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Two years after Champaign man’s body found, homicide remains unsolved · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Two years after Champagne Man's body found, homicide remains unsolved.
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  Written by Marabeth Wilson, This article is being read by
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  an automated voice brought to you by Everlet. More than
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  two years after Jelon Rucker went missing, his homicide remains unsolved.
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  The twenty year old Champagne Man's body was found at
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  the decommissioned Cherry mine more than two months after he disappeared,
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  but investigators have released limited information about how he died
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  or the circumstances that brought him to the Illinois Valley.
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  The Bureau County Sheriff's office has classified Rutger's death as
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  a homicide, but the manner of death has not been disclosed.
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  The coroner's office did not complete a toxicology report, and
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  a redacted autopsy report released through a Freedom of Information
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  Act appeal provides few answers about what killed him. Significant
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  and pertinent information is still being collected and investigated, sometimes daily,
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  by investigators. Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reid said in an email,
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  this investigation is up to date and we are comfortable
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  with the way it continues to progress. Our end goal
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  is not only to arrest the perpetrators, but to provide
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  a professionally thorough investigation that proves them guilty beyond a
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  reasonable doubt. Rucker was reported missing from the Champagne area
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  on March twenty fourth, twenty twenty four. According to police records,
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  His body was discovered at the mine in June. The
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  Bureau County Coroner's Office identified him through forensic analysis in November.
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  An autopsy performed on June eleventh, twenty twenty four, at
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  the Ogle County Coroner's Facility in Oregon found the body
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  fully skeletonized, with no evidence of significant natural diseases, injuries,
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  or congenital malformations. According to a redacted autopsy report. Authorities
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  first mentioned homicide after the Bureau County Sheriff's Office and
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  the Ille Illinois Valley Special Response Team executed a search
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  warrant on September seventeenth, twenty twenty four, in the three
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  hundred block of North Steele Street in Cherry. In the
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  approximately twenty four months since Rucker's death, investigators have released
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  little information to the public, citing preservation of the case.
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  Key questions remain unanswered, how he was killed, what brought
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  him to the Illinois Valley, and how he spent his
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  final hours. Shaw Local News Network filed a Freedom of
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  Information Act request for a copy of the autopsy and
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  toxicology report. The request was initially denied, citing the ongoing investigation.
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  Shaw appealed to the Illinois Attorney General's office and received
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  a redacted copy of the autopsy report. The manner of
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  death was redacted from the document. The coroner's office has
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  not completed a toxicology report. Reid said he cannot divulge
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  evidence pertinent to the ongoing investigations, but emphasizes the case
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  remains active. Local and state law enforcement agencies are assisting
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  with portions of the investigation. Whether that happens in the
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  next six months or the next year, we will ensure
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  it happens, Reid said, referring to the resolution of the case.
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  The elections of the new Bureau, County State's Attorney and
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  coroner have not affected the direction on this case. Both
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  have been very professional and great to work with in
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  this case and others that have provided challenging aspects. Reid
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  declined to provide additional information, citing the need to preserve
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  the integrity of the investigation. Anyone with information can call
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  the Bureau County Sheriff's Office Investigative Unit at eight one
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  five eight seven, five, three three four four