Man's body sat unidentified at Cook County morgue for more than 2 years, family says

CHICAGO (WLS) -- There are new developments Wednesday in the ABC7 I-Team's investigation into a "morbid mess."

There's a new claim from a family who says their loved one's body sat at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, without them knowing, for more than two years.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office is telling the I-Team it did all it could but was unable to identify the young man until the family spotted a picture on the morgue's website.

The family members turned to the I-Team, asking how a body could go unidentified for two years and two months.

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"He's my baby cousin, and I'm just going to do whatever I can to fight for him," Latonya Cole said.

Cole and her family say they're desperate for answers from the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office about 28-year-old Jermaine Richards.

"He had been there for two years and two months already," Cole said. "This is a disgrace. It's unacceptable. How could they keep a body so long?"

Richards drowned in Lake Michigan in May of 2022 but wasn't identified until July of 2024. Jermaine Richards's father, Tommie Richards, says he was calling local police departments within weeks of not hearing from his son.

"I had no idea he was in the morgue, and that was the last thing on my mind," Tommie Richards said.

Then, an official missing person's report was eventually filed by his cousins in January of 2024.

"He traveled, and he was out enjoying his life," cousin Luke Holloway said. "The year, four months may seem like it's been a long time, and it was, but we have a big family. We thought that people had spoken to him."

And even after that missing person's report was filed, it was another seven months before Richards's identity was verified by the medical examiner's office, only after family members called when they identified a picture with a familiar tattoo, on the medical examiner's unidentified persons website.

READ MORE | Misspelled name caused man to sit in Cook County morgue for 6 weeks, family says

"It's still a shock to us, because we didn't know that he would be there," Cole said.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office says it does not have access to missing persons reports filed with police.

"We have so much, so much technology, how someone that sits alone, tattoos, bone density, teeth, hair, fingernails?" uncle Edward Jenkins said.

The medical examiner's office says Richards's body was discovered "without any identification and was decomposing," and that city and state police immediately tried to take fingerprints but couldn't because of the decomposition. A DNA sample was submitted for testing. However, the Illinois State police lab says it didn't get that sample from Chicago Police until November of 2023, more than a year and a half later.

Chicago police have not commented on the case nor the delay.

That sample finally came back in May of 2024, inconclusive. The medical examiner's office also says dental samples were uploaded to a national database weeks after Richards arrived and that the FBI took fingerprints with "enhanced methods," a year after the body was there.

The family says they feel like the medical examiner could have done more to inform them and is asking why that collaboration with the FBI didn't happen sooner and why there was not match since Richards was a TSA employee. The family's attorney also pointed out that according to the medical examiner's office own statement, the medical examiner's office was able to work "with the FBI to confirm identification."

The medical examiner's office did not comment further, and neither did the FBI.

"This is unconscionable, and I just can't quite, yeah, I think about it daily," Holloway said.

The I-Team has uncovered three other similar complaints in recent years.

Ruthie McKinnie's son Kelvin Davis sat in the morgue for six weeks even though the family had been calling there. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office blamed it on miscommunication, a name mix-up on a police report, and Davis not having an ID.

McKinnie filed a lawsuit. Part of it is about a fight to obtain a more detailed timeline about what happened while Davis was in the morgue and who handled the case.

The county says it has provided the legally required, redacted information and has filed a motion to dismiss.

Richards's family and their attorney say they too may file a lawsuit.

"How do you keep a body for 813 days and not try to find anyone?" Cole said.

Families are now getting one state legislator to draft a bill, to be filed next year, which proponents say would improve accountability by limiting the immunity of the medical office making it easier for people to have civil recourse.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office says people with missing loved one should check its website and attend an annual "missing persons day" event they hold in the spring. The office says it treats people who have died with dignity and respect and it's offered deepest condolences.