Man saw car with bodies weeks before calling cops

HENRY -- The man who ended a nationwide search for two central Illinois brothers by finding their bodies in their father's car saw the vehicle two weeks earlier but didn't call police, according to a published report.

Jon Henn first saw the 1991 Dodge Dynasty in rural Putnam County on March 14 but thought nothing of it, according to a story posted Thursday on the (Bloomington) Pantagraph Web site.

When he went back on March 29 and the car was still there, he looked inside and found the bodies of 9-year-old Duncan Leichtenberg and 7-year-old Jack.

"I had a gut feeling. I knew something wasn't right," Henn told the Pantagraph.

The brothers disappeared March 8 after their father, 40-year-old Michael Connolly, didn't return them to their mother in LeRoy from a custody visit.

Connolly's body was found about 60 yards away from the boys' bodies, and authorities said he hung himself. Henn, who was in the area to check on a family member's property, never saw Connolly's body.

Henn said as he glimpsed inside the car, he briefly hoped the boys were just resting.

"The older boy was lying down, like he was sleeping on a couch. I wanted to think that was the case," he said.

Henn said he hopes he gave the boys' mother "a little bit of justice" by finding their bodies.

Putnam County Coroner Robert Cofoid has said Jack Leichtenberg was stabbed in the back and prescription drug bottles were found at the scene. Autopsies for the boys were inconclusive and causes of death were pending toxicology tests.