Police send off DNA from severed body for possible identification
It might be more than a week before Arlington Heights police can identity the severed body found in an alley Friday night.
"We're taking DNA samples and sending them downstate," said Cmdr. Ken Galinski of the Arlington Heights Police Department. "We're first in line, but it may take a while."
Police do know the partial body belonged to a male, either white or Hispanic.
They also know that the person was not involved in the drug bust from last week, Galinski said.
"Everyone involved in that has been accounted for," he said.
Six ringleaders and 25 customers were arrested on Thursday after police busted a drug operation they say has distributed cocaine throughout the Northwest suburbs for the past 10 years. Arlington Heights police uncovered the ring using a tip from an informant.
The partial body was found late Friday near a Dumpster behind the Marketview Apartments. It was wrapped in an extra-large black garbage bag next to trash receptacles.
Police said a canvass of the neighborhood determined the remains were most likely deposited there after 7 a.m. Wednesday.
For the past year, the apartment complex on the 0-100 block of North Dryden Place has been quiet, but it wasn't always that way, Galinski said.
"A few years ago, we did get quite a few disturbance calls about people fighting in the parkways, that kind of thing," he said. "But recently we haven't had many (police) calls."
Medical examiner's officials on Saturday said the body was severed just above the pelvis by a sharp instrument, such as a blade. The office could not determine the victim's identity or age, or the time of death.
A spokeswoman also said they could not determine exactly how the victim died, or if he was killed before being cut.
Police believe the upper half of the body is probably no longer in Arlington Heights.
"If it was in a Dumpster someone would've noticed the smell by now," Galinski said. "It could be in a landfill, but that would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack."