Jelani Day case remains a mystery after 3 years

Jelani Day started his first week of in-person classes as a graduate student at Illinois State University studying speech pathology on Aug. 24, 2021.

He was seen at the Bone Student Center in Normal at 7:20 a.m., wearing a blue button-up collared dress shirt, black pants, black belt, black dress shoes and a blue face mask. About 2 hours later, he was spotted in security footage at Beyond/Hello, a Bloomington marijuana dispensary, wearing a Jimi Hendrix band shirt, white shorts and black shoes with white soles – it was the last time Day would be seen alive.

Day, 25, was reported missing by his program director after he missed class. On Aug. 25, 2021, police arrived at his home in Danville to notify his family of his disappearance. The next day, his white 2010 Chrysler 300 was found concealed in a wooded area behind the YMCA in Peru.

His body was found nine days later in the Illinois River in La Salle County. It would be another 19 days before the coroner’s office identified him.

Since Day’s death, investigators have been stymied on key questions such as what brought him to the Illinois Valley, his manner of death, why the location on his phone was turned off and how he spent his final hours? Day’s loved ones, the community and law enforcement still are searching for answers.

The La Salle County Coroner’s Office has said Day’s cause of death was drowning with no signs of struggle, but his mother Carmen Bolden Day maintains her son did not die by suicide and has suspected foul play.

“The law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation into the death of Jelani Day concur with the coroner’s determination that the cause of death is drowning, and the manner of death is currently undetermined,” said Peru Police Chief Sarah Raymond.

The Peru Police Department was a part of an extensive multi-agency investigation and there are no active leads or further information to report.

“As with any case, we are committed to finding out what happened to Mr. Day,” she said. “And have worked tirelessly to be able to give Mr. Day’s family the answers they deserve.”

A series of emails show local police asked the FBI to take over the case or provide assistance. The FBI assigned a case agent to help in the investigation, but declined to take the case, according to records obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Day’s car contained his journal, a marijuana “blunt” and a Tennessee license plate in the trunk, records show.

On Sept. 2, his wallet was found in La Salle, in a straight line north of the car. His ISU lanyard was found Sept. 4 along U.S. 6.

The license plate on his car was removed and has never been recovered. Law enforcement said there was one license plate on the rear of his car. The screws were missing.

Raymond previously told Shaw Local News Network someone took the license plate off but it was undetermined whether it was Day or someone else.

The question lingers regarding what attracted Day to the Illinois Valley, as he had never been to the area prior nor did he know anyone.

Last June, the Bloomington Police Department was able to unlock Day’s cellphone based on video footage Bolden Day shared with law enforcement of her son unlocking his phone.

His phone was discovered off of Interstate 55 near Bloomington in November 2021 and sent to the FBI at the task force’s request. The FBI sent it back.

Some cellphone records show the last thing Day searched was “Greyhound bus tickets” at 12:33 p.m. Universal Coordinated time on Aug. 24 on Safari, which would be 7:33 a.m. Central Daylight time.

Police have said he had turned his phone off at Beyond Hello, and have been unable to track his location from that point on.

Another phone was found in the area where his clothing was discovered in La Salle, but authorities have been unable to retrieve information off of the phone.

“As far as the LG phone is concerned, it was given to the Bloomington Police Department to attempt and forensic download,” Raymond said. “However due to the phone’s age and condition no download was extracted.”

Raymond said all agencies involved spent countless hours investigating this case and continue to solicit tips from the public.

“There is still an active $10,000 reward for any substantial information regarding Day’s final hours,” she said.

Anyone with information about the case should contact Peru Police Department at 815-223-2151.

Day’s family seeks more clarity

Carmen Bolden Day, Jelani Day’s mother, said there has been no progress or urgency in her son’s case and there hasn’t been since the beginning.

Following Day’s death, his family advocated for justice, requesting the FBI take over the investigation. They also maintain there was a lack of communication, a mishandling of evidence and not enough attention being put into the case by police.

“I don’t feel like there’s been any kind of concern,” she said. “Like I’ve been saying and I’ll say it again – they didn’t put in the urgency … Time waits for nobody and they wasted valuable time.”

Bolden Day said there were many avenues she believes law enforcement could have explored or investigated, but they didn’t because they were too distracted by trying to ascertain what kind of person her son was.

“They let too many days pass by and too much time elapse before they even tried to find out information,” she said. “It was on Sept. 24 before they told me they were going to start back over at day one – that’s 30 days.”

In one account, Bloomington Police Department was unable to obtain video surveillance from his apartment complex, because the agency waited until Sept. 2, 2021, and the apartment only kept footage for five days, according to police records obtained in a Freedom of Information Act release.

Police have classified Day’s case as a death investigation and said they have no leads. Last October, the task force announced they would no longer be proactively working on the case.

Bolden Day said she was not notified prior to the announcement and heard of the news when the article came out.

“We had a meeting scheduled with the Task Force,” she said. “That was supposed to happen the first week of October and instead they canceled the meeting and put out the article.”

Bolden Day created the Jelani Day Foundation to assist other minority families in the search for their missing loved ones. She also played a crucial role in getting a state law passed, which took effect this year, that requires a coroner or medical examiner to ask the FBI for help if they cannot identify a body within 72 hours.

Bolden Day said she will continue to fight to find out what happened to her child by reaching out, building relationships and putting pressure on elected officials.

“I’m seeking a congressional inquiry ‚” she said. “I’m looking for the department of justice to be involved. I’m still fighting. I have to find out what happened to my child and I need the people responsible to tell me what they did to my son and why.”

“I need them to be punished,” Bolden Day said. “Jelani didn’t deserve this. I have to wake up every day. It is a struggle to do this every day.”