Most Mysterious Death Joliet Police Investigated In 2024?

JOLIET — The once mighty U.S. Steel mill along Joliet's Collins Street has been abandoned for decades, and it's a magnet for copper wire thieves and trespassers. Last year marked an unexpected tragedy: the death of 44-year-old Joliet missing person Warren Baker.

Joliet Patch has learned that the Joliet Police Department has closed its death investigation, finding no evidence of foul play in Baker's death. The Will County Coroner's Office of Laurie Summers could not determine the cause and manner of death for Baker, either.

The coroner labeled Baker's cause of death as undetermined.

In recent weeks, Joliet Patch obtained all the Joliet police reports surrounding the discovery of Baker's body last summer. His body was already in an advanced state of decomposition, discovered inside a long-abandoned pump house that was filled with several years of rain and melted snow.

According to a compilation of police reports on the case, at the time of his disappearance, Baker was wearing a camouflage hat, black frame glasses, a black windbreaker, blue jeans and dark shoes.

On May 13, Baker's mother notified a Joliet police officer she had not seen her son since April 28 when he visited her house and cut her lawn. That day, Baker's mother dropped him off at the Auto Zone property on East Cass Street and gave him some money. Joliet police noted that Baker suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and struggled with alcoholism. His mother believed Baker was off his medications. "He has made suicidal statements in the past, but made no mention of being suicidal the last time he was seen and spoken to," Joliet police noted.

Joliet police learned Baker was homeless and Baker frequented the Daybreak Shelter, the MorningStar Mission and the Iron Works park near Columbia and Scott streets. The hospitals were also checked, and Baker was not a patient there. Joliet police learned that Baker was unemployed, but he occasionally painted houses for cash.

The police pinged Baker's cell phone, and it hit on Briggs Street north of Maple Road. However, "due to the large radius and uncertainty of the ping, that location was not checked," Joliet police noted. When police tried calling the phone, the call went straight to voicemail.

An email with a photo of Baker was distributed to all of Joliet's police officers.

On May 15, Detective Jason Wolski conducted a follow-up interview regarding Baker's disappearance. Baker's mother still had not seen or heard from her son.

The detective was advised that "Warren normally does not go this long without making contact with her for money. Warren is a heavy drinker and gets himself into trouble when he is drunk. Warren normally hangs out at the park at Scott and Columbia, advising he normally goes way back into the woods. Warren does not have any friends in the area and keeps to himself," according to the detective's notes.

On May 20, the detective spoke with Baker's brother-in-law, who asked to be Joliet police's main contact on the missing person case. That day, Wolski inspected around the Iron Works park and the nearby trails without finding any signs of Baker. When the detective tried calling Baker's phone, it went to voicemail.

On May 21, the detective sent Baker a text, identifying himself and asking Baker to contact him. Joliet police also inquired about the Chase Bank debit card that Baker's mother thought her son carried with him.

On May 29, Wolski received more details about Baker's cell phone. The last location data occurred was at 3:19 p.m. on May 22 in the area bordering Bruce Road on the north, Farrell Road to the east, Washington Street to the south and Collins Street to the west.

Meanwhile, the MorningStar Mission advised Joliet police that Baker had not stayed there since June 2023. Daybreak also determined that Baker was not there either, and Baker had not stayed at Daybreak "for a very long time."

The detective later spoke with a relative, who advised that Baker receives Social Security "and always calls ... to ask for his money the day it comes in. Warren last received a Social Security check on May 1, 2024, and he did not call (her) asking for his money. (The person) believes something happened to Warren between April 28 and May 1."

The detective asked her about a bill from the Joliet Fire Department that came to her house. (She) "believes the bill may be from March 5, 2024, when Warren was located in the Des Plaines River. Warren told her he fell in the river. (She) requested Warren's information be posted to the Joliet Police Department Facebook page, which it was," Wolski noted.

The detective interviewed another person who knew Baker, and that person indicated Baker "often sleeps in the forest area near the railroad tracks. That person recalled Baker talking about getting an apartment, but the person did not know where."

On June 13 and June 26, Wolski learned that Baker's family still had no contact with him. His mother cancelled his phone bill, so his phone service was no longer active.

On June 29, Joliet police used a drone to fly over the large forest area near Route 6 and Briggs Street.

"We did not see anything at this time that is consistent with a human being," Wolski noted.

On July 2, the detective learned that a dead man was found inside one of the abandoned U.S. Steel property buildings. The body was identified as Baker.

That date, officers Jesus Mendez and Tyler Bayles responded to 941 Collins St., where the body was discovered floating in the water. The officers located an abandoned pump house filled with water and "a heavily decomposed body" was floating on the water.

A wallet was recovered from the body, and the wallet belonged to Warren Baker, the police noted. The officers spoke with someone at the scene who told them that their group of friends entered the Joliet Iron Works property to go exploring and one of the friends knew that homeless people used the pump house as a place to sleep. When the friends entered the pump house and saw the body floating in the water of the building, they called 911.

Joliet Police Sgt. Bill Otis later spoke with three people at the scene, who told them they were walking along the bike path. When they saw a break in the fence, they decided to go exploring the U.S. Steel plant. When they went inside one building, it smelled bad. They eventually discovered the body lying face down in a flooded below ground basement.

Joliet police evidence technicians were sent to the pump house to process the death scene. They took swabs from several open liquor containers including an empty 25-ounce Bud Ice premium, an empty Steel Reserve Spiked Strawberry 24-ounce can, an empty Ruffles chips bag, an empty Steel Reserve 211 24-ounce can and an empty Dimitri Vodka bottle 375 ml.

Police crime scene investigator Nicholas Szalinski learned the depth of the water where Baker's body was recovered measured about 4 feet deep.

On Sept. 4, Detective Wolski received notification the coroner's office had found the cause and manner of death as "undetermined" for Baker.

"Due to the lack of evidence that a crime was committed or any foul play was involved in the death of Warren, this investigation will be closed," Wolski wrote.