Giraffe figurine providing good leads, coroner says

Investigators trying to identify a dead man found over the weekend near Park City have some "promising leads," Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said Tuesday.

Newspaper articles published this week, particularly one accompanied by photographs of a giraffe figurine found near the badly decomposed body, have prompted more than a dozen people to call with possible information, Keller said.

Officials believe the man was homeless and camped in the area where he was found Sunday morning. They hope dental comparisons, DNA and two partial fingerprints taken from the body could help confirm the man's identity.

The corpse was discovered in a grassy area near Eighth Street and Chestnut Avenue. The spot is within the Lake County Forest Preserve District's 560-acre Greenbelt preserve.

An autopsy did not reveal how the man died. There were no obvious signs of foul play, Keller said.

The body may have been there about a month, Keller said.

The nearly 14-inch-tall brown and tan giraffe was found near the man's body, along with clothing and remnants of a tent, Keller said.

Keller has received reports of a local homeless man who owned such a giraffe but has not been seen in his usual haunts lately.

Lake County Forest Preserve District ranger police and the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the death.

Anyone with information about the case should call forest district police Chief John Tannahill at (847) 968-3405 or Cmdr. Jim Siefken at (847) 968-3437. People also can call the coroner's office at (847) 377-2200.