Dead-Baby Investigation: Sheriff’s Department Pleads For Public’s Patience

JOLIET, IL — Two days after deputies searching for a missing baby found her under a couch in her Preston Heights home, the sheriff’s department has asked for patience as the death investigation proceeds.

The department also sought to quash rumors swirling around the disappearance and death of 1-year-old Semaj M.L. Crosby.

“The sheriff's office is asking news agencies, as well as the public, and those on social media sites, to please be patient as this investigation moves forward,” the department said in a press release. “Any facts in this case deemed important for public knowledge will be released when appropriate.”

Semaj was playing with six to eight other children, at least one of whom was as old as 13, when she was last seen about 4 p.m. Tuesday, said Deputy Chief Rick Ackerson of the Will County Sheriff's Department. The children were supposed to go get ice cream, police said, but Semaj’s mother, Sheri Gordon, couldn’t get her car started.

The children then reportedly went to play in the yard, and Semaj was not seen again until her body was found under the couch. There were no signs of physical injury or trauma on Semaj’s corpse. Her cause of death will not be made official until the results of toxicological tests are returned.

Independent, credible witnesses from the neighborhood told police they saw Semaj walking away from her home the afternoon she disappeared, Ackerson said. She was supposedly barefoot at the time. A police dog tracked the little girl for about five houses away from her home before losing her scent, Ackerson said.

Gordon did not call the police until about 6 p.m. Tuesday, Ackerson said.

Gordon initially agreed to speak with detectives and was questioned in a trailer that was being used as a mobile command post, Ackerson said, but another woman tried to end the questioning.

"During the interview we did with the mother (a woman) was pounding on the outside of the trailer, telling her to stop," Ackerson said.

Ackerson said he does not know if the woman is related to Gordon. She has been identified only by a first name.

At any given time, there were more than 10 people not related to Gordon or her three children living in her Preston Heights home, said Ackerson, who identified them as "squatters."

He called the woman who banged on the side of the trailer a "relative, squatter, I don't know."

A large group was gathered outside Gordon's house Wednesday, with adults and children coming and going and some playing with a ball.

A massive search effort, which included bloodhounds, helicopters and divers, was curtailed Wednesday night by inclement weather.

A Department of Children and Family Services caseworker was at Semaj's house for an abuse investigation Tuesday afternoon, Ackerson said, and left about 4 p.m., about the same time Semaj was last seen. A DCFS case worker was also on the scene Wednesday. DCFS spokeswoman Veronica Resa has failed to return a call for comment.

A deputy responding to Gordon’s 911 call went into the house and performed a search, said Ackerson, who told of the house being in "deplorable condition." The house has since been declared uninhabitable.

Detectives attempted to conduct an additional interview with Gordon, but "her lawyer shut it down," Ackerson said. About 12 hours later, around 11 p.m. Wednesday, investigators convinced the lawyer to talk Gordon into granting deputies consent to search the house again. Semaj was found an hour later. No one has been charged yet with her death.

“No one is in custody,” the department said. “No one individual has been targeted as a suspect, however, no one individual has been ruled out as a suspect.”

Ackerson would not say if Semaj died or was killed elsewhere and was returned to the home, or if her body was taken out of the home and brought back. A car up the street from the house was labeled "Police Crime Scene" and "Do Not Enter."

The police said they still consider the matter a “suspicious death investigation.”

“Today, sheriff's detectives are continuing their investigation and are interviewing cooperating witnesses and some family members,” the department said. “Every angle of this tragic incident is being actively examined.”

Semaj M.L. Crosby | image via Will County Sheriff's Department