Oswego police release photos of men who may be connected to disappearance of missing man Eddie Gardner

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Police in Oswego have released surveillance pictures of two men who may be connected to the disappearance of a 22-year-old man.

Eddie Gardner has been missing for two months, and his mother has been pushing police to investigate.

The pictures are not very clear; they are actually quite blurry. But as CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, these images are all investigators have to go on to find out answers in Gardner's missing persons case.

the men were in a rented 2021 white Dodge Charger that were last seen in at 120th and Halsted streets in the West Pullman neighborhood on March 28.

The car had been rented by Eddie Gardner, 22, who has been missing since March 8. Gardner's family believes he was active, and still driving the Dodge Charger he rented from Hertz in Bolingbrook, until March 13. His sister, Jessica, went into his phone log and said March 13 was the last time his phone was used.

She then went into Gardner's Waze app and saw the navigation history. That history put Gardner's last known location at 131st Street and St. Lawrence Avenue on Chicago's Far South Side.

Johnson-Gardner said she filed a missing persons report in Oswego, where he used to live with her, and began emailing Hertz.

Then, Eddie Gardner's renter Dodge Charger turned up in Hammond, Indiana – involved in a March 29 hit-and-run.

"There was an empty shell casing on the floor, and a tire shop receipt from the day before," said sister Jessica Gardner.  

Yet Gardner's family last saw and heard from him three weeks prior to that. His mother was the one who reported him missing with Oswego police, and she has been worried ever since.

"Just keeping busy during the day keeps my mind off of it but the nights are hard," said Gardner's mother, Sandy Johnson-Gardner. 

Last week, CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov asked Oswego Deputy police Chief Brad Delphey if he believes Eddie Gardner is the victim of foul play.

"We're very concerned," Delphey said. "There's just a point where his pattern of normal behavior stopped."

Johnson-Gardner said police told her Hertz declaring the car stolen would help. But a Hertz would not report it stolen – a spokesperson told her police need to submit a formal request.

Delphey initially said said Bolingbrook police would be in charge of doing so. But an Oswego police spokesperson told Kozlov that that based on the information she shared with them, they would reach out to Hertz and Bolingbrook police.

Gardner's mom said Oswego's police chief told her he plans to submit the evidence they collected from the Charger to the Illinois State Crime Lab.

Hertz also finally declared the car stolen, allowing for police to search the vehicle. But the images released Friday, and finding out who the men seen in them are, could be the key in finding where Gardner is and what happened to him.

"I'm in limbo," said Johnson-Gardner. "I don't know if he's alive or dead."

Anyone with information on the men in the photos released Friday, or Gardner, is asked to call Oswego police at (630) 551-7300. Anyone who would like to provide information anonymously may call Crime Stoppers (630) 553-5999.

In:
• West Pullman
• Oswego