A water department employee found a body inside a valve basin about 10:45 a.m. in the area of West 107th Place and South Loomis Street, police said.
A City Water Department crew did get to their assignment on Loomis after they discovered a yet unidentified body at the valve basin Wednesday. Isaac Nevitt watched on from his home few yards away with pointed interest.
"Hoping it's not her, and if it's not her, still praying for the family of whoever it is," said Isaac Nevitt.
Nevitt's wife, Latasha Nevitt, went missing two-and-a-half years ago. The body's location was extremely close to her home. Nevitt was last seen October 15, 2011, walking to a convenience store five blocks from her home near 107th and Loomis. Her family and volunteers helped search.
"We searched everywhere. We searched these buildings weren't even here at the time, we searched in the wooded area, we searched everywhere. But we never thought to look in the sewer," said Dawn Valenti, search volunteer.
For now, the identity of the person found wrapped in plastic is unknown, as is information about Latasha Nevitt.
"We kind of just really want to find out if the autopsy comes out positive, if that's her, that would just be an awesome thing to find out," said Lawrice Johnson, neighbor.
"They didn't tell me anything, they just told me they had to wait 'til today. To do an autopsy and find out what gender it is. They said they were going to let me know first thing in the morning, and I'm still waiting for it to come back now," said Isaac Nevitt.
Nevitt's family has been pleading for her safe return. They said they never believed she would just walk away from her life and children. Years ago, her parents passed out fliers in hopes of finding her. Her husband is the believed to be the last person to see her before she disappeared.
A city water crew said the woman was found in a valve basin where crews go to shut off the water main, a space with bricks around a valve. There is no water flow in or out of it. The body was stuffed in the space in a black, heavy-duty plastic bag with no ties. When the crew went to shut off the valve to work on the water main down the street, they say they found the body.
Latasha Nevitt's family has been told that the body found was a woman in her 30s, but a positive identification has not been made.
The Cook County Medical Examiner said Friday the body found in a sewer on the far South Side was a black female and remains unidentified. The autopsy was inconclusive on the cause of death.
