Money Crimes with Nicole Lapin - Jelani Day: The River Never Gave Him Back

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

In August 2021, 25-year-old Illinois State University graduate student Jelani Day was last seen leaving a dispensary in Bloomington-Normal, far from his apartment and with no clear reason to be there. His car was found abandoned miles away. Weeks later, his unclothed body was recovered from the Illinois River. The coroner ruled accidental drowning, but his mother refused to accept that answer. She launched a relentless public campaign that put a spotlight on how missing Black men are treated by investigators and the media. How did a focused, driven graduate student end up in a river with no explanation?  For more, follow The Final Hours wherever you listen to podcasts: https://pod.link/1872821250 For Ad-free listening to episodes, subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts.  🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals Clues, Crimes Of…, Crime House 24/7, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Murder True Crime Stories, and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow me on Social Instagram: @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia YouTube: @crimehousestudios To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Before we get into today's episode, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll love, Hidden History with Dr. Harini Bot. Every Monday, Dr. Bot goes where history gets mysterious, vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena, and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files, not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations.

waiting for a closer look. Hidden history drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery. This is Crime House. You're watching a surveillance video from a Starbucks at the Illinois State University Student Center. The date reads August 24, 2021. At 7.19 a.m., a 25-year-old man enters in black slacks, a black belt, in black dress shoes. His blue long-sleeved dress shirt matches his blue surgical mask. His name is Jolani Day. At 7.21 a.m., he orders at the register,

then sits down while the barista makes his drink. At 724, he grabs his order and walks out. This is Jolani's second week of in-person graduate classes for speech pathology, so he's dressed up for that. And he's meeting a patient later that day. But inexplicably, Jolani doesn't show up for any of it. Instead, what happens over the next two hours is mostly a mystery, until he appears on another set of surveillance cameras at 9.11 a.m.

This footage is in the parking lot at a cannabis dispensary, three miles away from campus. Jelani gets out of his white 2010 Chrysler 3,000, in totally different clothes. Now a black Jimmy Hendrix tea, gray shorts, a blue Detroit Lions baseball hat, and Nike high tops. He walks inside, goes to the counter,

and buys a single blunt in cash. Then he gets back in his car and sits for four minutes before driving away. This is the last known sighting of Jolani Day. Eleven days later, he'll be found dead, 60 miles away from his last known location, with no explanation of why he went there. Every year, over half a million people go missing, and that's just in the United States alone.

Most of those stories barely get a headline. Some don't even get a flyer or a tip line. And when cases do get media attention, we usually only get the broad strokes. But for those of us who have lived these true crime cases, we know the devil's in the details. This is the final hours, a crimehouse original powered by Pave Studios. I'm Sarah Turney. And I'm Courtney Nicole. Every Monday, Sarah and I will be looking at the final hours of someone's disappearance,

the small, seemingly mundane moments to see if there was anything hiding in plain sight. Looking back at those last conversations, connections, and choices is critical, and it could be the key to unlocking it all. Each episode I'll offer insight on what those close to the victim might have been going through. And Courtney will use her expertise to give more context into the crime scene, the red flags, and the investigation itself. And we want to thank you for being a part of the crimehouse community. Please rate, review, and follow the show. And for ad-free access to every episode, subscribe to Crimehouse Plus on Apple Podcasts. This time we're discussing the disappearance of 25-year-old Jolani Day.

In August 2021, he was starting his first in-person semester at Illinois State University for his graduate degree in speech pathology. He was excited to see his first patient on the 24th. That day, he dressed nicely, worked on his patient's chart, and grabbed Starbucks at the student center. But before his appointment, he left campus, stopped at a dispensary, and was never seen alive again. The case of Jolani Day is one you just cannot get out of your head, mainly because it feels like so much more could have been done. Jelani was the kind of young man who thought about everybody else first.

He planned to be a speech pathologist, commonly known as a speech therapist, so he could give voices to those who struggled to speak. Afterwards, he wanted to become a doctor so his mom wouldn't have to work. He was planning to donate stem cells to a sick father. But when he went missing, the police hesitated to take his case seriously. and the FBI wouldn't take the case at all. But before we discuss what didn't happen for Jolani Day, let's talk about all the things that did happen in his life.

It's 2021. 25-year-old Jalani was born and raised in Danville, Illinois, the fourth of five siblings. His siblings meant everything to him. Growing up, all the day children took pride in their grades. They had a friendly competition to see who could get their GPA the highest. But really, all Jolani wants out of life is to help the people he can. cares about, especially those who struggled to speak. Growing up, he had a friend named Paul,

who used to get teased for his speech impediment, and that had a big effect on Jolani. Jolani earned a scholarship for academics end track, so he went on to get a bachelor's degree in communicative sciences and disorders from Alabama A&M, a historically black college where he was an A student. While in undergrad, Jalani was a member of the prestigious black fraternity Omega Sci-Fi, along with a civic leadership and mentoring organization called 100 Black Men of Greater Huntsville and its campus-based program Collegiate 100. He graduated at the top of his class and was given the honor of saying the prayer at his commencement ceremony.

Now he's enrolled in graduate school at Illinois State University, working towards his master's degree in speech pathology. His older brothers look up to him. They're proud of his intelligence, athleticism, and drive, and his desire to make a real difference in the world. But Jolani really wants, though, is to get married and have about six kids. And he wants to be successful enough to not just take care of them, but to provide for his parents too. In the summer of 2021, 25-year-old Jolani starts his first year of grad school in speech pathology.

Classes are still remote because of COVID, so he attends via Zoom. He gets good grades, but he needs frequent reminders to turn in his assignments. Sometimes he has to complete extra credit to make up for the work he missed. Really, he just seems distracted. Which we can't blame him for, because Jolani's dad's savee is battling leukemia, and he needs a stem cell transplant. Jolani's the closest match to his father, and he's ready to donate. It's a scary time, but Jolani knows how important this is. But so is school.

It's a lot to balance for a 25-year-old. Especially because life's going to change a lot soon. The world is switching back on after COVID. In-person classes are resuming in the fall. which the school only just announced. So on top of everything, Jelani's scrambling to find an apartment in the city of Bloomington near campus.

He's also got some new job opportunities in the works. He just spoke to his cousin, Edward Butler, who's the president of Danville's N-A-C-P chapter, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Edward wants to make Jolani his youth director and chairperson. Jolani is super excited about this idea. He's also excited about being back in the class. classroom again. On August 16th, 2021, Jelani attends his first day of in-person sessions at ISU.

At least one of his teachers senses that Jolani might be a bit lonely, though. They think it's because Jolani's the only male and the only black person in his speech pathology program. Which is a bit of a change from what he's used to. Jolani grew up in Danville, a town with a 33% black population. The national average is 14%, and Bloomington Normal, where his camp campus is, is around 10%. This is a lot of change for one person. This is a lot of stress and a lot of change. Yeah, all at once too, and I just can't imagine what it's like for him to go kind of in a

place where he's like more equally represented to now going to a place where he's really underrepresented. You know, both of us can acknowledge that it's not a struggle that we know, but I think it's a struggle that's important to discuss. And like you said, I'll never fully understand what that felt like for him, walking into spaces where he was suddenly the only one who looked like him. As a white person, that's just not something that I really ever had to carry. But I wanted to point this out because it's not something that you would typically think of when going off to college. But in his case, and so many others

just like him, it is honestly a really big deal. And it's not always an easy transition. Yeah, I totally agree. And like I was saying, there's so much transition right now. He's going back to in-person classes, you know, right in the middle of COVID, basically. It's just, it's a lot, I think, for anybody to deal with. And on top of everything, right, his dad's sick. And he's the one that has to give the stem cells to, you know, hopefully make him better. It's just stress on top of stress, on top of stress. Well, let's hop to Monday, August 23rd, 2021, two weeks into classes.

At 11 a.m. that day, Jolani meets with one of his instructors for a difficult conversation. They've noticed he's struggling with his coursework and think he could be doing better. He seems frustrated and upset that he's not performing his performance. well as he'd like. Afterwards, he calls his mom, Carmen Bolden Day. He mentions how tomorrow, Tuesday, he has a clinical meeting with a patient. To fulfill his academic requirements, he'll be treating clients at the ISU speech and hearing clinic, diagnosing and giving therapy under supervision. He seems really passionate about it. And he says the same thing as usual before ending the conversation. Okay, Mama, I just wanted to hear your voice.

Jolani has a class at 1 p.m., but he shows up almost half an hour late, which is really out of character for him. He rushes in, sits down, and opens up his laptop to take notes. He seems frantic to other students, but he's quiet throughout class, which is also strange for Jolani. He usually participates. Class ends at 2.15 p.m. He often goes with his classmates to do homework afterward at Fairchild Hall, where their department is located, but not today. At 6.23 p.m., Jalani talks to Carmen for the second time that day. He finishes the conversation with the same, Okay, Mama, I'll talk to you later. I just wanted to hear your voice.

She says, okay, Bay, I'll talk to you in the morning. But they'll never get that chance. Between 657 and 9.23 p.m. that night, Jolani talks and texts with Kara Booster, the Director of Clinical Education at ISU. They talk about how he just completed a two-step tuberculosis test, a requirement for him to see his patient the next day at 3 p.m. During the conversation, Jelani sends Kara his results,

but she notices they're from the one-step test. They make a plan for him to go to the student health center the next morning to start the second step. If he does that and shows her before his clinical, he can see his patient. If he doesn't, he'll be out of compliance and won't be able to do it. After that, at 9.41 p.m. that night, Jelani has a short phone conversation with his older brother.

This is the last call on Jolani's cell. The following day, on Tuesday, August 24th, Jolani gets an early start. He puts on a blue dress shirt, black slacks, a black belt, and black dress shoes. He wants to look professional for his first clinical. He drives to campus and walks to Fairchild Hall. Around 6.50 a.m., he swipes his ID to access the computer lab. Anticipating the appointment, he spends nine minutes making changes to his client's chart. Afterwards, he exits the building and sits on a bench and uses his phone.

Then he walks back across campus. At 7.19 a.m., Jolani arrives at the Starbucks inside ISU's Bone Student Center. He orders at 721, sits down for two minutes, and at 723 he's out of there, coffee in hand. But he never goes for that TB test like he's supposed to, and he doesn't go to his classes later that afternoon either. Instead, he drives back to his apartment and changes out of his clothes. At 9.12 a.m., Jalani arrives at the Beyond Hello Cannabis Dispensary in Bloomington, 10 minutes away from campus. Marijuana is legal in Illinois, and it's not unusual for Jolani to smoke once in a while. He goes into the store, now wearing a black Jimmy Hendrix tea, gray shorts, black Nike high tops, and a blue Detroit Lions hat. Jolani buys one joint and a blue Detroit Lions hat. Jolani buys one joint

leaves. This change of clothing kind of really throws me for a loop because he seems really excited for this clinical and like really looking forward to it. And he even woke up that day and dressed like in his best clothes. So kind of confuses me why he then goes back and then changes into something a little bit more like relaxed. You know what I was thinking was maybe he didn't want his nice clothes to smell like weed. Oh, that makes actually perfect sense. You know what I mean? Like he wants to be professional. He wants to show up. But maybe he wants this, you know, blunt for after a, you know, hard days work. Yeah, and you know, it's perfectly legal. It's perfectly legal there. And if he's known to do it, like there's really no harm. So yeah, that, that actually makes perfect sense.

Maybe he did like a workout at home. He's trying to like get the jitters out. I don't know. You know, part of me reads this as like maybe he needed a mental health day. Maybe it was all too much and he just needed to take a step back and kind of like recalibrate. But also, again, just with a change of clothes, I'm thinking he didn't want that smell to linger. Honestly, yeah, I probably wouldn't either, especially if you're really wanting to be professional and, like, really make a good impression. I can totally see that happening. However, you know, I do think at this point, though, that he was planning on going back to campus. And like I said, he just seems really, like, excited about this. He's not just doing it for himself, but he's also doing it to, like, take care of his mom and his future

family. And, like, this is a very necessary next step to proceed in the program. So to me, it does seem like he wants to go back to the campus and complete this clinical. Yeah. I mean, obviously, neither of us like knew Jilani, right? But it does seem like he was obviously a very overachiever. He worked really hard to get into this position. So I don't see really anybody just throwing it away like this. It doesn't make any sense to me, especially something as easy as showing up, you know, to get the second part of a TB test and then going to a clinical. I feel like all the studying, all the preparation, this is what it leads up to is more of these, I don't want to say easier, but almost like the fruits of your labor. He's finally getting to do his first clinical.

and that's exciting. I think he was going to celebrate at the end of the day with his blunt. I mean, that's just my theory. That day, Tuesday, August 24th, Jelani doesn't check in with the director of clinical education, Kara. He doesn't complete his TB test.

He doesn't show up to see his patient at 3 p.m. He doesn't call or text to let anyone know he's going to be absent. And his phone is going straight to voicemail. After being spotted at that dispensary, Jolani just disappears. but not without a trace. Think about some of the cases that defined true crime in America.

Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, the Karen retrial. Some crime cases are so shocking. They don't just make headlines they forever change a country. I'm Katie Ring, host of America's most infamous crimes. Each week, I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases, whether it's unfolding now or etched into American history, revealing not just what happened, but how it forever changed our society. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that kept detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think

about justice. Each case unfolds across multiple episodes, released every Tuesday through Thursday, from the first sign that something was wrong to the moment the truth came out or didn't. These are the stories behind the headlines. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes available now wherever you get your podcasts. It's Wednesday, August 25th, 2021, the day after Jolani missed his first clinical. Today at noon, Jalani misses a clinic meeting and he doesn't show up for his 1 p.m. class. Kara and a couple of other worried faculty members go to the department chair, Gene Sawyer. They discuss Jolani's tardiness, missing classes, and clinicals, and now he's not responding to calls and texts.

Gene submits a report to the Redbird Care Team, a unit under student affairs that help students who are struggling or showing concerning behavior. The manager assigned to Jolani's case checks in with ISU's dining services and recreation center. He hasn't been active with either. The manager leaves Jolani a voice message. By 5 p.m., Jolani's professors are seriously worried. Gene submits another care report asking for an update. Nobody at ISU files a missing persons report, but the Illinois State University Police Department asked the Bloomington Police for help. That night, they visit the day's family about 80 miles away in Danville looking for Jolani. His brother, middle school teacher D'Andre, answers the door.

He calls their mother and sister to see if either has heard from Jolani. They haven't. Since nobody can reach him, D'Andre drives to Bloomington while Carmen makes a ton of calls. At this point, Carmen knows something isn't right. She tries to convince the police to go all in. But they tell her that adults who are missing for a short period of time only trigger a full search if they're in danger of hurting themselves or others. And they don't think Jolani's case has risen to that level.

At 8.57 p.m., the Bloomington police checked Jolani's apartment, but he isn't there. Neither is his car. The apartment manager lets them into Jalani's unit. Everything appears to be in place. School books, clothes, luggage, toiletries, and kitchenware. But no Jalani. So wherever he is, it doesn't seem like he was planning to be gone long. knowing that, D'Andre meets officers at his brother's apartment and officially reports him missing. The patrol officer checks with hospitals and towing companies, but doesn't find any information on Jolani or his car. At 11 p.m. on Wednesday, August 25th, 2021, Jolani enters the system as a missing person. I feel like we have been saying that way too much lately, and the fact that he wasn't reported, or at least in the system, as a missing person until 38 hours after he was actually missing, that is insane.

to me. Yeah, it's like not surprising anymore, but always disappointing. I, and I don't know what else to say on this subject anymore. Like, we talk about it so often that I wish police would just stop doing what they do. Like, just put him in as a missing person. Like, it's not that hard. I know, like, what could it really hurt? I mean, at this point, you have all of his family coming to you saying, this is not normal. And on top of that, you have all of his teachers at the school saying, this is not normal. I feel like that is plenty of people to be like, okay, maybe this. hold some weight, maybe I should just look into it. And the fact that they didn't and 38 hours went by, that's just so heartbreaking and incredibly frustrating. Yeah, it feels like the school is doing more for

Gilani at this point. And I'll keep saying it. If police can come out for somebody stealing something from the dollar store, why can't they make a missing person's report? The morning after Jolani's reported missing, Thursday, August 26th, his parents head to the Bloomington area. At 9.32 a.m., his dad's Savei waves down ISU officer David Erickson in the parking lot outside the student center. Savey tells David that there was a transaction on Jolani's credit card at the student center Starbucks on Tuesday, August 24th. David reviews a security footage, spots Jolani, and then uploads a copy to their server to include in his case file.

At 9.52 a.m., Sergeant Paul Jones with Bloomington PD talks to Carmen on the phone. He goes to Jolani's apartment to meet with his dad and older brother at 1032. They let him inside to look around, and at 11 a.m., he heads over to the ISU Student Center Starbucks to talk to the employees. Then at 1208 p.m. he calls caribouster. Later, he reaches back out to the family offering to post about Jolani on the Bloomington Police Department Facebook page. And shortly after that, there's a massive break in the case. You want to tell them, Sarah? Yeah, Jolani's cars found. It's about 60 miles north of Bloomington in the town of Peru. It's concealed in a small wooded area.

Which Sarah and I found super odd for a few reasons. One, Jolani loves this car. It's a white 2010 Chrysler 3,000 that his grandfather gave him. And two, the area where it's found is in the middle of a bigger residential neighborhood where he doesn't know anyone. He doesn't have any connection to the city or seemingly any reason to be there. Carmen also points out that her son would never just go to the woods to hang out. And three, Peru is what's known as a sundown town.

Basically, between the late 1800s through most of the 20th century, black people were required to leave these towns by sunset. While some sundown towns had formal laws, others like Peru had unwritten rules. If members of the black community didn't leave before dark, they were harassed, intimidated, and in some cases assaulted. Signs around town used racist words and commanded black people not to let the sun set on them.

According to one long-time resident, the town had a whistle that was blown around sunset to notify the black community that they needed to get out of town. And while those laws no longer exist, many towns are still known for being unfriendly to black people. Yeah, in 1970, after the laws went out of fashion, the black population was only five people. Even today, only 0.06 of Peru's population is black.

So now you have people wondering, did Jalani pass through and was he targeted? If so, he wouldn't have been the first person suspected of being lynched in the area. On September 18, 2018, 3 years before Jalani's death, a black man was found hanged from a tree in nearby woods. The police ruled it a suicide despite his daughter's protests. She begged them to look into it. I can't even imagine how his daughter must have felt, but I bet Carmen can. She feels like she's in the day.

dark about a lot of things as this investigation unravels. For example, when Jalani's cars found, the story breaks before police even call to tell her. Carmen finds out through an article Kara sent her. Afterwards, Carmen drives to Peru as fast as she can to meet with officers searching her son's car. Inside the abandoned car, police find some of Jolani's clothing he was wearing at the dispensary two days earlier. There's also a partially smoked blunt and Jolani's journal. police never share what's written inside, just that there are only two entries in 2021 and no suicide note. They also find a Tennessee license plate having no clear connection to Delani in the trunk. The car's actual license plate has been removed.

Even the screws are missing. But there's no blood, and it doesn't look like anything was disturbed. So police say there are no signs of foul play. After this, the Peru police joined Bloomington and Illinois State University Police. in the search. They sweep the area with dogs, drones, and by foot. At 4.30 p.m., a Bloomington detective tells Carmen that if he doesn't hear anything by 5 p.m. that day, he'll check in with her the following Monday. I feel like I always think that, you know, when certain clues turn up, kind of an area where the person, the victim, is not known to frequent, that's always kind of like

a red flag in something that always catches my attention and should be looked into. But specifically in this case, the car was found in Peru. And like you said, given the history, that is incredibly concerning. And it also kind of makes me more frustrated that the police are still not really thinking foul plays involved. Yeah, 100%. It feels like they think that because the laws have changed, that the people have changed, right? And I'm sure that's the case for some people. I don't want to sit here and say that every resident of Peru is evil or whatever. But we know that it takes generations, multiple generations, to eradicate that type of hate if it's ever eradicated at all. So I think that it still needs to be a huge concern in this case. Definitely.

And also, kind of speaking on the items that were found in his car, most of the stuff doesn't really spark any concern for me, like his journal. I mean, if he's known to write and like he's in school, I feel like that's pretty normal to find, like his clothes, the half-smoked blunt, that doesn't really like raise any red flags to me just because we know that he went to the dispensary that day. And yeah, like at some point, he probably smoked that blunt. But the one thing that really does stick out to me is his missing license plate, that's really weird. And then that Tennessee license plate, they didn't really have any connection to his car, but was found there. You know what's interesting is a couple years ago when I lived in Seattle, I didn't realize this, but luckily my husband was

driving for Uber at the time, which is the only reason why he caught what I'm about to say, but somebody took off my license plate and put on a different license plate. But like, I said, he was driving for Uber. And when he went to go pick up his first customer, she was holding up the phone. She was, are you, you know, so and so double checking, obviously, like you should do for safety reasons, the license plate and everything. And the license plate didn't match. And so we got out to look and that's when he noticed. Somebody replaced our license plate. I don't know what they were trying to do if they were like trying to commit a crime with my license plate. But that I found that so weird. Court, I might know what they were trying to do through my, you know, possible

younger activities that I was around, right? So very often when people steal a car, they'll swap the license plate from the same type of car. That way, if a cop runs the plate, it's not reported as stolen. You know what I mean? So if you have like a white Chrysler, let's say, you'd swipe it with another white Chrysler license plate so that nothing weird would show up if it gets reported stolen. Okay, that makes perfect sense. I don't know why. I just, I couldn't understand why somebody would do that. But living in Seattle, like you see a ton of crazy things on a daily basis. But yeah, that checks out and makes sense. Yeah, yeah. I grew up, you know, I had a wild teenagehood. I never did it, but I saw people around me do it. Like, just to be fair, you know what I mean? Like it was just kind of like around me. But with this being a Tennessee plate found in his car, that doesn't appear to be the motive, at least according to me and my limited criminal knowledge, if you will. That makes no sense to me that license plate. And I think that that's one of the biggest red flag. because what would Jolani even want with a random license plate?

To me, it seems pretty clear that somebody else put it there. But that is just a theory. Yeah, I agree. I don't think you would put it there. I mean, why would he? The only clue that we have is that his car was found abandoned. So if he wanted to just like get up and, you know, so to speak, just kind of walk away. And it doesn't make sense why he would take his own license plate off and then leave that one behind.

Like you said, to me, that's a clear indicator that someone else did that. And it was not Jolani. Yeah. Like that's not even how you like. start a new life. You know what I mean? You don't just like swap the license plate on your grandpa's Chrysler and then nobody can find you. So none of that. None of that makes sense. At this point, Jolani's family is both scared and frustrated that police won't be searching over the weekend. So they decide to try and find Jolani on their own. On Friday, August 27th, Carmen posts on

Facebook. She asked people to help canvas the area where Jolani's car was found. They'll start the next day, Saturday, August 28th at 9 a.m. at the YMCA in Peru. This is the first of four searches she organizes, and people show up more than expected. Volunteers come from all over. Some make the 100-mile drive from Chicago. A handler even brings out professional tracking dogs to help out. Some people go into the park across the street from the wooded area, and there they actually find something. Clothes and a gun clip. Carmen calls the police to process the evidence. An officer collects a volunteer group's findings but says he doesn't think they have anything to do with Jalani.

He thinks the items were left behind by an unhoused person. Then, almost a week later, on Thursday, September 2nd, 2021, a man and a son are out operating their drone in Peru, completely unrelated to the search for Jalani. When they lose contact with it, they drive to where they were flying the drone, a residential area a quarter mile north from where Jalani's car was found. As they look around, they see a black wallet lying open about 15 feet away from the street.

There's an Illinois driver's license inside, and they don't recognize the name, so they search Google. It belongs to Jolani Day, and now that they know he's missing, they call the police. Jolani's money and bank cards are no longer inside, but they also haven't been used since the Student Center Starbucks. Two days after that is Saturday, September 4th, 2021, 11 days since Jolani went missing. A team from the non-profit Illinois Search and Rescue Council is out looking for evidence of Jolani. Sure enough, a little over half a mile southwest of where his car was found, someone locates Jolani's ISU lanyard and another ID. But two other police officers find something way more upsetting. At 9.47 a.m., they discover a body floating face down in the Illinois River.

It's a little over a mile southwest of where Jolani's car was found. The person is so bad. badly decomposed that their race and sex can't be determined. They also aren't wearing any clothing other than a t-shirt, underwear, and a black sweatshirt with the sleeves turned inside out, double-knotted around the waist. On September 6th, Carmen and other relatives give DNA samples for comparison. A short while later, authorities tell Carmen the state crime lab is out of the chemicals needed to process the DNA, which is why it's taking longer than usual to confirm the person's identity. But ever since this discovery, Carmen feels that the police are paying even less attention to Jolani. Only one Bloomington police detective is now working the case. Ultimately, Carmen wants the

FBI involved. A 22-year-old white woman named Gabby Petito went missing around the same time as Jolani. When the FBI joined her search, her body was found within a week. They have more resources than the police, but the FBI refuses to take on Jolani's case. They don't explicitly state, Why, but they make excuses. Like, there isn't enough evidence of foul play, and local law enforcement is perfectly capable of handling the case. But Carmen disagrees. She wants her young black son to get the same attention as a young white woman.

I think Gabby Petito's case changed true crime forever. I think the amount of attention that her case got shined a light on all of these cases like Jolani's that did not get the same attention. And I really respect her family for not shying away from that. I know. I feel like they've really leaned into it. And, you know, ever since that whole tragedy, like, they've really set up a nice foundation for helping other families in need that have gone through something similar, which I think is

a really good thing, like you pointed out. It's just unfortunate that it came to that. And when Gabby went missing and people were actively searching for her, they found several other bodies in the process, which is kind of insane. Yeah. I mean, all the attention on Gabby did lead to finding. many other people. And again, I think it did shine a light on the stats that we kind of already knew that people like Gabby, you know, affluent white women tend to get more attention than people like

Jalani, who also, you know, is a rather affluent black man. So I think that all of this really just helped raise more awareness for it. But when you're Carmen Day and you're right in the middle of it, right, you don't really see that. I don't want to speak for her, right? I just want to say that I understand that frustration. When you see one case gets so much attention and you're over here fighting for your loved one, you're always going to think, why? Why not my person? So another reason why it's super frustrating that the FBI chose not to take on Jolani's case is because the FBI has access to nationwide databases, advanced forensic labs and specialized units that most local departments don't have. They can also coordinate across state lines a lot faster, which is huge in a missing

person case. Well, and I bet their lab doesn't run out of the chemicals needed to do these DNA tests, right? And like, it's about so much more than just attention because what comes with media attention and media pressure is that pressure on law enforcement to do something. So it's just, it's so hard when there's so many families out there fighting for that same attention so that that same pressure can be applied to their police department. Yeah, I just can't even imagine how Carmen is feeling at this point. It just has to be so awful seeing this play out in real time, especially to like your son. That is just really, really sad. Yeah, well, and I know a lot of families take that on themselves, too. Like, what am I not doing enough of to make them care more?

Which kind of sounds like insane, right? Because in no way am I saying that Carmen didn't do enough, right? I think we all know that. But that's how it feels as a family member is like somehow I'm lacking, somehow I'm not doing enough for my person to make them care. And it drives you kind of insane sometimes. FBI or not, it seems like a lot of evidence in this case is found by non-officials, including two women from Bloomington who go to ISU. Their cousins, and on the morning of Tuesday, September 21st, 2021, they decide to go on a walk with one of their dogs. They've heard that the police haven't done much to find July since the body was recovered,

so they use the opportunity to search for themselves. They drive down to Peru and stop at the fire department to ask where they should start looking. Not that they really expect to find anything. But they do. Just over a mile east of where the body was discovered, one of them spots a Nike shoe on the riverbank. They take a closer look and find both of the sneakers and a pair of shorts.

The shorts contain DNA, but the police will later determine it doesn't belong to Jalani. It's surprising to say the least. It is, right? Especially because two days later, on Thursday, September 23rd, 2021, there's an announcement. The LaSalle County coroner who covers the area where the unknown body was found

has finally confirmed its identity. And it belongs to Jolani Day. Hi, Crime House community, it's Vanessa. Are you interested in the mysterious parts of history, like when in 1518 an entire European city couldn't stop dancing? Or in 1908, when something flattened over 800 square miles of Siberian, in an instant. I'm excited to tell you about a new show, Hidden History with Dr. Harini Bott. Dr. Bott has spent her entire career demanding evidence and asking why. Now every Monday

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so you never miss a mystery. It's Thursday, September 23, 2021. After 19 days, the coroner has finally identified Jolani's body. Bloomington police say Jolani went missing, quote, in unexplained suspicious circumstances, end quote. But they aren't convinced that means foul play. Meanwhile, the coroner is still waiting on the toxicology and histology report to determine the cause of death.

And if you didn't know, histology means the study of tissue. Okay, so some people think that, you know, 19 days is kind of like a really long time to identify a body. And I don't want to assume that Jolani's race played a factor in efficiency here, but on one hand, it's hard not to considering the lack of urgency up to this point. But on the other hand, in cases where a body is really badly decomposed, especially after being in water for days, identification really is not quick. I know it seems like that, thanks to all the movies and TV shows, but it often takes weeks or even months because investigators have to rely on things like

dental records or DNA instead of visual ID. And in some cases like this, sadly, when decomposition is severe or there's just no clear match, it can honestly even drag on for years. So for it to take 19 days to determine that this body is Jolani's, it doesn't really seem unusual to me, although I do know that every single day that goes by without an answer, it can be incredibly frustrating. And given how authorities have handled this case so far, it's easy to feel like they just didn't care as much as they should have. I think that was really well said. I don't think 19 days is the craziest amount of time I've heard, especially if you're counting like business days, right? But do we do have to have. I think that was really have to factor in here. This is like people's jobs. It's not their passion. They're not really going in

on the weekends, maybe sometimes, right? I don't want to speak for all of them. But it doesn't seem like the craziest delight to me. But also, of course, on the family member side, 19 days can also feel like an eternity. It really can. I mean, 19 entire day is like not knowing if this is your loved one or not. Like, I can totally see their side and how frustrating and just, just hard that is to navigate. Yeah. And families don't work in business days. You know what I mean? That Your person, especially when it's this new and this fresh, right? For most families, your person is on your mind every second of the day. When you're rolling over to go to sleep, when you're waking up in the morning, when you're walking your dog, when you're trying to find any type of normalcy, you're thinking, I wonder if today's the day I'm going to get the test result.

It's hard to walk the line and see both sides, but I try. It's extremely frustrating. But at least a few days after Jolani's body is identified, the LaSalle County Sheriff's Office makes a hopeful announcement. They'll continue to investigate the case in collaboration with the Peru Police, LaSalle Police, Bloomington Police, Illinois State Police, and the FBI's Behavior Analysis Unit. To be clear, though, the FBI won't take the lead. They only assign an agent to help out. Meanwhile, people are doing what they can to keep Jolani's memory alive. Five days after Jolani's body is identified on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, a painting of him appears in the nearby town of Norfolk. normal Illinois. But it only stays up for a day. The city takes it down on Wednesday,

September 29th, with the excuse that it wasn't authorized and violates code. Two weeks after that, on Monday, October 11th, 2021, ISU student Jiamen Lewis takes the microphone at the Bloomington City Council meeting. He says authorities should be treating Jolani's case like a murder investigation. He believes Jolani was lynched in a sundown town only 60 miles away and wants to know if the area is unsafe for black people. ISU professor Olivia Butts also speaks up. She believes the case has been mishandled, and the Bloomington police have not exhausted their power and resources to help the day family.

Sarah and I notice that this conversation comes up over and over again with this case, as it should. From the outside, nobody thinks it's being handled correctly, not even complete strangers. But there are still clues out there waiting to be found, whether the police. police are looking or not. Yeah, so on October 17th, six weeks after Jolani's body was found, a man is driving north on the I-55. Around Bloomington, he pulls over to secure a mattress that's tied to the roof of his car. As his eyes pass over the side of the road, he notices a shattered iPhone.

The man takes the phone to a Walmart in normal Illinois and sells it at the Eco ATM for $85 cash, but nobody knows that yet. On October 25th, a little over a week later, the LaSalle County Coroner finally announces Jolani's cause of death, drowning. There's no evidence of any pre-death injury, assault, strangulation, disease, health condition, or significant intoxication. Although the coroner does admit that the examination was, quote, suboptimal because of the level of decomposition. And the day family can hardly believe it. Jelani was an avid swimmer. He swam in high school and was always at the pool for exercise.

Carmen says someone like Jolani doesn't just drown. I feel like this has to be so hard for a family to come to terms with a lack of like care with this case. You want to believe that that wouldn't happen to him like he is an avid swimmer. However, on the other hand, rivers can be really like intimidating once you get in. It might not look like it's moving very fast, but then, you know, so many things go into that. Obviously, I'm not a professional, so I don't really. know what all goes into like ruling out possible injuries when the state of someone's body is like Jolani's and badly decomposed. Yeah. I mean, you have to think what might have happened if he was

found sooner, right, and had a lower level of decomposition. But I mean, to your point, right, this is a diagnosis of exclusion. So basically they ruled everything out. He was found in water. So they put down drowning. I mean, his manner of death is also unknown. So this is one of those things where you're left with more questions than answers. This answer that they came to, it's not better than just like not knowing. It's just kind of like up in the air, you know? The coroner himself said this was a diagnosis of exclusion, which again just means that they didn't know what else to put.

Maybe just unknown all around would have been more honest, in my opinion. Maybe it would have been more believable, maybe to the family. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, if there was like water found in his lungs, then, okay, let's talk about drowning. And we know that not all drownings have to have water in the lungs, right? it's a whole thing. Being all because they couldn't find anything else is just really, really sad for this family who desperately wants answers.

But Carman's not the only one who finds the coroner's report insulting. So does civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson. Jalani's case reminds Reverend Jackson of the lynching of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy whose body was found floating in a river in 1955. To this day, nobody has been held legally accountable for his death. Meanwhile, other civil rights activists are also paying attention. They're all trying to get more eyes on this case. On Tuesday, October 26th, Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push Coalition

leads a march in Peru with Jolani's family. They hope to put pressure on law enforcement so they keep investigating. Their route passes by the separate locations where Jolani's car, belongings, and body were found to help raise awareness. During his speech the night before, Reverend Jackson says he believes people are covering things up. A spokesman for the Rambo Push coalition says the coroner should apologize to the Dave family for the way his report was released. U.S. representative and former Black Panther Bobby Rush backs Carmen's call for the FBI to take over the case. He writes a letter to

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI director Christopher Ray asking them to intervene. He once again points out the disparities between Jolani's case and that of Gabby Petito. FBI spokesperson Chavon Johnson says agents are always willing to help, but they won't take over the case. I can only imagine that Reverend Jesse Jackson showing up in support of, you know, Jolani and in Carmen, it probably means like a big, big deal to her. Oh yeah, this is huge. I mean, you know, media pressure moves mountains. I say that all the time and I know it kind of sounds cheesy, but it's true. This type of media attention pressures law enforcement to do something, at least in most cases. Yeah, and it seems like at this point, the only people who aren't concerned about this case are law enforcement, which is crazy because you have family, Reverend Jesse Jackson, you have the school, you have complete strangers, all kind of rallying around Jolani and his family to put pressure on law enforcement. It's just crazy to me that they're still just being like, eh, well, you know, we're not really going to investigate anymore.

FBI jurisdiction can be tricky, and sometimes it feels like they've been the rules, and other times it feels like they won't bend the rules. and there's like no rhyme or reason to it. So I totally understand the frustration. Totally. And I think another point or term that I want to bring up is missing white woman syndrome, which if you don't know, missing white woman syndrome, it's a term used to describe how media coverage and public attention tend to heavily focus on missing person cases involving young white women.

Missing white woman syndrome most directly impacts missing people of color, especially black and indigenous women, men, and children. whose cases often receive less media coverage and public urgency. That lack of attention can mean fewer tips, less pressure on investigators like you mentioned earlier, and honestly slower mobilization of outside resources like federal assistance or private search efforts. On Monday, November 8th, 2021,

the LaSalle County Sheriff's Office finally learns about that iPhone we mentioned, the one sold at the Eco ATM back on October 17th. They check the serial number, and it's a match for, Jolani's. The sheriff's office reaches out to the Bloomington police who have ECO-ATM FedEx them the phone. Three days later, on Thursday, November 11th, Carmen finds out via Facebook, not the police, that Jolani's phone was located. She reads it on a post by an acquaintance of the man who found the phone, so she reaches out to the Bloomington PD to confirm. They say they haven't contacted her because they, quote, wanted to be sure the phone belonged to Jolani. Then, the

Bloomington police asked Carmen if she wants them to look through the phone, but she asked them to have the FBI do it. The Bloomington police do send it to the FBI in Chicago. After a year, the FBI will send it back saying they weren't able to unlock it. Carmen won't accept this. So she brainstorms, and that's when she remembers something. The security footage of Jolani texting after he left the computer lab, it recorded him unlocking his phone. Carmen calls the Bloomington Police Department. They zoom in on the footage and see his password. Eleven days later, they use it to unlock his device.

But they say there's nothing on it of interest. Meanwhile, the day family's been experiencing other devastating life events. On April 8th, 2022, seven months after Jolani disappeared, his father, Save a Day, died of leukemia at the age of 51. Jolani never got to save his dad's life with his stem cell donation. But he made a difference for a lot of people and continues to after his death. One month after Save-A passed, on May 13, 2022, the Illinois governor signed the Jolani Day bill into law. It requires coroners and medical examiners in the state to notify the FBI if they have custody of human remains,

and they are still unidentified within 72 hours of discovery. While the days are proud of the legislative progress made in Jolani's name, they don't feel like any movement was ever made in his case. You know, this is really hard because this bill is super important, but at the end of the day, it just, it doesn't solve Jolani's case. So I just can't imagine how the family's feeling. Yeah, it's so bittersweet. Whenever I see bills like this, like they obviously go on to help other people, but the person, right,

the namesake of these bills, often their cases are left unsolved. Like, look at the Amber Hackerman case, right? The Amber Alert, that has helped bring hundreds of kids home. And Amber's case remains unsolved. That's what this reminds me of. It's a really great thing to do to help cases moving forward, but it always makes me so sad for the people who these bills are named after because so seldom do they help them. It's really heartbreaking because we shouldn't know these people's names.

They should just be living their life, getting to grow up, continue their life, and do whatever they want. And like you said, these bills and stuff are put into place to really help, but they're kind of left behind with no answers. Yeah, I feel like any family would, you know, exchange that legacy just to have their loved one back, obviously. On Monday, October 2, 2023, the Jolani Day Task Force announces they'll no longer proactively work on his case. They will continue to offer a $10,000 reward for information about his final hours and will follow up on tips. But their monthly meetings with Carmen are no longer necessary. They will give her updates if and when they become available.

With the support of her remaining kids, Carmen is still looking for answers about what happened to Jolani. She keeps the conversation going by posting on the Justice for Jolani Facebook page regularly. She goes over the case so often she probably knows more about it than anyone. But we all know that Jolani was a bright, driven young man who had everything to live for, and he had so much of it planned out. He was talking to his cousin about becoming a chairperson and youth director for his hometown NAACP. He was getting ready to donate stem cells to his father, who was struggling with leukemia. And after a success filled four years as an undergrad, he was working towards his master's degree in speech pathology.

And to achieve that dream, Jelani woke up early on Tuesday, August 24th, 2021. He dressed himself in black slacks, a black belt, black dress shoes, and a blue long-sleeved button-down shirt. Then he left his apartment and drove to campus. He had his first ever appointment with a patient later that day. So he worked on their chart in the computer lab, bought himself a coffee at Starbucks, and then he left campus. He went back to his apartment, changed into casual clothes, and drove to a cannabis dispensary to buy a single blunt.

That's the last time Jolani was seen alive. We don't know why he left campus that day, or if he planned to go back to school for his appointment, but we wish he were here to tell us. If you have any information about Jolani Day, you can call the Jolani Day Joint Task Force at 1-800, Call FBI. The Jolani Day Foundation was established to support families of missing people of color by fighting racial disparities and how these cases are treated.

JDF helps bridge the gap when missing persons of color don't receive adequate national attention, local support, or media coverage. They provide financial, emotional, and professional resources during the search. You can donate at www. the Jolani Day Foundation.org. Thank you for listening to the final hours. If you have any other details about Jolani's case, please share it with us on social media.

We want to hear from you. Your thoughts, condolences, and feedback are what make this community so special. At Crime House, we value your support. Share your thoughts on social media and remember to rate, review, and follow the final hours to help others discover the show. And to enhance your listening experience,

subscribe to Crimehouse Plus on Apple Podcast. You'll get every episode of the Final Hours ad-free, along with early access and exciting bonus content. The Final Hours is hosted by Sarah Turney and me, Courtney Nicole, and is a Crimehouse Original powered by Pape Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Final Hours team, Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benadon, Lori Marinelli, Natalie Pertzowski, Sarah Camp, Alyssa Fox, Dana Brazil Solovee, Andrew Rosenblum, and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening. I'm Katie Ring, host of America's most infamous crimes. Each week, I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes, available now wherever you get your podcast.

Looking for your next listen, check out Hidden History with Dr. Horini Bot. Every Monday, Dr. Bot goes where history gets mysterious, vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, and events that science. still can't fully explain. Follow Hidden History now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.