Bill named for slain college student advances in Illinois Senate

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NewsNationNow) — A bill requiring the FBI to get involved if medical examiners or coroners cannot identify human remains within 72 hours of their being discovered is being considered in Illinois.

Named for Illinois State University graduate student Jelani Day, who went missing in August 2021 and was found dead in the Illinois River the next month, the bill was passed in the state Senate Thursday, NewsNation local affiliate WMBD reported.

Day’s family tirelessly searched for him in the weeks before his body was discovered. After Day was found, family and friends held a march in his honor in Peru, Illinois, where they demanded justice and answers in his death.

Day had been reported missing after not showing up for class for several days. His car was found Aug. 26 in a wooded area, and his body was found in the Illinois River on Sept. 4. The county coroner’s office released his official cause of death as drowning.

But doubts remain about Day’s death from those close to him.

His mother, Carmen Bolden Day, said at a rally that there’s “no way” her son would have gotten out of his car and walked three miles to the river. She said she doesn’t believe her son would harm himself, as he was not depressed and had no financial or school-related issues. An aspiring doctor, Day was studying speech pathology at Illinois.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who rallied with the family outside the Peru Police Department, later told Illinois State’s Black Student Union that he believed Day was murdered.

“The persons that killed Jelani Day are alive tonight, walking the streets among us,” Jackson said. “Whoever killed him, let the record show it.”

The bill is now on its way to the Illinois House of Representatives, WMBD said.

NewsNation afflicate WMBD and the Associated Press contributed to this report.