WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) - A body found last year in a northern Illinois nature preserve has been identified as that of a 50-year-old man who was never reported missing, authorities said.
Dental records reviewed by the McHenry County Coroner’s Office confirmed that the remains were those of Darrell P. Splett of Ingleside, the county sheriff’s office said.
Police do not suspect foul play, and the investigation is considered closed, said sheriff’s Deputy Tim Creighton.
Splett’s body was found in May 2019 at the Rush Creek Conservation Area. But the remains’ advanced state of decomposition hindered investigators’ wide-ranging attempts to identify them until recently, the (Crystal Lake) Northwest Herald reported.
Investigators worked with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in Florida to create a digital facial reconstruction of the deceased man and sent that image to law enforcement and news outlets across Illinois and Wisconsin in April. None of those leads resulted in a break in the case.
But after investigatorw learned that Splett was scheduled to undergo dental work at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Dentistry in late 2018 or 2019, they obtained dental records from the university.
Those records ultimately revealed the body was that of Splett, who police said had never been reported missing. DNA was also obtained from one of Splett’s relatives.
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