Clinton County Sheriff Dan Travous says a possible identity has been made for a deceased person located outside of Centralia in unincorporated Clinton County on October 10th.
He reports the lead came following the initial news release on the location of the possible remains. At this time, Travous says the cause of death has not been determined, but there is no reason to believe foul play was involved. However, the sheriff reports the death must be treated as suspicious until they can prove otherwise. The remains will be tested in the coming days and months to help the coroner make a determination on the cause of death.
Once positive identification and cause of death is determined, Travous says he will release additional information.
At this time, Travous says he doesn’t want to further pinpoint the location where the remains were found, but says they were located on the side of a field by an area resident who was checking a deer stand. At this time, it is unclear how long the remains were at the location where they were discovered.
After the scene was processed, the coroner’s office took custody of the unidentified remains. The State Police Crime Lab was also called.
Travous does not believe the remains belong to any of those missing from past missing person cases near Centralia.
The sheriff thanked everyone who called or emailed with tips and attempted to identify the individual. Although they have a possible identity, there may still be information helpful to the investigation. If there is information you would like detectives to know about, please email them at sheriff@clintonco.illinois.gov.
