Man decapitated by homemade pipe bomb

The Evanston Police Department along with the FBI are looking for answers following a Tuesday morning discovery of a man decapitated by a pipe bomb in a park near an Evanston middle school.

Police confirmed the body of 21-year-old Colin Dalebroux of the 1000 block of Main Street was found decapitated by a homemade pipe bomb and have seized a computer from the man's home that they believe contains "pertinent information" in their investigation of the incident.

Dale Wyatt, 31, who lives a half-block away from the park said he found the decapitated body at about 5:15 a.m. when he took his dog for a walk in the park next to Nichols Middle School, on the 800 block of Greenleaf Street.

"He wouldn't let me go back to sleep so I said OK fine," Wyatt said. "He just kept pulling me toward it. I thought it was a rabbit. At first I didn't think it was a real body but after looking closer I thought 'that looks pretty real to me.'"

Wyatt said he found a decapitated shirtless man with his legs folded under his body and after calling a neighbor over to confirm that it was a real body, he called the police. The man was found about 20 feet from the park's tennis courts, he said.

Wyatt said he saw a brown paper bag about 6 feet from the man and a black jug about 15 feet from him.

Liana Jackson of the Cook County sheriff's office said their investigation shows that the man made the bombs at his Evanston home.

"It was clear that he knew what he was doing when he built the bomb," she said.

Evanston Police Cmdr. Tom Guenther said the police department was notified at approximately 3:53 a.m. about an explosion in the area, but police could not find the source because the calls lacked an exact location. Police hope a forensic investigation of the man's computer will lead to answers, but no suicide note was left behind.

A second bomb was found near the body, but was detonated by the Cook County Sheriff's Bomb Squad shortly after, police confirmed.

Police said Dalebroux "was known" to another police agency in the area, and the agency is helping with the investigation. No further details on his connection to the agency were released Tuesday.

Residents of the area said they heard an explosion at approximately 4 a.m. that shook nearby houses and was heard up to a mile away.

Anne Seidenbecker, who lives across from the school, said she was awaked by the explosion and originally thought it was lightning.

"I really didn't process what it was," she said. "When I realized later what it was, I processed that it was more than lightning it was a pretty large boom."

Seidenbecker said a police officer came to her door at around 8:30 a.m. and asked the family to evacuate the house because there had been a bomb.

She said the entire block was evacuated, and the family could only enter their home through the back alley while the area was still taped off.

A friend of Seidenbecker's who lived about a mile away from the explosion told her that her son heard the first explosion.

Evanston District 65 officials announced on the Nichols Middle School website at nichols.district65.net that school was closed Tuesday due to an "unforeseen police emergency." They asked parents to come back to the website later for additional details.

Nichols Middle School remained closed Wednesday, but will reopen Thursday.

•Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.