The FBI is ramping up its efforts to figure out what happened to Illinois State University student Jelani Day.
The graduate student was reported missing on August 25th after failing to reply to messages from family and one of his professors. His body was located on September 4th in the Illinois River. Investigators discovered his vehicle in a wooded area in Peru, but his clothing, identification, and ID lanyard were found scattered nearly a mile from where his body was uncovered. He was officially identified on September 23rd, with an autopsy confirming that drowning was the cause of death, though how he ended up in the water remains a mystery. The family has now enlisted an independent private forensic pathologist to perform a second autopsy.
“That is a narrative that my son did something to himself. He did not,” his mother, Carmen Bolden Day stated.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations announced a $10,000 reward for information about the 25-year-old’s disappearance and death. Bolden Day, is also offering an additional $25,000 reward for anyone with details that can shed light on how the promising young man died.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, has called on the FBI to investigate the death as a hate crime.
