Mom of dead Illinois State student hires prominent attorney

CHICAGO (AP) — The mother of an Illinois State University graduate student who vanished in August and was later found dead in a river has hired a prominent civil rights attorney to investigate the Black man’s death. A coroner determined in October that Jelania Day died from drowning, but said it was unclear how the 25-year-old had gone into the Illinois River. In a news release Thursday announcing she had hired attorney Ben Crump, Carmen Bolden Day said she believes her son was “murdered” and she wants to know who is responsible and why it happened. Authorities have said his death remains under investigation.