Man Slain in Joliet Trailer Park Remembered as 'Nice Guy'

The man found slain Tuesday morning in his Joliet trailer was remembered as a “nice guy” by neighbors who said he may have lain dead for nearly week before his body was discovered.

“He was a nice guy who was a vet,” said Criswell Court resident Linda Wilkerson of her neighbor, known only as “Bobby” by other residents of the trailer park.

The Will County Coroner’s Office has yet to release the dead man’s identification. A police source said he was a 60-year-old man. Another source said he was so badly decomposed there have been difficulties identifying the remains.

Wilkerson said she realized something was wrong Tuesday morning and alerted park owner Austin Criswell.

“I cried,” she said. “He was such a nice guy.”

Wilkerson said she had not seen Bobby since Wednesday and then noticed a bad odor coming from his trailer on Dianne Drive.

“If you step right here you can still smell it,” she said, pointing out a spot by a window.

Police said the dead man had been stabbed in the back and side. Criswell figured it was foul play by the police response.

“I’ve had deaths in the trailer park before,” he said. “The coroner comes and picks them up. But they were here all day long, so I knew there was something up.”

A source said police suspect a former Criswell Court residence who had been seen back in the trailer park lately. Bobby’s next-door neighbor, Katie Gallagher, described the mystery man as middle-aged and Asian, and told how he who would ride bicycles with Bobby.

“Bob was really quiet,” Gallagher said.

“The most you heard him say was, ‘Cat!’” recalled neighbor Holly Mandziara. “He’d get drunk and talk to his cat.”