By Heart of Illinois ABC

BLOOMINGTON – After the LaSalle County coroner confirmed the body found in the Illinois River Sept. 4 was Jelani Day, his mother Carmen Bolden Day shared shared what she endured during the search for her son in an emotional interview.

“My son didn’t get any type of help, and I’m pissed,” Day said.

Day said she feels those involved in the search did not do enough to find her son.

“I wanted searches done,” Day said.

“Prior to me getting to the spot where his car was found, they told me that night ‘We’ve already done an extensive search. We’ve had this search crew come in,” she added.

“It just didn’t seem right to me. So that Saturday, I had to organize my own search,” Day said.

Day said she hadn’t heard from Lasalle County coroner or Peru Police since Sept. 4 when Jelani’s body was found one week after they located his car in a wooded area.

They finally contacted her Sept. 21 with Jelani’s dental records.

“He called me, he had such enthusiam,” Day said.

“He said ‘Carmen, we’ve got dental records for your son,'” she added.

“And I said well you had me take a DNA to identify for this body. Don’t we wait for the DNA because you told me the DNA was the most important part because the body was so decomposed. He said to me do you want to know if this is your son or not? They were so rude to me.”

Day said they finally reached out to her with DNA results Thursday.

“I was told over a week ago they didn’t have the solution to process the DNA,” Day said.

“I would have to wait longer,” she added.

Day also said the coroner implied that Jelani may have jumped in the river, but she said she’s not buying it.

She says he knew how to swim and was not depressed, so there was no reason why he would have done that.

Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].