CHICAGO — The Jelani Day Joint Task Force has expanded its efforts to secure additional information on the missing Danville man and has offered a reward.
The task force, which includes the FBI and Illinois Attorney General’s Office and five additional police departments, announced Monday it will engage a coordinated, nationwide, multi-platform social-media campaign to identify new leads.
It is also releasing an investigative post on the FBI’s Seeking Information website seeking tips from the public and offering a reward of up to $10,000 for substantial information regarding Mr. Day’s final hours. Tips, including those submitted anonymously, may be submitted at 800-CALL-FBI.
Investigators said they believe the full cooperation of the public and Mr. Day’s close contacts may be key in understanding the facts and circumstances surrounding his death.
Mr. Day, a graduate student at Illinois State University, was reported missing Aug. 25 after he failed to return messages from family and an ISU professor.
He was last seen the previous morning at a business near the intersection of Veterans Parkway and General Electric Road in Bloomington.
His car was discovered Aug. 26 in a wooded area in Peru, Ill. His body was discovered Sept. 4 in the Illinois River at Peru and positively identified about three weeks later. The cause of death was announced as drowning.
His family said they do not believe he took his own life.
In mid-November, Mr. Day’s phone was found near a busy highway in Bloomington and turned over to the FBI for forensic analysis.
Other members of the joint task force include the Bloomington, LaSalle and Peru police departments, the LaSalle County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State Police.