LASALLE COUNTY, Ill. — A forensic autopsy has ruled the cause of Jelani Day's death as a drowning, but it is unknown how he got in the water.
LaSalle County Coroner Richard Pioch released a statement on Monday, saying Day appeared to drown, but they could not find any further evidence related to his death.
"There was no evidence of any antemortem injury, such as manual strangulation, an assault or altercation, sharp, blunt, or gunshot injury, infection, tumor, natural disease, congenital abnormality, or significant drug intoxication. The manner in which Mr. Day went into the Illinois River is currently unknown," Pioch wrote.
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According to CNN, Jelani's mother, Carmen Bolden Day, says she disagrees with the coroner's report.
"That is a narrative that my son did something to himself. He did not," she said at a general assembly meeting of the Illinois State's Black Student Union. "Somebody did this to him, and they are going to be held responsible for doing what they did to my son."
Jesse Jackson Jr. has reportedly called for FBI and the US Department of Justice to "conduct a thorough investigation because it smells like another Emmett Till case all over again," he said last week in a statement, referring to the case of 14-year-old Till, who was murdered in Money, Mississippi, in 1955.
Day, 25, was a graduate student last seen via surveillance footage at a retail store in Bloomington, Illinois on August 24. His body was reportedly found in the Illinois River in early September, and confirmed to be Day on September 23.