Boy abandoned in DuPage County gets name back

Five years after burying an abandoned boy they never knew, DuPage County authorities finally were able to see a name etched into the gravestone: Atcel Olmedo.

Atcel, whose body was found in October 2005 in Naperville Township, was known as DuPage County’s Johnny Doe until the DuPage sheriff’s office was able to identify the child through a DNA profile, officials said.

Then in September, DuPage County Coroner Pete Siekmann and two representatives from the sheriff’s office returned to Atcel’s gravesite in Wheaton’s Assumption Cemetery to watch the name added to the tombstone that previously had simply read: “Son Unknown — But Not Forgotten Oct. 8, 2005.”

“It was wonderful to see him get back his identity,” said Siekmann, adding that Atcel was buried in October 2007. “He went a long time being unknown.”

Siekmann said the DuPage County Funeral Directors Association and a monument company covered the cost of updating Atcel’s grave. Meanwhile, the boy’s death certificate is in the process of being updated.

But Siekmann said there are still many unanswered questions, including how Atcel died.

The toddler’s badly decomposing body was found in a blue canvas laundry bag near Route 59 and I-88 in a wooded area between Naperville and Warrenville. An autopsy didn’t find obvious signs of trauma.

“To still not know what happened and to still not know the answers behind his death is something that will be in the back of my mind forever,” said Siekmann, who is retiring this month.

Siekmann says he’s hoping that there will be a break in the case someday.

Dawn Domrose, a DuPage sheriff’s office spokeswoman, said no charges have been filed and there have been no recent leads.

“It’s still an open investigation and all leads are pursued as they’re developed,” said Domrose, adding that the boy’s mother and father are believed to be in Mexico.

There is still a reward of $11,000 being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.