Streamwood police Cmdr. Michael Zeigler spent more than a year, off and on, combing through Streamwood High School yearbooks from the early 1980s, hoping to find a photo that sparked recognition.
Zeigler had a photo reconstruction of a boy, knitted together by technicians with help from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The boy’s skeleton — outdoors for weeks or months — was found in Jackson County, N.C., in 1984. The boy had died from a gunshot wound, believed to be self-inflicted, according to reports.
His body was cremated, eliminating any possibility of DNA matching later. But the photographic reconstruction of the teenager’s face was created from pictures of the skull.
This week, the John Doe was identified as James Allen Reymer, formerly of Streamwood. He was 16 years old at the time of his disappearance, officials said.
Reymer’s was just one of the more than 700 cases of unidentified child remains the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is aware of, said Carol Schweitzer, a forensic services case manager at the center.
In 2011, the center began working to match remains with identities, using its Facebook page, Help ID Me, to push information to the public.
"We created a specialized unit to identify children’s remains" found across the nation, Schweitzer said. The center has been able to identify remains from as far back as the mid-1960s.
There are likely hundreds or thousands more cases than the ones the center knows, with remains or case details in coroners’ and medical examiners’ offices throughout the country, Schweitzer said.
10 years later, families of 5 missing still search for truth Kate Thayer
Once in a while, Susan Olsen goes into a bedroom in her basement where her son once slept, to think, to look around.
Bradley Olsen’s clothes still hang in the closet and fill a chest of drawers. Atop the chest sits his last pack of cigarettes, spare change and a red solo cup with a key inside….
Once in a while, Susan Olsen goes into a bedroom in her basement where her son once slept, to think, to look around.
Bradley Olsen’s clothes still hang in the closet and fill a chest of drawers. Atop the chest sits his last pack of cigarettes, spare change and a red solo cup with a key inside….
(Kate Thayer)
The Reymer case started with the facial reconstruction, but there were other details that helped the search for a name, Schweitzer said.
A fast-food place mat was found near the body details — a sort of hand-written resume — including that the person had attended Streamwood High School.
There were also references to restaurants in North Carolina and Memphis, Tenn., Schweitzer said. But the boy had been using a false name at those jobs.
In 2015, the center featured the boy’s facial reconstruction on Help ID Me. Chicago media picked up the story.
Former Streamwood police Chief Jim Gremo saw the story and asked Zeigler if the village had a 30-year-old missing child case. But no report was ever generated here, Zeigler said.
It is his understanding, Zeigler said, that the family had moved to Illinois from Tennessee. Unhappy here, Reymer’s family allowed him to move back to Memphis to live with people there, Zeigler said. The boy later ran away.
"I looked through yearbooks and had a general sketch. I was finding a ton, boys with typical ’80s haircuts. There were thousands of possibilities," Zeigler said.
Families of missing people gather to remember Rachel Mellon Alicia Fabbre
As he talked to the dozens of people gathered Sunday to remember his daughter, Jeff Skemp talked of the bond they all shared.
Like many of the others gathered, Skemp knew what it was like to have a missing child. His daughter, Rachel Mellon, disappeared on Jan. 31, 1996. Many gathered Sunday at…
As he talked to the dozens of people gathered Sunday to remember his daughter, Jeff Skemp talked of the bond they all shared.
Like many of the others gathered, Skemp knew what it was like to have a missing child. His daughter, Rachel Mellon, disappeared on Jan. 31, 1996. Many gathered Sunday at…
(Alicia Fabbre)
Then there was a break in the case. An area resident saw the media coverage and believed the reconstructed picture looked like a boy he’d been in school with at Streamwood’s Canton Middle School.
"They came up with a name, and we were able to find the family," Zeigler said.
The family, which still lives in the area, was not identified.
It isn’t unusual that Reymer’s disappearance was not reported in Illinois, Zeigler said. There was a police report in Memphis, where he was living at the time, but he was found in North Carolina.
Sometimes, tracking a missing juvenile can be easier now because of cellphones and social media, Zeigler said.
"There is more — more notoriety, more social media. We are better able to track kids. In the ’80s, there was no way to trace them," Zeigler said.
Remains aren’t cremated anymore, Schweitzer said, adding that it wasn’t unusual for large jurisdictions, with little room for storage, to cremate unclaimed remains.
Now, however, DNA is collected from unknown remains before they are buried, she said.
While DNA could not be used in the Reymer case, there is little doubt the North Carolina remains are his, Zeigler said. There was a missing person’s report in Memphis; he had connections to Streamwood; and photos of him, lined up with photos of the skull, show the teeth match, she said.
The center hopes to continue matching remains and cold cases to remains, Schweitzer said. But there has to be a missing persons report to begin the work. In many cases, there are no reports because the family didn’t know to make one, believing the person had just moved away or disconnected with family.
"The first step is making a missing person report. You don’t have to be family to make a report or family to report a tip. In this case it was a friend who recognized him," Schweitzer said.
Janelle Walker is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
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