Bloomington Police said they now have two sets of video of a missing Illinois State University graduate student taken a couple hours apart a week ago, wearing different sets of clothes.
Detectives ask anyone who saw Jelani Day after about mid-morning Aug. 24 wearing silver or white shorts, a black Jimi Hendrix Band T-shirt with a unique logo, black shoes with white soles, and a Detroit Lions baseball hat to contact them.
That was what he wore in video from a cannabis store just off Veterans Parkway in Bloomington about 9:12 a.m. Aug. 24, police said. Day's car, a white Chrysler 300, was found two days later in a wooded area of Peru, Illinois, about an hour's drive north from Bloomington-Normal. The clothes Day wore at the marijuana store were in the vehicle.
Video from the Bone Student Center at ISU shows Day wearing dress clothes about 7:20 a.m. that morning. In that video, he wore a blue button up collared dress shirt, black pants, black belt, black dress shoes, and a blue face covering.
Illinois State University on Tuesday also tried to raise the profile of the missing person case.
"I am asking our Illinois State University community to think about Jelani, his family, and how we can come together to raise awareness and focus attention on the search to locate him, said ISU President Terri Goss Kinzy. "We ask everyone in the Redbird community to share any information they have, no matter how small, with the Bloomington Police."
Goss Kinzy offered thanks to students, faculty, staff, and the university police who have distributed missing person flyers on campus and through the community.
"Illinois State will continue to share information and updates when available. The University will also continue to support the Bloomington Police investigation, and again I ask you to do the same," said Goss Kinzy.
Day's family reported him missing on Aug. 25. BPD is requesting anyone with information about Day's whereabouts contact BPD Detective Paul Jones at (309) 434-2548 or at Pjones@cityblm.org .
