An autopsy report of Jelani Day released Wednesday says there was “no evidence” of assault or altercation on the body and further demystifies several longstanding rumors in the case.
The report was drafted by forensic pathology Scott Denton based on an autopsy that happened Sept. 5, the day after the body was found in the Illinois River in Peru. The report was submitted to the LaSalle County coroner on Oct. 23 and released to WGLT on Wednesday through the Freedom of the Information Act.
Details in the seven-page report appear to align with the previous cause of death (drowning) released by Coroner Rich Ploch on Monday:
- There was no evidence of pre-death injury or assault, altercation, sharp, blunt or gunshot injury.
- No projectiles or foreign objects were found, although “abundant insect larvae” were found within and throughout the body and clothing.
- There were no hand or finger fractures.
- “There is no evidence of tool or sharp force marks in the external tissues or exposed bones," the report said.
Authorities still don’t know how Day ended up in the water. His family and their supporters have rejected theories about suicide or self-harm and believe he was murdered. They’re hoping State Police or the FBI will take over the investigation.
"Unfortunately there is no specific positive test at autopsy for drowning," Denton wrote in the autopsy report. "Drowning is considered a diagnosis of exclusion with supporting investigation circumstances when a person is found deceased in a body of water."
Day went missing Aug. 24, and the body wasn’t found until Sept. 4. The body was not identified until Sept. 23, using forensic dental identification and DNA testing. One challenge may have been that there was no jewelry, wallet, or cell phone with the body, according to the autopsy report.
But it was apparently clear early on the unidentified body was an adult Black male. The color of the body’s skin is “most consistent with Black race,” according to the autopsy report.
Day was wearing a tank top T-shirt and underwear, with a black sweatshirt tied around his waist at the time of his autopsy and presumably when he was discovered.
Authorities said little in the month after Day was positively identified. False rumors have swirled on social media about the condition of Day’s body. The autopsy report provides some clarity:
- The jaw (mandible and maxilla) was removed for dental identification purposes. They were returned to the body before release the family and funeral home, the report said.
- “Organs appear intact, complete, and within their usual anatomic positions,” the report said.
But the river itself appears to be a limiting factor on the investigation. It’s unclear how long Day was in the river, but the body was “severely decomposed” and “partially skeletonized.”
Determining the cause and manner of death for bodies recovered from water can be challenging, according to a 2016 article by James Caruso from the Denver County medical examiner's office, published in Academic Forensic Pathology.
"The challenge becomes even greater as the postmortem interval increases. The progression of decomposition changes in a liquid environment is altered by temperature, current, interaction between the remains and the physical environment, and animal predation. While postmortem putrefaction takes place as it does in a dry environment, differences in bacterial flora and an anaerobic atmosphere alter the usual chemical processes and with significant postmortem intervals may result in the conversion of fats to adipocere. Forensic pathologists and medicolegal death investigators must be familiar with the expected postmortem changes that occur in immersed and submerged bodies as well as postmortem artifacts such as animal predation that may be misinterpreted as antemortem injuries."
