1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,680 [Music] 2 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:19,680 Hello and welcome to our podcast Talk Groosent to me, where we talk about movies and shows that cover true crime, paranormal and horror. 3 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:27,920 I am one of your hosts, Dawn. I am currently located in Los Angeles and I think I'm pretty well versed in the horror genre, 4 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:35,360 especially those 80s classics. A quick fun fact about me? I have a very extensive crystal collection. 5 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:43,920 Hello, I'm Amy. I'm from Kentucky and my area of expertise for this podcast is paranormal. A few fun facts about me. 6 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:50,240 I'm an empath, I collect old dolls and you know, I've never flown on an airplane. Can you believe that? 7 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:57,760 Now, Dawn and I are also obsessed with true crime, so here we are. Talk Gruesome to me. 8 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:04,400 Welcome in. Today we're going to turn our attention to a case that has left more questions and answers. 9 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:10,320 The disappearance and death of 25 year old graduate student, Jelani Day. 10 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:17,600 I'm going to play a little snippet right now of an interview and it was taken from 25 News Now. 11 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:27,520 This is Jelani's mom, Carmen Bolden Day and she's speaking about some issues that she has with the way that the case was handled. 12 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:35,200 There's so many questions that I did not ask. There's so many things that I did not do that initial day. 13 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:42,560 When I was looking for you and now that I'm trying to retrace those things and go through those things, 14 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:52,560 I don't get those answers. Bolden Day says the Jelani Day joint task force failed her, a group of law enforcement groups. 15 00:01:52,560 --> 00:02:00,000 She says they lacked urgency, treated her rudely and dismissed information that could have assisted in the case for months. 16 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,680 For a whole year and a half, they missed a video of him pushing in his code on his phone. 17 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,720 I saw that video a year and a half later. I figured out the code in 10 days. 18 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:17,120 The family has created the Jelani Day Foundation to fight for equity and justice for missing people of color. 19 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:28,960 Jelani Day was a 25 year old graduate student at Illinois State University in Bloomington, Illinois and he was studying speech pathology. 20 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:36,080 He was originally from Danville, Illinois and he had been building a promising career in life. 21 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:46,480 Yeah, Jelani was very focused on his studies and his future, but in August of 2021, the life that he'd been building, it come to an end. 22 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:55,040 Here's what's known based on public records, news reports and statements from law enforcement and the family. 23 00:02:55,040 --> 00:03:03,920 On August 24th, 2021, there was surveillance footage. It showed Jelani entering Beyond Hello, 24 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:11,200 which is a cannabis dispensary and that was in Bloomington around 915 AM. 25 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:20,880 Earlier that morning, he had also been captured on video at the Bone Student Center at ISU around 720 AM. 26 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:30,720 The following day, August 25th, again, this is 2021, when Jelani failed to show up for classes or respond to calls, 27 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:37,280 his family and friends became concerned and he was reported at the time to be missing. 28 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:54,400 The following day on August 26th, his vehicle, a white 2010 Chrysler 300, was found abandoned in a wooden area near Peru, Illinois and that's about 60 miles north of Bloomington. 29 00:03:54,400 --> 00:04:00,560 This is odd, the license plate had been removed and the vehicle's keys were missing too. 30 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:09,040 On September 4th, a body was found in the Illinois River on the South Bank near Peru and that's in La Salle County. 31 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:20,800 Due to the decomposition, it took time to confirm identification, but on September 23rd, the La Salle County corner confirmed the remains were those of Jelani Day. 32 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:30,000 At that point, officially, the cause of death was ruled a drowning, but crucially, the matter of how he ended up in that river, 33 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:31,920 that was never determined. 34 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:42,560 Though the official cause is drowning, the details around how Jelani ended up in the river, those are still uncertain. 35 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:56,880 Over the years, Jelani's family, independent investigators and the media have all pointed out a number of puzzling facts and there are unanswered questions and we're going to talk about some of those. 36 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:07,600 The coroner's report and multiple law enforcement statements say there was no evidence of any prior injury or trauma before the death. 37 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:20,080 However, Jelani's mother Carmen Bolden Day, she has publicly disputed parts of that, especially given the severe decomposition, decomposition. 38 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:38,080 That probably did limit a lot that they could do in the coroner's report. The coroner even states that the condition of the remains, that did hinder and make the examination almost impossible. 39 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:50,640 Some of his belonging locations, those raised further questions, his wallet, that was found separate from the car and it was discovered in La Salle County North. 40 00:05:50,640 --> 00:06:04,560 His ISU lanyard, that was found along US Route 6, that was kind of near where the body was located but not exactly. 41 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,000 The license plate from his car, as we said, that was removed. 42 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,760 It was never recovered and the screws were missing too. 43 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:26,640 And then inside the trunk, the investigators found a journal, there was a marijuana blunt, there was a Tennessee license plate, which raises even more questions about how that plate got there. 44 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:35,360 Yeah, and all of these little parts of evidence, the items found miles apart, the removed plates, the missing keys. 45 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:42,800 All of that has just fueled speculation about what happened in the hours or days before his death. 46 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:52,000 Yeah, and there's another focal point too, his cell phone. So in November 21, investigators located his phone. 47 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:58,000 They forwarded it to the FBI and that's where they did some forensic analysis. 48 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:07,040 For a long time though, the phone remained locked and the investigators initially said it had nothing really a value. 49 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:13,760 But according to his mom, Carmen, she and her children, they eventually unlocked the phone. 50 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:25,440 They had seen her son unlock it and they discovered content that law enforcement deemed not helpful or irrelevant. 51 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:36,400 And then the phone had been disabled or something so there was no tracking, like location tracking during those important hours. 52 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:44,320 Yeah, but still you have the question remaining, did the data that they was able to get from the phone 53 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:54,800 hold clues that went unanalysed and was it maybe possibly they just couldn't retrieve it. And then when the investigation began, 54 00:07:54,800 --> 00:08:02,080 multiple agencies became involved, the Bloomington PD, Illinois State University Police, 55 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:12,240 Peru PD, La Salcaoni, the FBI, the Illinois State Police. There was also a Jelani day joint task force that was 56 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:17,680 formed as you heard in that audio earlier and that was to help coordinate the efforts as well. 57 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:28,720 Yeah, but in September of 2024 since then, that task force is not actively investigating in the sense of following new leads. 58 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:38,800 There's no publicity, breakthrough reports or new leads. In statements, law enforcement has said they remain open to tips, 59 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:48,000 but currently they have nothing to work with. The official state is that it was just a drowning, 60 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:54,240 but the matter accident, homicide, suicide or other, that's not even determined. 61 00:08:54,240 --> 00:09:02,800 And his mom, Carmen, she's publicly accused the investigators of neglecting leads. You kind of heard a little bit of that 62 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:09,760 in the audio as well, but things that were mentioned were shoe prints. There was a radio found near the body. 63 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:18,560 Jelani's closing ended up on the opposite bank of the river. And she's also criticized that law enforcement held 64 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:25,760 that phone for too long without unlocking it or analyzing it fully. Yeah, that's pretty. That's, I mean, 65 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:32,560 I would like to know the answers to that as well, but one more political development. That's in July, 66 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:41,280 2025, the US representative Bobby Rush and he's a Democrat and Illinois. He sent a letter to attorney general 67 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:49,360 Merrick Garland and also the FBI director Christopher Gray, calling the federal investigation on to 68 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:57,440 Jelani's disappearance and death to bring it to light. Rush notes disparities in how missing cases, 69 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:05,600 especially those that are involving black Americans are handled to other more high profile cases and 70 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:13,360 I'm assuming he meant cases of those who are not of color. And for Jelani's mother, Carmen, 71 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:21,200 obviously this case is deeply personal. And from the beginning, she has rejected the notion that 72 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:28,160 her son died by suicide or even by accident. She's vowed to never stop fighting for the truth. 73 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:36,160 She's organized and participated in fundraisers and awareness events through that Jelani Day foundation. 74 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:43,600 At their all white gala event, the family underscores not only his memory, but also the larger issue 75 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:50,080 of missing black people whose cases often receive less attention. Yeah, and in interview, 76 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:57,200 she has repeatedly emphasized her hurt at how the investigation was handled and her desire for 77 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:04,800 accountability. She also supported a documentary in development titled Unheard the Jelani Day Story. 78 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:11,520 She's asked why investigators ignored leads and she believes that some of those leads were valid 79 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:17,120 why the phone was held locked and why no one has been held responsible. 80 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:26,240 And because the official ruling left key aspects on a dress, speculations and theories are all 81 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:33,680 over the place. Some of the unresolved questions and hypotheses that have been proposed. 82 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:42,640 Yeah, like how did Jelani get into the river? Was he alone? Did someone else take him there? 83 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:50,400 Was it accidental or was it intentional? What happened in his final hours? With his phone off, 84 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:59,280 there's no witnesses accounts. Nothing was made public and that timeline for him. That's pretty 85 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:06,240 murky. There's just not a lot known. Also, why was his car found so far from Bloomington in a 86 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:14,320 wooded area? Why remove the license plate? Why leave the keys in a different place? Why was the trunk 87 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:21,360 containing weird stuff? Were all the leads and physical evidence fully and timely processed? 88 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:29,360 Were shoe prints, radios, fingerprints, DNA samples, and all these other clues? Were they given 89 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:39,200 thorough analysis? Exactly. And why was the phone locked for so long? And why where went the data? 90 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:49,680 Was it lost? Or maybe was it just ignored? Could the phone held messages? Calls location data? 91 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:55,520 I don't know. Maybe it did have information that could have pointed to what happened. 92 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:04,000 Is there also a possible a foul play? Murder? Or was this just an accident? 93 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:09,920 Something else? We're not sure because the manner of death is undetermined. And of course, 94 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,840 with that being the case, all possibilities still remain open. 95 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:20,560 Right. And some theories and possibilities. Let's go over those as well. There's the accidental 96 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:29,920 drowning. So perhaps maybe Jolani wandered, he fell in the river, drowned, and was unable to call for help. 97 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:35,200 But this theory struggles to explain how did he get to that location, 98 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:41,600 how did his car get where it was, and why was the license plate removed? 99 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:48,160 There's a lot of foot traffic and moving he would have had to have done before this. Yeah. 100 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:54,960 And it didn't add to make sense. Yep. And then there's the suicide possibility, 101 00:13:54,960 --> 00:14:01,840 investigators, and the family though, they all largely reject this. There's no known history 102 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:09,920 of self harm or anything like that. So that seems unlikely. Then there's the possibility of murder. 103 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:16,960 This is the theory that many of people in his family, his friends, community, they all think that 104 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:23,760 this is what happened. Some point to the vehicle's abandonment, which is totally suspicious, 105 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:32,400 the missing plate, which is odd. And then just his divided belongings, why are they all over the place? 106 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:42,400 Lastly, his phone being offline is odd. Yeah. Could it have been a third party involvement, maybe 107 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:50,880 possibly aduction? Some speculate that he may have been intercepted or forced, maybe 108 00:14:50,880 --> 00:14:58,480 possibly taken to the river and left there. Evidence, mishandling, or investigative oversight, 109 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:05,600 some suggest that mistakes and neglect in early stages, degraded evidence, and it did compromise 110 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:15,200 the case. Well, and because, you know, the manner of all of this is undetermined, all of these theories 111 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:23,200 are viable. And who knows what really happened because of everything that we just went over. In 112 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:32,960 yeah, present day, October 2025, this case is still open. There's very limited visible progress. 113 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:41,680 The Jelani Day Joint Task Force is said to be trying to get tips, but no active 114 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:49,040 leads have really been talked about recently. There is a reward that's still active. There's public 115 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:56,800 pressure that continues via media, community events, the foundation, calls to political figures, 116 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:04,720 etc. So, you know, they're trying to still keep this in people's view, which is why we're doing this. 117 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:13,920 The 2025 Gala, that marked four years since its disappearance and his mom used that Gala to 118 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:21,200 continue to push for justice. In some of the local reporting, the official stance remains that 119 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:29,840 the cause is drowning, but there's no manner of death. So, I don't know. Yeah, if you're listening and 120 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:38,000 you have information or you want to help, you can share his story on social media. Listen to podcasts, 121 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:44,880 do podcasts, somebody cover this as well. You can have community groups and that does keep awareness 122 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:51,760 high. If you live or travel through the area in Illinois, look up local calls for tips. If you 123 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:59,120 have it for head contact with or saw someone matching his last known path, maybe you think that you 124 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:07,200 could have seen him in that time in the late August. Maybe you recognize him or maybe early September 125 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:14,240 of 2021 that was around August and September and you were possibly in that area. Contact the 126 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:20,880 relevant law enforcement agencies, support organizations or foundations that amplify missing 127 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:28,160 person cases, especially those involving black Americans whose cases are often received less 128 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:36,320 attention. That right there is that helps. If you can find pages on Facebook groups to share his 129 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:42,800 name and you can post about him. And his story, a Jelani Day, see his name one last time, 130 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:52,000 this remains a complete heart-wrenching mystery. A young life was cut short. His family is demanding 131 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:58,800 accountability. The community, they want closure, they want this solved. So, like Amy just said, 132 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:03,760 if you believe you have any kind of information, even if it's just something small, 133 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:11,360 that could be the thread that unravels this truth here. So try to rack your brain if you were in 134 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:19,120 that area and contact those proper authorities. Yeah, and like I mentioned the pages on Facebook, 135 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:26,000 I'm following some of those. Maybe start asking questions and those have someone look into them. 136 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:34,960 Maybe you can get his name out there through that way. I mean, those avenues do work to keep the 137 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:43,760 name alive. And also on a side note, it is kind of relevant to what's been happened in here recently. 138 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:51,200 There's kind of a pattern of black men who are classified to have committed suicide. And that 139 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:59,920 is by hanging from trees. Their friends and family, they disagree and believe that those men are 140 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:07,440 murdered. We just wanted to mention the two recent ones and that is Trey Reed in Mississippi 141 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:15,280 and Earl Smith in New York. We aren't going to get into the details, but we wanted to make sure 142 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:24,240 that those names do get mentioned here. Definitely. It seems like a pattern in our history here. 143 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:32,880 We, it's such a touchy subject in Amy and I want to make sure that we're really careful in our words 144 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:41,440 and how we handle this because clearly neither of us were both white women, but it's important that 145 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:50,000 as non people of color that we are all speaking out as well. So we just wanted to mention those 146 00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:55,680 two names because they really were recent. They were in the last few months. Absolutely. And 147 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:03,360 classified suicide as well with questioning, surrounding from family and friends. So yeah. 148 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:10,640 All right. Next time we're back with our Ed Gein Trio, we'll be covering paranormal. 149 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:22,080 Exciting. We got against work on. I know. We will. Tim. Tim. We will meet back here in two weeks. Amy 150 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:29,120 and I talked about the timeline because I'm sure listeners who have been following us for a while 151 00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:36,960 know that we went from one week to two weeks because of our crazy lives. But Amy has been going out 152 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:43,520 more and trying to do paranormal lives, which is amazing. In November and December, I will be in 153 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:51,040 Ohio for a little while each month. Yay. We're probably for now just sticking to the every other 154 00:20:51,040 --> 00:21:00,880 week and then we'll reassess that in a couple of months and see what happens after my big holiday 155 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:10,960 trips and maybe just maybe we can get together during that time. I think we can make it work. Yes. 156 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:16,160 I forgot to tell you that I did talk to Shannon and he's like, "down I don't know why I didn't text you 157 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:21,200 that back." Part of the time we were talking about it, I was texting you, but yeah, we're going to 158 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:31,760 get together next month. Okay. Yes. We will meet you back here in two weeks for a gain that continuation. 159 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:39,760 Thanks everybody for listening. Spread the word on not just Jelani but also the other two stories 160 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:47,120 that we mentioned at the end. Yes. Trey Reed from Mississippi and Earl Smith from New York. 161 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,760 Thank you for listening. Till next time guys. Bye. 162 00:21:51,760 --> 00:22:03,040 Thanks for making it to the end and hanging out with us. Keep on the lookout for our next episode 163 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:10,560 and stay gruesome.