Authorities have confirmed that Jelani Day, the 25-year-old speech pathology student whose body was found in the Illinois River on Sept. 4, died by drowning.
Though the cause of death has been established, according to the LaSalle County Coroner's report released on Monday, Oct. 25, "The manner in which Mr. Day went into the Illinois River is currently unknown."
Day's last known sighting was on Aug. 24 while he was on the Illinois State University campus, according to NBC News. Bloomington police said security video showed Day going to a Bloomington cannabis dispensary earlier that morning. Two days later, investigators located his white Chrysler in Peru, Ill., about an hour north of Bloomington. The outlet also reported that Day's clothes were left in the vehicle.
On Sept. 23, almost a month after his family reported him missing on Aug. 25, the LaSalle County Coroner confirmed that a body found in the Illinois River earlier that month belonged to the graduate student.
The details surrounding Day's disappearance were brought to light following mainstream media coverage of the Gabby Petito case. The disappearance and subsequent death of the 22-year-old YouTuber, who was reported missing on Sept. 11, included FBI involvement and sparked nationwide attention.
Family members of Day, who was Black, previously criticized the disparities between authorities' handling of his case and that of Petito's, who was white.
"I understand what [Petito's] family is going through because we are going through that right now," D'Andre Day, Jelani's brother, told NBC News in September. "Jelani just didn't disappear. Somebody knows what happened. Somebody needs to report what happened."
Following the confirmation of Day's identity, the family issued a statement to NBC Chicago, on Sept. 23, saying, "There are no words to clearly communicate our devastation."
"At this moment there are more questions than answers surrounding Jelani's disappearance and death, and that is where we will focus our energy," the statement continued. "As of this moment, we do not know what happened to Jelani and we will not stop until we do."
Concluding their statement, the family added, "We learned new evidence has been discovered and police are working on new leads related to Jelani's disappearance. This case is not closed and the investigation is not over."