Las Vegas Woman Alerts Police To Child Found Dead In Illinois

VIA: Police say they discovered human skeletal remains in a garage around 4am. Authorities said a person called Centreville, IL, police Tuesday morning saying they could find human remains in a garage at 7201 Russell avenue, IL. The home at that address is vacant.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the child’s mother, who currently lives in Las Vegas, was the person who called the tip into police. She said the child died in 2015 at the age of 7-years-old.

Officers contacted the property owner who opened the garage. There investigators found the remains of a 7-year-old child wrapped in blankets. Police are trying to determine if the child died from a homicide or natural death.

County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the child was in such an advanced state of decomposition that they could not determine the gender.

Illinois state police are assisting in the investigation.​ They are awaiting results of an autopsy scheduled for later this week.