Chicago Heights police are asking the public for help identifying a distinctive Nickelodeon jacket recovered as evidence after skeletal remains were found in a garbage can near Chicago Road and Elmwood Drive. The remains were discovered on Sunday, Nov. 8, and the item has become one of the few clues investigators can release publicly.
Officers responded around 11:50 a.m. Sunday after a resident reported finding what appeared to be human remains inside a garbage can. Police confirmed the discovery and sent the remains to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office for examination, where results from Monday's review were still pending.
The jacket is described by Chicago Heights police as a Members Only, size XXL, unisex Nickelodeon down-style jacket. Police also said the photographs they released are not of the actual jacket recovered as evidence, a sign they are trying to generate leads without exposing the item itself. For now, the remains belong to an unidentified person, and the person's approximate age, race and gender have not been determined.
That uncertainty is what gives the jacket its weight. Police spent Monday going door to door in the neighborhood, speaking with residents who may have seen or heard something, and one neighbor told Chicago the situation was a tragedy and hoped the person could be identified so the family could get answers. The appeal is narrow because the facts are narrow: there is no name, no description and no confirmed cause of death, only a piece of clothing that could connect the remains to someone who knew the person or saw them last.
Laurie Lien, who said she walked her dog near the area on Friday afternoon, said she did not see the garbage can there. Her account adds a small but important piece to the timeline, suggesting the can may have been placed there between Friday night and the time police were called on Sunday. What police need now is the jacket's owner, because that may be the fastest path to identifying the person whose remains were found in Chicago Heights.
