Found Deceased IL - Edward Gardner, 21, in rental car, driving to Griffith, IN, Bolingbrook, 13 Mar 2022 *car found*

[GuyfromCanada]

OSWEGO, Ill. (CBS) -- Police in Oswego have released surveillance pictures of two men who may be connected to the disappearance of a 22-year-old man.

The pictures are not very clear, but the men were in a rented 2021 white Dodge Charger that were last seen in at 120th and Halsted streets in the West Pullman neighborhood on March 28.

Oswego police release photos of men who may be connected to disappearance of missing man Eddie Gardner

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Human remains found by workers in Pullman: police

The remains were found by workers in the 9900 block of South Harper Avenue Thursday, police said.

It's said to be remains and not body so may not be Edward.

 

[GraceG]

Human remains found by workers in Pullman: police

The remains were found by workers in the 9900 block of South Harper Avenue Thursday, police said.

It's said to be remains and not body so may not be Edward.

I was following up on this case since I live in Chicago. No word on the remains in Pullman. With six weeks or so from the time Eddie went missing to when this person was found there is always the possibility it's him as decomp would be significant in six weeks, but given the huge population of the Chicagoland area, it's just as likely someone else. Still hoping for closure for his family.

 

[GraceG]

There have been no updates on the case in the Chicago news. I kept looking for his arrest history based on comments in the MSM articles in the thread where it was said he was "known to police" (that and two aliases listed in the police report was sort of a red flag for me). Illinois is not the best for having criminal records made public. There was a warrant out for his arrest still on the books when he went missing. It's from 2018 but records didn't show it was cleared so it may have still been active. Arrest Search Verification

 

[Dka]

This article mentions Woodlawn, so I'm thinking you're correct:

"Family members last saw him in Bolingbrook on March 12, and an acquaintance of Gardner's reported seeing him in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood on the evening of March 13, police said."

Missing Illinois Man, 22, May Have Been Heading to Indiana on Sun

Re the rental car - AFAIK that model (Dodge Charger) is very popular with thieves. Just look at this 2021 article about auto thefts in Detroit:

"Back in 2019, a study by the Highway Loss Data Institute concluded that America's most theft-prone car was the Dodge Charger, one variant of which was over five times likelier to be yoinked than the national average. This rear-drive sedan's popularity with the sticky-fingered seems not to have waned, as authorities in a county neighboring Detroit have shared stats suggesting the Charger's theft rate is still astronomical, averaging close to three stolen daily in their region.

The Saline Police Department told The Saline News it had records of over 1,000 Charger thefts within the last year across southeast Michigan."

Over a Thousand Dodge Chargers Have Been Stolen Around Detroit in the Last Year

I sure hope someone didn't carjack him/hurt him for the car...

 

[GuyfromCanada]

MAR 15, 2023

A year after he was reported missing by his family in Oswego, Oswego police are still searching 23-year-old Edward Gardner of Bolingbrook. Gardner was reported missing by his family on March 14 last year. The family had previously had regular contact with Gardener.

Oswego police have collaborated with 19 other police agencies in the search for Gardener and have worked to retrace his steps, but there have been no reports of anyone seeing Gardener since March 13th last year.

Police are appealing to anyone with information of Gardner's whereabouts or contact them.

Oswego police still looking for missing Bolingbrook man

A year after he was reported missing by his family in Oswego, Oswego police are still searching 23-year-old Edward Gardner of Bolingbrook. Gardner was reported missing by his family on

www.wspynews.com

 

[Unsolved]

Still missing. $20,000 reward:

 

[Knox]

Is anyone thinking this is an undiscovered car accident?

 

[meanmaryjean]

Is anyone thinking this is an undiscovered car accident?

No. The car was recovered but he was not driving it apparently. This is upthread

 

[GraceG]

No. The car was recovered but he was not driving it apparently. This is upthread

The car was recovered with spent shell casing in it - not good. Link was up earlier, but here it is again for clarity. Oswego police release photos of men who may be connected to disappearance of missing man Eddie Gardner

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

hmmmm, well this is both sad and a mystery.

interesting thread posts too

 

[Carovb5]

I thought he has a lot of similarities with this doe, but it’s a long distance and a couple of months between them so it’s not likely. But thought i should share just in case… The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[PommyMommy]

AUG 30, 2023

Desperate mother continues search for missing son for over a year

She believes her family has given police all the information they need to actually solve the mystery.

www.cbsnews.com

[...]

At the time, Sandy's daughter, Jessica, hacked into her brother's navigation app and found Eddie's last known location to be at the Altgeld Gardens housing project at 131st and St. Lawrence. Sandy then reported Eddie missing in Oswego, where he used to live with her, and began emailing Hertz.

"Begging them to track the car, or report it stolen, and Hertz wouldn't respond to me," Gardner told CBS 2 last year.

Two weeks later, Eddie's rented Charger was involved in a Hammond, Indiana, hit and run. Police said another man, not Eddie, was in the car. Because Hertz wouldn't initially track the Charger, there were more than two weeks of lost leads and little movement from police. So Sandy and Jessica hired private investigator Don Haworth. They all got to work.

[...]

They did find more information and learned that the day before the Hammond crash, two men took Eddie's rented Charger to a South Side Chicago tire shop. One of the men was the cousin of Eddie's girlfriend.

Kozlov: "After Eddie had already been missing?"

Jessica: "He had been missing well over a week and his girlfriend's cousin has his car? And he's getting the tire replaced? How does that happen? And I don't think the police have ever asked her that."

[...]

"They did find my son's blood in the car," Sandy said.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

Still missing, per NamUs

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

Circumstances of Disappearance According to friends, he went to 64th & Cottage Rd. Chicago Sunday evening. No cell phone activity after 9pm on Sunday 3/13.

Transportation 2021 Dodge Charger (and Shelby Charger)​

Comments Gardner has been driving this vehicle that was rented from Hertz. Vehicle was located in Hammond, IN on 3/29/22 after being involved in an accident in which the occupants fled from the vehicle on foot.

 

[iulia]

Body of Eddie Gardner, missing since 2022, found in abandoned Chicago building

An Oswego family's two-year search to find out what happened to a missing man has ended, after Eddie Gardner's body was found in Chicago in March.

www.cbsnews.com

His mother, Sandy Gardner, said her son's remains were found in the basement of an abandoned building near 64th and Sangamon on March 20. A bullet casing was next to his body. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office recently identified his remains. A cause of death has not yet been revealed.
[…]
The case is now a murder investigation.

 

[iulia]

His NamUs page is still up at the moment.

I wonder if this NamUs UID entry is him:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

Circumstances of Recovery On 20 March 2024 at 1303 hours, Chicago Police Department, contacted the Medical Examiner's Office in regard to the death of an UNKNOWN. According to police, the Skeletal remains of the UNKNOWN was discovered in the basement of a previously vacant residential building, located on the 6000 block of S. Sangamon, Chicago, IL.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In March of this year, a body was found in the basement of an abandoned building near 64th and Sangamon in Chicago.

There was a bullet casing next to the body, now identified as Eddie Gardner.

Grainy surveillance camera images of the two men who were in the car were released in 2022.

The case is now a murder investigation

Remains of man who disappeared 2 years ago discovered in abandoned South Side building

Eddie Gardner was 22 when he disappeared in March of 2022. This March, a body was found in the basement of an abandoned building near 64th and Sangamon in Chicago. The remains have been identified as Gardner.

www.audacy.com

 

[GraceG]

In March of this year, a body was found in the basement of an abandoned building near 64th and Sangamon in Chicago.

There was a bullet casing next to the body, now identified as Eddie Gardner.

Grainy surveillance camera images of the two men who were in the car were released in 2022.

The case is now a murder investigation

Remains of man who disappeared 2 years ago discovered in abandoned South Side building

Eddie Gardner was 22 when he disappeared in March of 2022. This March, a body was found in the basement of an abandoned building near 64th and Sangamon in Chicago. The remains have been identified as Gardner.

www.audacy.com

I'm not surprised, but saddened for his family. I'm glad they'll have some degree of closure.