Jelani Day's Funeral: Jesse Jackson Calls For FBI Investigation

BLOOMINGTON, IL — Jelani Day's funeral took place Tuesday morning in Danville. It was open to all and included a visit from the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who compared the 25-year-old's death to that of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy from Chicago who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955.

Speaking to the media after the service, Jackson went on to call for a federal investigation into Day's death.

"Jelani was brutally murdered in Peru, Illinois and found faced down in the Illinois River," Jackson said in a statement. "We are requesting a thorough investigation because local officials have been very difficult to deal with. They have not been forthcoming. We are requesting that the FBI and the Department of Justice conduct a thorough investigation because it smells like another Emmett Till case all over again."

An online petition started by members of an Alabama A&M fraternity, Day's alma mater, also calls for federal involvement in the case. 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. The petition had over 28,000 signatures as of Tuesday.

Day's burial comes months after the Illinois State University graduate student was reported missing from the Illinois State University campus on Aug. 25 and one month since his body was found in the Illinois River.

Police have called the circumstances in which he was found "unusual and suspicious."

While Jelani Day's mother is still searching for answers about her 25-year-old son's death, she responded to comments and conspiracies theories last week that several organs were taken from his body. The organs were not missing, just decomposed.

"Family, We need to hit pause for a moment," a post on a Facebook page seeking justice for Day read Monday. "As outraged and upset as we are, we must stay the course, and stick to the facts in our search for answers."

The post included a statement from Day's mother, Carmen Bolden Day.

"No organs were missing. I do not want to stray off from the facts," the statement from Carmen Bolden Day said. "There were contradicting facts from the first preliminary autopsy compared to the second independent autopsy, but this is not a case of organ harvesting, however, my son did not put himself in a river."

According to LaSalle County Coroner Richard Ploch, the confusion came from those misinterpreting the decomposed state of the organs.

"Some [organs] were severely decomposed due to the body being in the water," Ploch told Patch, but he specified that no organs were missing.

Little information has been released to Day's mother since his body was found about a quarter-mile east of the Illinois Route 251 bridge in Peru, Illinois. He was found about an hour from where he was last seen at a cannabis store near Illinois State University, but not far from where his car was found days earlier.

Day's mother said in a statement the primary goal should still be finding out what happened to her son.

"My son was murdered and my goal and purpose are to find out what happened and hold those responsible accountable!!!" she wrote.

The case gained national attention, sparking a conversation about inequity when it comes to missing Black people. Celebrity musician Lizzo even shared a TikTok on Day's disappearance, calling attention to the investigation.