While a young girl was out walking her dog on an expressway frontage road, the dog stopped and found the body lying in the bushes just south of Old Glenview Road. The girl rushed back to tell her mother what she spotted.
"She's dazed because over here, you don't expect to find -- anybody. It's hard to believe," said neighbor Ben Green.
The girl's mother told ABC7 Chicago she walked over to investigate and saw the body of a teenage boy with bad lesions to his torso and face. She says his leg was broken and unnaturally positioned, and there was a branch over his face.
Police were called, and the area was shut down.
Authorities were still sorting out the details Tuesday, but neighbors say it's possible the teenager was hit by a car speeding on the frontage road. That is why Green says he does not walk his dog in that area anymore.
"I don't take my dogs there because they [drivers] just come around the corner too fast. You don't have time to pull your dog back. So, I just don't even walk there anymore," Green said.
Police did tell some neighbors that the trauma on the body could have been caused some other way -- leaving them to worry about an otherwise safe area.
"It's a very safe area. You don't expect this to happen here in Skokie, Wilmette, " said Jim Szczesniak, who works nearby.
"Mainly, it's a very peaceful area. There's never been trouble here. There is always something going on with the park, but this is the first time this has happened," neighbor Andi Kleinberg said.
Wilmette police are still investigating.
