#1 Mississippi is burning again
Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2005 5:06 pm
Yahoo
Burned Body Found in Miss. Is Ill. Student
By JAN DENNIS, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
NORMAL, Ill. - A body found in a burned-out chicken coop in Mississippi has been identified as that of an Illinois college student who disappeared two weeks ago, authorities said Wednesday.
Dental records were used to identify the remains of 21-year-old Illinois State University senior Olamide Adeyooye, authorities said.
Police did not disclose the cause of death.
"As far as the cause of death, we believe she was already deceased when the body was dropped off in Newton County (Mississippi)," Newton County Sheriff Jackie Knight said. "We have investigators from Illinois here with us but we believe the actual death took place in Illinois."
Knight said he was not aware of any signs of sexual abuse.
A native of Nigeria who moved to suburban Chicago when she was 8, Adeyooye was last seen Oct. 13 at a video store near her off-campus apartment in Normal. Her car, a green 1996 Toyota Corolla, still was missing.
Normal police Lt. Mark Kotte said authorities were still investigating how Adeyooye ended up in Mississippi. But he added: "It is not an incident of somebody going around preying on college students."
The body was found Friday as workers cleaned up a chicken coop in Lake, Miss., where firefighters had put out a blaze four days earlier. The coop is about 60 miles from Interstate 55, a highway that passes through Normal.
Nearly 40 investigators, including
FBI agents, took part in the search. Her family and friends posted fliers and sent out messages through Web sites and blogs.
Police still had no suspects.
"We still have a list of persons of interest and that hasn't really changed. We still have quite a few people that we need to talk to, and also people now that we will be reinterviewing," Kotte said.
Adeyooye, who studied laboratory sciences and biology at ISU, was due to graduate from the 20,000-student college in December and planned to return to Chicago to complete her clinical training at a hospital.
Adeyooye's father, Adiodun, said he wants to see justice.
"I believe Olamide's spirit will find the culprit. Whoever might have killed her, Olamide's spirit will find him out in Jesus' name," he said.
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Associated Press Writer Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss., contributed to this report.