Family Seeks Justice For Jelani Day 2 Years After Death

It’s been two years since Illinois State University student Jelani Day was reported missing, only for him to be found dead in the Illinois River without any clear explanation regarding how he died. Despite that time frame, his family’s still pushing for answers.

Source: BLOOMINGTON POLICE DEPARTMENT / Handout

As we previously reported, a LaSalle County coroner revealed in December 2021 that the cause of Day’s death was drowning but “the manner in which Mr. Day went into the Illinois River is currently unknown,” and noted 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.”

In other words: A Black man died and no one is responsible.

On the two-year anniversary of Day’s disappearance, his mother, Carmen Bolden Day, let it be known that the family has not and will not let up on applying pressure to law enforcement until they get real answers as to how the 25-year-old died and why.

“I’m going to keep on doing everything in my power to add pressure to make them do their job, to make them think about Jelani every freaking day because I need to know what happened to him,” Carmen told ABC 7 Chicago Friday reports Blavity. “I miss him. I miss him so much. I just want him to know that I love him dearly and that I’m not gonna stop fighting for him. I’m not gonna stop looking for the people that did this to him.”

Despite the launching of the Jelani Day Joint Task Force, which is overseen by LaSalle County Sheriff Adam Diss, Crmon doesn’t believe law enforcement has done enough to solve her son’s case.

Meanwhile, the FBI said in a statement that it is still diligently pursuing information on Day’s death and is even offering a reward to people who come forward with info related to the case.

“The FBI continues to solicit tips seeking information related to the death of Jelani Day and a reward remains available for members of the public providing significant information,” the bureau said in its statement.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.