Chicago Police Will 'Stop at Nothing' to Find Person Responsible for Dismembered Child in Lagoon

No new evidence has emerged from the Garfield Park Lagoon since Sunday in a case involving the body parts of a child found in the water over the weekend, but authorities said the investigation has the full weight of the Chicago Police Department and the Department of Justice behind it.

“We are going to find the persons responsible. We’re going to stop at nothing until we do,” said Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi during a Wednesday news conference.

A Cook County Sheriff’s Police sketch artist is working to produce a composite drawing of what the child might have looked like. Detectives said it could be an African-American boy or girl, age 2 to 4 years old. The body parts are being tested for DNA and forensics. Guglielmi said the body was definitely dismembered after the child died.

The lack of earrings or piercings on the head and short black hair suggest maybe the child is a boy, but authorities can’t rule out the possibility of the child being a girl.

Guglielmi said there are no missing persons cases in the Chicago area that could point authorities toward an identity.

The investigation began around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, when someone saw a foot floating in the lagoon. Marine officers searched the water that night and found two feet and two hands believed to belong to a small child. The search continued Sunday, when a child’s head was recovered, along with “some other evidence,” said Deputy Chief of Special Functions Steve Georgas.

In working with the medical examiner’s office, officials believe the child may have been in the lagoon for one or two weeks.

Some details have not been released since the investigation is ongoing. Guglielmi said there were bags found, though he couldn’t say specifically what was in the bags or if they were plastic bags.

“However this baby died, somebody felt compelled to cut him or her up, brutally I might add,” Guglielmi said.

Police announced Tuesday the lagoon will be drained to make it easier for searchers to look for the missing parts of the child.

Georgas said this is one of the most challenging investigations he’s ever been a part of in his 24 years with the Chicago Police Department. He said officers and investigators face a difficult mindset in working on this case involving a young child, and they also struggle against the lagoon environment and the weather.

“The water is stagnant, and it’s also full of debris,” he said. “There’s no way to see underneath the water, even with our most sophisticated sonar equipment, it becomes useless in this situation. You actually have to get in and literally on your hands and knees touch and feel and pick up every single item that’s under there to see what it is.”

He said marine officers usually only stay in the sealed rubber suits for 30 to 40 minutes at a time, but even through the hot weekend weather, officers wouldn’t come out of the water. He said some searched for up to three hours in the heat.

“It takes a toll, that’s for sure,” Georgas said. “It’s a perfect example of ordinary people doing extraordinary things and wanting to do even more.”

Chief of Detectives John Escalante said the current focus is searching the lagoon. Officials hope to recover additional remains of the child and “to start putting together those pieces of this puzzle” by identifying the child, identifying the parents and finding out how and why the child was dismembered and left in the lagoon.

Community outreach began in the Garfield Park community Wednesday morning. Volunteers and officers are going through the neighborhood, talking to people and asking for tips. Detectives believe someone knows what happened to this child or has information that will help solve the case.

The child isn’t necessarily from the Garfield Park area, but the outreach has started there because of where the body parts were found.

“We’re asking that anyone in the community, if you’re aware of a small child possibly African-American between 2 and 4 that you have not seen in the neighborhood for the last couple of weeks, and you find that unusual or suspicious, call us,” Escalante said. “If you’re aware of a family that has a small child like that who hasn’t been seen for a couple of weeks, and you think that’s unusual, please call us.”

Anyone with information can reach police at 312-744-8261 or TextATip to CRIMES (274637) or 1-800-535-STOP.

Bill Bresnahan, managing deputy commissioner of the city’s Department of Water Management, said water is being pumped from the lagoon at about 350 gallons a minute through four pumps, but he didn’t know how long it would take to drain the lagoon. Three pumps are sending water into the sewer, and one pump is putting water in the extended part of the lagoon.