DNA proves two body halves in Cook County are the same body

The partial remains of a body found in Arlington Heights in April are those of the same adult white or Hispanic male as those found in May in a Cook County Forest Preserve near Des Plaines, Arlington Heights police said Tuesday.

DNA samples have confirmed that the two grisly finds are the same person. The lower part of the body was found in a garbage bag April 16 at Marketview Apartments near Dryden Place and Kensington Road in Arlington Heights.

The badly decomposed upper part was discovered on May 6 in Lions Woods near Golf and River roads along the south bank of the Des Plaines River.

It was three months after the second discovery that the Illinois State Police Forensic Crime Lab notified Arlington Heights police late last week about the results of the forensic testing.

The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide due to trauma to the skull, said Commander Kenneth Galinski of the Arlington Heights Police Department.

However, the exact manner of death is not known, he said.

"We weren't able to tell because the skull was so caved in," he said. "We're not sure. There are no bullet fragments. Right now we are saying blunt trauma."

Investigators will ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation to do a facial reconstruction because images that show what the man looked like might help get him identified, said Galinski.

However, Galinski is skeptical it will help in this case.

"We've only had a handful of calls even saying someone is missing and could be this person," he said. "That's very surprising."

DNA from the body was submitted to a national database but there was no match, Galinski said. This could mean the man was never arrested or at least not charged with a felony.

Authorities recovered some teeth from the body, but those are useful only when they can be compared with dental charts from someone thought to be the victim.

Arlington Heights police are working with the Cook County Sheriff's office and the Cook County Forest Preserve Police to identify the man and determine who killed him, said Galinski.

No one from the sheriff's office would comment Tuesday.

Galinski said he did not believe this body was connected to the mid-April drug arrests that authorities labeled "Dial-a-Rock" - a cocaine ring operating in the Northwest suburbs for at least a decade.

"I personally don't think it is related," said Galinski. "The timing is there but otherwise there is nothing to say it definitely is."

The detective speculates that the man was cut up to make it harder for police to learn what happened.

"In separate locations like this it is harder to identify who it is, who did it and where it happened," he said.

The man is white or Hispanic and the only identifiable marks that were found on the lower part of the body are three tattoos. Two of the tattoos appear to be the image of a "joker," also known as "Laugh Now Cry Later." The image of the joker smiling appears on the right side of the pelvic area, and the image of the sad joker is on the left side of the pelvis. Investigators also found the letter "C" just above the right knee and approximately 1 inch in size.

Most of the skin was gone from the head and torso found near Des Plaines.

Galinski said it is not known whether the man was dead or alive when the body was cut just above the pelvis with an unknown sharp instrument.