Drowning Ruled Jelani Day's Cause Of Death: Coroner

BLOOMINGTON, IL — An Illinois State University graduate student who disappeared before being found dead in the Illinois River drowned, the LaSalle County Coroner said Monday.

Jelani Day, 25, was reported missing on Aug. 25 after his family in Danville and a professor had not seen or heard from him in a few days. The search for Day sparked a national movement, which drew attention from federal authorities and celebrities.

"The cause of death of this positively identified 25-year-old male, Jelani Jesse Javonte Day, is drowning," LaSalle County Coroner Richard Ploch wrote in an autopsy report.

Ploch went on to say there was no evidence of injury before the drowning, such as assault, drug intoxication or mutilated organs. The last assurance comes as previous news reports misinterpreted an independent autopsy report commissioned by Day's family which stated Day was missing many of his internal organs. That report later clarified that his organs had decomposed from being in the water.

It is still unclear how Day ended up in the Illinois River, though Day's mother told reporters her son would not have "put himself in that river" and he was not suicidal.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson attended Day's funeral last week and compared his death to other racially motivated killings, such as the death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.

Now, Day's family and friends are calling for a federal investigation into Day's disappearance and death.

According to members of Day's family, the LaSalle County Coroner's Office denied the man's mother access to his body for months following its discovery. An online petition started by members of an Alabama A&M fraternity, Day's alma mater, calling for federal involvement had almost 30,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

Day's family joined Jackson and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition on Tuesday to march from the Peru Police Department to the location where Day's car was found on Aug. 26.