IL IL - Salem, Multiple Bodies Found in Exhumed Grave

[STLBlues]

I wasn't sure where to put this thread so, if this is the wrong forum, please move.

From local media:

In 1971, an Amtrak train going from Chicago to New Orleans derailed. Seven train cars rolled over and 11 people were reported dead.

But now, that number could rise. Marion County coroner Claud Howell told FOX 2 that multiple people were buried in the unidentified victim’s grave.

Howell said that claim proves there were at least two people buried there together: one adult and a child.

However, the other remains that were discovered might belong to a third person. Howell was amazed by the condition of the bodies.

 

[DD Byrd]

Was a close-up of people chomping their gum during a fairly bleak event necessary? Anyway.

The article seems to assume the other remains are related to the train wreck. I'd think it'd be more thorough to trace back the morturary that handled them. It's entirely possible someone else unrelated was disposed of along with the unknown person.

 

[tlcya]

Was a close-up of people chomping their gum during a fairly bleak event necessary? Anyway.

The article seems to assume the other remains are related to the train wreck. I'd think it'd be more thorough to trace back the morturary that handled them. It's entirely possible someone else unrelated was disposed of along with the unknown person.

agree, particularly since we've had several instances recently in IL where funeral directors were willy nilly giving the wrong family cremains, burying the wrong bodies in the wrong graves, and just plain not turning over the bodies to family for months or years.

 

[The4TierBridge]

The Tonti Train Wreck victim was mentioned a bit in the DNA Doe Project thread but didn’t have their own until now, so I think this is the right place to put it.

Also, reports now say that there may be 3 or more people inside the body bag. Definitely leaning towards it being parts of multiple known victims who weren’t entirely recovered.

I wasn't sure where to put this thread so, if this is the wrong forum, please move.

From local media:

In 1971, an Amtrak train going from Chicago to New Orleans derailed. Seven train cars rolled over and 11 people were reported dead.

But now, that number could rise. Marion County coroner Claud Howell told FOX 2 that multiple people were buried in the unidentified victim’s grave.

Howell said that claim proves there were at least two people buried there together: one adult and a child.

However, the other remains that were discovered might belong to a third person. Howell was amazed by the condition of the bodies.

Multiple bodies found in exhumed Salem, Ill., grave

SALEM, Ill. – In an effort to identify an unknown train wreck victim, Salem, Illinois, has instead uncovered a new mystery. For 54 years, an unidentified victim of a 1971 train wre…

fox2now.com

 

[Otterly]

Looking at the New York Times archive article the day following the crash, this bit I bolded is interesting. Maybe the two girls and middle aged woman were never identified? The headline says "10 persons killed", so presumably an additional injured person died at the hospital after the paper went to print:

"The names of four of those killed were withheld by the authorities.

Listed as dead were: Katherine Adams, 35 years old, Chicago, and her daughter, Gladys, 3; Natasha Adams, 12, Chicago; Mrs. Toledo Samuel, 54, Chicago; Carroll Fletcher, 54, Champaign, conductor, and Via B. Walker, 54, Centralia.

Two girls and a middle‐aged woman were among the four unidentified victims."