Bloomington Illinois. 25-year-old Jelani Day currently is a graduate student at Illinois State University, where he studies speech pathology.
After Jelani completes his master’s degree, he dreams of going on to be a doctor.
“He is intelligent. He is caring. He is kind. He loves his family immensely,” Jelani’s cousin Cocoa Severado Bullock said in a Facebook post about him.
“He sends out messages just to tell you that he loves you. He is one-of-one (he stands out). He is one of four other siblings. He is the fourth in line. He is the baby boy. He is loved.”
On August 23rd, a Monday, Jelani’s mom spoke with him on the phone as he made his way to class that day.
When Jelani’s mom couldn’t get a hold of him after that and her calls started going straight to voicemail, she became extremely concerned.
Jelani calls his mom multiple times a day to talk with her, and he would never ignore her calls like that.
Over the next few days, Jelani never showed up for class, which further confirmed for his loved ones and friends that something had to be terribly wrong.
Facebook; pictured above is Jelani
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Jelani’s family reported him as missing and after the Bloomington Police began looking into his disappearance, they found security footage of him from August 24th.
Jelani was first spotted at 7:12 a.m. at ISU’s Bone Student Center. Then at 9:12 that morning, security cameras captured him walking into a store named Beyond/Hello. That was the last time Jelani was seen anywhere.
In the security footage from the store, Jelani is dressed in a black graphic Jimi Hendrix tee, white shorts, a blue Detroit Lions baseball cap, and black shoes.
On August 26th, just 2 days after Jelani was seen on the security footage, authorities found his car, a white Chrysler 300.
Jelani’s car had been hidden in the woods close to the Illinois Valley YMCA, and inside of his car were the clothes he had last been seen wearing in Beyond/Hello.
Facebook; pictured above Jelani smiles with his mom
The Bloomington Police has said that Jelani disappeared under “unexplained suspicious circumstances” and they are working to process any evidence that could be found inside of Jelani’s car.
They are now asking that anyone who has information on Jelani’s disappearance to please contact them at 309.820.8888, or call Officer John Fermon directly at 309.434.2355.
Jelani’s family has created a Facebook page to raise awareness for him, and they also hired JAB Professional Services to help investigate his disappearance. You can also call any tips into JAB at 618.223.0044.
Jelani is 6’02” and 180 pounds. He has brown eyes and short black hair. He also has some facial hair.
Bloomington Police; pictured above are more photos of Jelani