Carmen Bolden-Day has clarified ‘missing organ’ reports surrounding her deceased son Jelani Day.
Nine days after Day’s car was found, authorities discovered his body in the Illinois River. Reports suggested Day’s organs were missing including his brain, eyeballs, liver and spleen. Jelani’s mom had previously stated, “They mutilated my son and I need to know what happened to him.”
This caused an uproar on social media but the coroner’s report says Day’s organs were ‘completely liquified’. This prompted a response from Day’s mother.
“No organs were missing. 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. However, my son did not put himself in a river. My son was murdered and my goal and purpose are to find out what happened and hold those responsible accountable.”
Day was an Illinois State University graduate student who had been missing since Aug. 24.
His mother called for authorities to show the same attention and urgency in her son’s case as they have for Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old white woman who went missing and was later found dead.
Day had been living in Bloomington, where he aspired to be a doctor. Two days after his disappearance, his car was found in Peru, a small city an hour north of Bloomington. His white Chrysler 300 was spotted in “a wooded area south of the Illinois Valley YMCA,” police said. Inside the car were the clothes Day had been wearing when he was last seen.
Carmen Bolden Day, called for authorities to show the same attention and urgency in her son’s case as they have for Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old white woman who went missing and was later found dead.
We will keep reporting coverage on this still developing story.
