Jelani Day’s cause of death revealed

Authorities have revealed Jelani Day’s cause of death — weeks after his body was discovered and identified by officials.

Jelani Day’s cause of death

On Monday, official Richard Ploch of LaSalle County Coroner’s office announced that the 25-year-old Illinois State University graduate student — who was reported missing August 25 after he didn’t show up to class for several days — died from drowning.

Although Jelani Day’s cause of death has been revealed, the Coroner said “the manner in which Mr. Day went into the Illinois River is currently unknown.”

Authorities also said that “there was no evidence of any (pre-death) injury, such as manual strangulation, an assault or altercation, sharp, blunt, or gunshot injury, infection, tumor, natural disease, congenital abnormality, or significant drug intoxication.”

Last Seen

Jelani Day’s family last spoke to the aspiring doctor on August 23.

His last known location was at a cannabis dispensary on August 24. Day was also seen on his college campus that same day.

On August 26, Day’s vehicle was located in Peru, Illinois, with no license plates in a wooded area south of the Illinois Valley YMCA and north of the intersection of 12th Street and Westclox Avenue.

Body Found

Days later on September 4, a male body was recovered floating near the south bank of the Illinois River, approximately a quarter mile east of the Illinois Route 251 bridge.

Later that month on September 23, the coroner determined that the body belonged to Day, using dental records and DNA testing and comparison to confirm.

Jelani Day’s cause of death :  unusual

Bloomington Police Officer John Fermon told People that Day’s case “was unusual… from a police standpoint.”

Jelani Day

“Usually when we have missing persons or runaways there is usually a story behind why they ran away,” he said. “They might have had marital issues or they just wanted to get away. He was close with his family. He was attending ISU. There wasn’t an underlying explanation as to why he went missing.”

Fermon continued, “Usually there is an underlying reason why they go missing and there wasn’t for Jelani. He just went missing and that is why we are trying to determine the circumstances around him going missing.”

Justice

Family and friends continue to seek justice in Jelani Day’s disappearance and death.

His fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, created an online petition demanding that federal as well as state authorities take over the investigation from the Bloomington Police Department.

Jelani Day’s mother, Carmen Bolden Day, has long suspected foul play.

Mrs. Day told ABC News earlier this month that she wants investigators “to use their tools and their resources so that we can find out what happened to Jelani, because he did not disappear into thin air.”

She also told “Good Morning America” last month, “Somebody knows something, somebody’s seen something, and I need somebody to say something.”