Riverside Police Working Death Investigation on Bloomingbank Road
Skeletal Remains Unearthed by Construction Crew
On Thursday, September 14, 2017, at 12:56 p.m., Riverside Police Department's 9-1-1 center received a phone call from a construction crew working in the village on the sewer separation project.
The caller stated that one of the crew operating an excavator had unearthed skeletal remains and wanted the police to investigate.
The first officer to arrive at the scene immediately determined that the unearthed skeletal remains were human and immediately contacted detectives.
Riverside Police are treating this as a death investigation and the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Evidence Technicians are on scene processing the skeletal remains for further investigation at the medical examiner's office.
It should be noted that this area is a well-documented Indian burial ground and skeletal remains have been found in this same general area in years past. There is no indication at this point of any foul play, but Riverside Police must conduct the death investigation the same as they would at any other crime scene.
Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel stated that Riverside detectives are working directly with the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force Evidence Technicians and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office in this death investigation.
The 100 block of Bloomingbank is currently shut down to all traffic until the burial site and skeletal remains are completely excavated and transported to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. Their office will then have a forensic anthropologist examine the remains to see if they can determine how long the body has been in the ground and if the remains are consistent with the Indian burial ground that is known to be in the immediate area of the 100 block of Bloomingbank.
The on scene medical examiner confirmed that the recovered bones are old. However, further examination will be required.