By Blake Haas

PERU – Over 400 people marched in the streets of Peru, Illinois, on Tuesday to seek justice for Illinois State University graduate student Jelani Day.

Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH Coalition gathered with Day’s family and community members to march from the Peru Police Department to the Peru YMCA.

“See it with your own eyes and think would you believe that somebody with common sense would come all the way to Peru to do something to themselves,” Day’s mother, Carmen Bolden Day, said before the march. “So see it with your own eyes, see why I’m so adamant about finding out what happened to my son.

If I thought that anything Jelani would have done to himself, I could accept something. But, my son, he loved life. He had goals and aspirations. He believed in God; he had a strong Christian background. He wouldn’t of dared did anything to himself.”

On Monday, authorities said Day drowned in the Illinois River, and there was no evidence of any trauma to his body.

“How they said where the body was found, where they said the clothes were found, where they said the wallet was found, where they said the lanyard was found – none of these are in a proper distance. None of these would be that Jelani would of purposely drove his car too, took off his license plate, not have his phone, throw away his keys, take off his clothes and go into a river.

Jelani wouldn’t of done that at all. So, since this is what they have tried to put in black and white and print to get you to believe, see it with your own eyes.”

Day was found dead in the Illinois River in Peru on Sept. 4.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Bloomington or Peru Police.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].