Chicago police found a child’s body parts in the Garfield Park Lagoon on Saturday afternoon.

A foot was found about 4:40 p.m. in the lagoon off the 200 block of McCrea Drive in Garfield Park, in the area of the Garfield Park Lagoon, authorities said.

Police later found a right foot, right hand and left hand toward the north end of the lagoon about 25 yards away. A 20-pound weight was found nearby, authorities said.

The limbs were in an advanced state of decomposition and not clothed, authorities said.


Someone called 911 to report a foot floating in the lagoon Saturday afternoon. It turned out to be the left foot of a toddler, according to authorities.

Chicago police detectives, the marine unit and K-9 were back at the lagoon Sunday morning. Investigators in waist-deep, mucky water searched the edges of the water, lifting logs and fallen branches. A police dog sniffed the shoreline, at one point plunging into the water.

It was unclear if police had recovered any additional body parts or evidence at the scene. Police did haul several items from the water, but they appeared to be machinery or tools. Other officers gathered evidence from the shore.

Alderman Jason Ervin said the recovered body parts belong to a child likely 2 to 4 years old, and of unknown gender.


Police set up a mobile command center on the eastern edge of the water.

The northwest corner of Garfield Park, along Hamlin Boulevard between Lake and Washington, is closed. Police tape flutters in the breeze as TV cameramen record the recovery efforts.

Several members of the community have arrived at the park, including Perry Starks, a member of the Garfield Park Advisory Council. Starks heard about the body parts search Sunday morning after arriving at his mother’s house adjacent to the park.

Starks said bodies have been found in the park over the years, but the latest discovery is particularly sad.


A small part of the park was closed Saturday as police investigated and searched the area. The search ended for the night about 10:15 p.m. Detectives and the Chicago Police Marine Unit were among those at the scene Saturday evening.

McRea Drive, near the northwest corner of the lagoon just east of Hamlin Boulevard, was blocked off for a short stretch, and police tape cordoned off the area around that part of the lagoon.

Patrol officers sat outside the scene overnight, keeping it secure so that a search could resume in the morning.

ALSO:


8 homicides in 1 day are latest signs of Chicago’s bloody summer

Who is Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the man who stumped Trump?

U.S. judge dismisses challenge of Arizona’s landmark immigration law