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'Justice for Jelani Day' trends after Illinois teen's body found with missing organs

An autopsy performed by a private forensic pathologist suggested that his jawbone had been 'sawed out'

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Update: In an unexpected twist to Jelani Day's brutal murder case, the mother of the slain student has now refuted the claim of vital organs missing from his body. Carmen Bolden-Day stated: “No organs were missing. I do not want to stray off from the facts. There were contradicting facts from the first preliminary autopsy compared to the second independent autopsy, but this is not a case of organ harvesting."

As the investigation into the death of Illinois grad student and aspiring doctor, Jelani Day, continues, authorities have claimed that the circumstances are "unusual". As the mystery surrounding his death grows, his family has said that they suspect foul play. Amid the investigation, a recent report said that Day's body had no organs when it was found.

A report in Chicago Sun Times stated that Day's corpse had no eyeballs, only sockets. The body was reportedly missing its front top and bottom teeth. An autopsy performed by a private forensic pathologist suggested that his jawbone had been “sawed out”.

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Days' family and their attorney said they could find no brain, no liver, no spleen -- no organs. According to a pathology report, the organs were “completely liquefied." The genitalia was unidentifiable. Attorney Hallie M Bezner that she is trying to seek scientific explanations for the severely decomposed body of Day. 

Before Day's body was discovered, his mother expressed her distress because of the limited coverage of their son's case. Carmen Day had said, "I was very frustrated with the fact that Jelani hadn’t been getting the coverage. Jelani has been missing for 24 days. It appears that help has ceased. I’m imploring, pleading, and asking that the police still pay attention and look for my son.” She had cited Gabby Petito's case and added, "Her face is plastered everywhere, and the FBI is involved. And I do not understand why Jelani doesn’t get that same coverage; Jelani doesn’t get that same attention."

Social media demands justice for Day

Meanwhile, social media is demanding justice for Day. "After a month of “searching” this is how Jelani was found. He had no eyeballs, no face, no scalp, jaw bone sawed out, no ORGANS, not even a liver, and the most craziest of all no brain. Sound familiar like history keeps repeating itself…. His family deserve to know #JELANIDAY," one user wrote on Twitter. "This sound like the shit that happened to Emmet Till. Jelani Day had no eyeballs, no face, no scalp, jaw bone sawed out, no ORGANS, not even a liver, and the most craziest of all no brain. I literally have chills I can’t even type correctly. #JusticeForJelaniDay," wrote another user.

While one user wrote, "As we all knew what the outcome would be .. I’m speechless #JelaniDay autopsy came back and his organs along with his brain was missing he had no insides and both rows top and bottom of his teeth were missing he had no eye balls in his eye socket NOTHING! #JelaniDay #share", another said, "Jelani didn't kill himself his body was found with no organs no eyes, his genitalia was damaged etc this wasn't a suicide he was murdered & no one is coming forward #JelaniDay #Murdered #HisFamilyNeedsJustice".

Here's a look at some more social media reactions:

The Illinois State University student went missing on August 25 but only gained attention much later after the massive interest in the case of Gabby Petito. The 25-year-old student's body was found floating in the Illinois River but it took 19 days to identify, sparking furious backlash on social media over the difference between the case of a White person and a Black person.