CENTREVILLE, Ill. _ It started with a mother's tip from Las Vegas: Search the garage.
Now authorities in St. Clair County are trying to determine whether a 7-year-old child whose body was found decomposed inside a garage Tuesday was the victim of a homicide or natural death.
The child's mother, who lives in Las Vegas, told police that her child died in 2015 at the age of 7, and that the body could be found inside the garage behind a home in Centreville, said St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr.
Las Vegas police said the tip about the child's body stemmed from an unrelated investigation there. A man has been arrested on multiple charges from that investigation, said Las Vegas Officer Laura Meltzer. Officers in Nevada are working with the Metro East authorities who are investigating the child's death, she said.
She said she could not yet release the nature of the charges pending against the man who had been arrested. She said officers met to discuss the "extremely disturbing" child death case Tuesday, but would not give details.
"I've been an officer for 14 years and we're used to sad stories in this line of work, but when you hear of things like this, it really hits you in the gut," she said.
Centreville police got the call from Las Vegas police around 2 a.m. and went to the address at about 4 a.m. Tuesday, said Sgt. DeMarius Thomas Sr.
The owner of the home, which is vacant, let officers into the garage, where they found the body wrapped in some blankets.
Thomas said police believe the child was killed in Belleville and dumped in the garage. He referred all questions to that department. Phone calls for comment were not immediately returned.
The Center for Missing and Exploited Children does not list any missing children reports from Centreville or Belleville that appeared to match the case, according to its website.
Dye said the child was pronounced dead at 6:55 a.m. Tuesday, and was in such an advanced state of decomposition that he did not know the child's gender. An anthropologist will be assisting with the investigation, and an autopsy will be conducted this week, Dye said.
A neighbor, Isaac Parker, said he was shocked by the news. He watched as the coroner removed a plastic tub from the garage Tuesday morning. He said he has not seen anyone live on the property for about two years.
"If she didn't call the police, we never would have known," said Parker, who has lived nearby with his wife for more than 40 years. "How could a woman allow the death of her child, and then to know it and not tell anyone? What happened? How could she have known this all this time and didn't say nothing?"
Overgrown brush, weeds and trees have surrounded the house and garage, which are not visible from homes behind it. A piece of yellow crime scene tape hung from the garage door. Splintered wood covers the windows and door to the small, one-story home.
A notice taped to one of the boarded-up windows declares the property as vacant and warns that a mortgage servicer would be notified and the locks changed and plumbing winterized "within the next few days." The notice is signed by a representative from Cyprexx Services, a Florida-based property management service for lenders, with an inspection date of June 3.
Reached by phone Tuesday, a man identified in property records as the owner of the home declined to comment, saying he didn't want to jeopardize the investigation.
