."

Then they say this:

"LaSalle County Sheriff Adam Diss said the body was found just before 10 a.m. in the Illinois River east of Illinois Route 251 bridge along the south riverbank."

According to the LaSalle County coroner, his body was found floating in the river near the south bank:

"The LaSalle County Coroner reported the body discovered on Sept. 4 "floating near the south bank of the Illinois River approximately ¼ mile east of the Illinois Rt. 251 Bridge," was identified Thursday as Day, a 25-year-old reported missing in late August."

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

That makes sense for the most part. So you think his body was floating in the water and the flies laid eggs upon his floating body? But wouldn't the rushing river water rinse off the eggs? Or do you think he washed up on land after surfacing? I don't recall any article clarifying if his body was found in the water or on land along the edge of the river.

"was recovered near the south bank of the Illinois River approximately ¼ mile east of the Illinois Rt. 251 Bridge."
Not a fast-moving river, especially this section, and likely the body got stuck/hung up near the bank. The skin surface of the body, now maybe 3 days decomposing, is degraded. The maggots bury down, they don't stay where the egg was placed. The body had maggots, so obviously, the eggs hatched there. Life cycle varies with different flies, but continuous egg-laying for 7 days or so, would mean thousands of maggots. And flies aren't the only insects involved.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

That makes sense for the most part. So you think his body was floating in the water and the flies laid eggs upon his floating body? But wouldn't the rushing river water rinse off the eggs? Or do you think he washed up on land after surfacing? I don't recall any article clarifying if his body was found in the water or on land along the edge of the river.

"was recovered near the south bank of the Illinois River approximately ¼ mile east of the Illinois Rt. 251 Bridge."
Not a fast-moving river, especially this section, and likely the body got stuck/hung up near the bank. The skin surface of the body, now maybe 3 days decomposing, is degraded. The maggots bury down, they don't stay where the egg was placed. The body had maggots, so obviously, the eggs hatched there. Life cycle varies with different flies, but continuous egg-laying for 7 days or so, would mean thousands of maggots. And flies aren't the only insects involved.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

OOPs , can't figure out why that posted so many times, sorry all