The man's body was later found by an employee looking for driftwood. He had been shot several times, but the body was too far decomposed to make an identification, the coroner's office said.
The body had likely been in the water for a couple of weeks, and Will County Sheriff's investigators ran down several leads over the next four years. But the case went cold.
Partial fingerprints were recovered and submitted to state and federal labs – but no matches came up. Dental evidence also did not match any known person.
In November 2008, Will County Coroner Patrick K. O'Neil created a part-time cold case unit composed of two retired police detectives. The following year, these investigators sent hair standards from the man found in the crate to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification – but a DNA database turned up no match, the coroner's office said.
In 2021, the coroner's office – under new Coroner Laurie Summers – partnered with Othram, a private lab for advanced DNA testing. The victim was disinterred with the help of the University of Illinois Forensic Anthropology Department, and skeletal standards were sent to Othram, the coroner's office said
On July 30, 1980, the man was found dead in a sealed wooden crate at the Lockport locks power plant.
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