Jelani Day’s Mother Responds To Missing Organs Rumors

The mother of Jelani Day, the 25-year-old graduate student whose body was found in the Illinois River after he went missing, took to social media on Monday (Oct. 11) to clarify that her son’s organs were intact when his dead body was recovered.

“No organs were missing,” a statement on Facebook attributed to Carmen Bolden Day said. “I do not want to stray off from the facts. There were contradicting facts from the first preliminary autopsy compared to the second independent autopsy, but this is not a case of organ harvesting.”

According to NBC Chicago, reports surfaced recently that several organs were missing from Jelani Day’s body when an independent autopsy was ordered by the family. A story in a series published in the Chicago Sun-Times noted that Day’s organs had been “completely liquefied.”

The Illinois State University graduate student disappeared on Aug. 24. His body was later discovered in the Illinois River under “unexplained suspicious circumstances,” the police said, according to the news outlet.

However, LaSalle County Coroner Richard Ploch said, “some [of the organs] were severely decomposed due to the body being in the water” but none were missing, NBC Chicago reported.
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Bolden Day doesn’t want misinformation to distract the family’s supporters from finding out exactly what happened. She maintains that she does not believe her son harmed himself.

“My son did not put himself in a river,” the statement on Facebook continued. “My son was murdered and my goal and purpose are to find out what happened and hold those responsible accountable!!!”

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Day was last seen August 24 on surveillance footage entering a dispensary in Bloomington, Illinois. His vehicle was located in Peru, Illinois on August 26, which is approximately 60 miles away from the dispensary.

Bolden Day previously said, “He wasn’t depressed. He didn’t have any kind of pressures that would make him want to escape from life. So I do feel as if there was someone involved.”

The coroner has not revealed the cause and manner of death, NBC Chicago reported. They are still awaiting the toxicology and history reports among the components need before issuing a final report.