2 charged after infant's remains found buried at Wilmington home, Will County sheriff says

WILL COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- Two suspects have been charged after the remains of an infant who was born last year were found buried on their south suburban property on Saturday.

Nicole Pokrzywa, 36 of Wilmington, and William Cosmen, 38 of Manhattan, have been charged with desecration of a corpse after being arrested on Friday, the Will County Sheriff's Office said.

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Officials said detectives were first told about the remains in Wilmington on Thursday.

Detectives learned that a 36-year-old woman, Pokrzywa, had given birth in October 2024 at a home in the 400 block of North Street in Manhattan, and the infant's remains were buried and marked with a makeshift headstone on a property in the 1900 block of Roberts Street.

After securing a search warrant, deputies took Pokrzywa and Cosmen into custody on Friday around 9 a.m. Investigators found the infant's remains, wrapped in a plastic bag and cloth, inside what appeared to be an Old-Style Beer box about 36 inches underground.

Pokrzywa and Cosmen made incriminating statements regarding "the concealment of the death of the infant," the sheriff's office said.

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"Nicole and William indicated that the infant was born in a toilet, and William attempted to dispose of the body by forcing the body down the toilet drain with a plunger," a news release from the Will County Sheriff's Office read in part. "Nicole and William realized that the infant's body would not fit down the drain and left the deceased infant inside of the toilet overnight. The infant was described weighing five to seven pounds at the time of delivery. The infant was later removed from the toilet and wrapped in a plastic bag and green shirt and transported to the Roberts Road residence in Wilmington. Nicole and William stated that a hole was dug that was approximately three feet wide by four foot deep, and the remains were placed in the hole."

An autopsy was scheduled to be performed on Saturday.