Blue Island Police Officer's failed at a well being check left a dead man in the home for months

Eugene Davis died forgotten and alone inside his locked dilapidated Blue Island house even after its water and electricity were shut off, authorities said Wednesday.

Police found Davis' body, described as "mummified" by the Cook County medical examiner's office, on the floor next to his bed Tuesday afternoon, Ald. Dexter Johnson said.

Although the medical examiner's office hadn't formally identified the body as of late Wednesday, several neighbors and Johnson said it was Davis, 70, who had lived in the home in the 2800 block of West 141st Place for decades and was known in the neighborhood as "Sonny."

The medical examiner's office said he died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and determined his death was from natural causes.

Police are investigating, said Deputy Chief Michael Cornell, who declined to answer additional questions about the death.

Neither the medical examiner's office nor police said Wednesday how long they believe Davis had been dead, but several neighbors said they hadn't seen him for at least a few months. Johnson, who was in the house when the body was found, estimated that Davis had been dead for "a couple of months."

Police have been in contact with a relative of Davis, who told them the family last saw or heard from Davis in January, according to a law enforcement source. The relative described the man to police as a loner who was estranged from his family, the source said.

But several neighbors said Wednesday that Davis' sister would stop by every few weeks to deliver groceries and check on him, but they said they hadn't seen her for several months, either. Public records show that she died last fall.

"I feel so terrible," Kamilah Muhammad-Wells, 36, said while visiting her mother's house across the street Wednesday afternoon. "I feel like we should've been much better neighbors. He shouldn't have been in there so long. That's terrible."






Muhammad-Wells, who grew up in the neighborhood, and other residents described Davis as a quiet man who kept to himself. He lived alone in the house for the last several years after his mother died, they said, and would wave to neighbors when he retrieved the mail from his rusted, curbside mailbox.

But the mailbox became stuffed with unopened mail a few months ago, several neighbors said. The neighborhood's mail carrier stopped delivering Davis' mail and asked police to conduct a well-being check, neighbors said.

Several neighbors said police knocked on Davis' door about a month ago, which Johnson said police confirmed to him Tuesday. Nobody answered, but police didn't force their way inside, neighbors and Johnson said.

Even before the mail began piling up, the white two-story clapboard house stood out on a quiet street home to a mix of older and newer houses. Overgrown trees and bushes obscured the front porch, paint cans and old newspapers were stacked inside the front door, and nearly waist-high weeds and grass covered the yard.

Johnson said he decided to knock on the door Tuesday when he saw how high the grass had grown. A neighbor who works for the city's Water Department told Johnson that the water had been shut off about a month ago, prompting him to call police.

Police forced their way into the house, which Johnson said did not have electricity, and found Davis' body, he said.

"It's very troubling," Johnson said. "I really couldn't tell you what went on."