On February 3rd, 79-year-old Gerald Harris of Chicago was discovered deceased in his home during a welfare check. When his surviving family members came to clean out the residence, they happened upon a shocking discovery that left a number of unanswered questions.
While sorting out Harris’ affairs, a relative of the deceased discovered a line with blankets hanging from it in the basement. Behind the blankets was a locked door with tape around the perimeter and boxes of mothballs nearby. Upon taking the door off the hinges, Harris’ surviving family members found a clothed human skeleton wrapped in blankets and trash bags, secured by a bungee cord.
A neighbor who spoke with Harris’ surviving family members said the family immediately sensed something was off after entering the home. “She said there’s something in this house that’s just not right,” the neighbor told The Chicago Sun-Times.
A family member told police she believes the skeletal remains belong to a 71-year-old relative who hasn’t been seen or heard from in 15 years. The police were notified of the gruesome discovery but no cause of death has been identified as of yet.
WBBM reports that Natalia Derevyanny of the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office is working with an anthropologist in an attempt to identify the remains and determine a cause of death.
“The anthropologist can do trauma analysis to see if there are tool marks on the skeletal remains, to see if there are any fractures to help us get a greater picture of what might have happened to that individual,” Derevyanny said.
There are a number of possible scenarios that led to this discovery. But it certainly gives a person pause to think that Harris presumably lived with skeletal remains in his home and went to great lengths to conceal their presence.
That’s all for this installment of Horror IRL. Stay tuned to the site for more true crime news as we uncover it. And be sure to follow @DreadCentral on Twitter so you never miss an update.
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