IL IL - Chicago, human head found in box on sidewalk, Oct'24

[lightofmine99]

Investigation underway after human head found in box on Chicago's West Side

An investigation is underway after the remains of a human head were found Thursday inside an open box on Chicago's West Side.

www.nbcchicago.com

Authorities said police responded just before 6 p.m. in the 2700 block of West Taylor Street and made the grisly discovery. Police said someone walking on the sidewalk found a box containing human remains.

The office still working to determine the victim's age, gender, and race.

ARTICLE ARCHIVE (10/14/24) - The article was initially published on 10/11/2024.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

2700 W Taylor is right near a handful of medical schools. Hoping that this is just an improperly disposed of medical specimen and not a homicide.

 

[lightofmine99]

Wonder if someone tried to steal a medical specimen (for whatever reason) and panicked shortly after leaving campus with what they took. Could it be a case of underground body brokering like what happened at Harvard? MOO.

None of the articles I've read really specify whether the remains were skeletal in nature, only that the witness who found it thought or hoped it was a weird Halloween decoration.

 

[DS2021]

Reminds me of this

Box of human heads stolen from truck in Denver: "Pretty shocking"

The blue-and-white box was marked with a label that said "Exempt Human Specimen," police said.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[iulia]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

#UP131435
ME/C Case Number ME2024-05586

Biological Sex Unsure
Race / Ethnicity Uncertain
Estimated Age Group Cannot Determine
Height Cannot Estimate
Weight Cannot Estimate

Type Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found October 10, 2024
NamUs Case Created October 16, 2024

Location Found​

Location Chicago, Illinois 60612
County Cook County
Found On Tribal Land No

Circumstances of Recovery On 10 October 2024, an unknown human skull was discovered in a cardboard box on the sidewalk in Chicago, Illinois.

Condition of Remains Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton

Hair Color Unknown
Left Eye Color Unknown
Right Eye Color Unknown

 

[DS2021]

Circumstances of Recovery On 10 October 2024, an unknown human skull was discovered in a cardboard box on the sidewalk in Chicago, Illinois.

Thats a little different then a head.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Marcus L Docter

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Crystal Garland

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Oscar Donaldo Valenzuela

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

SHAMARI D BRANTLEY

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Karlton J Pernell

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[lightofmine99]

Now the "problem" with this one is that it seems to be only a human skull and the NamUs does not yet specify an estimated PMI. This could easily be an extremely old medical specimen. Not to imply that means we shouldn't try to identify the decedent via genetic genealogy.

MOO.

 

[lightofmine99]

NamUs was modified on March 12.

The biological sex has been changed from unsure to male.

 

[iulia]

His NamUs page is down at the moment.

 

[The4TierBridge]

He was identified as a 51yo male of unknown race who's COD and manner of death were both undetermined. Case number is ME2024-05586.

Medical Examiner Case Archive | Cook County Open Data

datacatalog.cookcountyil.gov

 

[lightofmine99]

How would they be able to tell a human skull is specifically 51 years old?

 

[The4TierBridge]

How would they be able to tell a human skull is specifically 51 years old?

The person the skull belonged to would have been aged 51 years old at the time of discovery if alive.

 

[lightofmine99]

The person the skull belonged to would have been aged 51 years old at the time of discovery if alive.

So they know who it is but aren't saying?

 

[doublestop]

The person the skull belonged to would have been aged 51 years old at the time of discovery if alive.

But if they don't know who it is, how would they know that? If they do know, why is his race unknown?

 

[The4TierBridge]

So they know who it is but aren't saying?

The Cook County (where Chicago is) Medical Examiner’s case lookup website doesn’t include name data for any of their decedents like some other similar websites do, just demographic info for age and race. Whether or not any kind of public announcement will be made outside of this I do not know, but it is very likely the case is resolved (which would be why the NamUs profile went down) and the remains were identified as a recently deceased person.

Just noting that the time of death is listed as 5:55 PM, and the incident date is listed as 7:35 PM. I don’t know if this two-hour discrepancy is meaningful, but most other indexed cases list death as being after the incident date. I know there were reporting discrepancies between a head vs a skull being found

 

[The4TierBridge]

But if they don't know who it is, how would they know that? If they do know, why is his race unknown?

The individual was likely identified, which is why his NamUs page was removed. As for the race, I don’t entirely know. There are a lot of idiosyncrasies in how these forms and charts are filled out.