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Body of Eddie Gardner, missing since 2022, found in abandoned Chicago building

Murder investigation opened after body of missing 22-year-old man found 2 years later
Murder investigation opened after body of missing 22-year-old man found 2 years later 00:44

CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Oswego family's two-year search to find out what happened to a missing man has ended, after Eddie Gardner's body was found in Chicago in March.

His mother, Sandy Gardner, said her son's remains were found in the basement of an abandoned building near 64th and Sangamon on March 20. A bullet casing was next to his body. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office recently identified his remains. A cause of death has not yet been revealed.

Gardner was 22 when he disappeared in March 2022. His mother reported him missing in Oswego. 

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Gardner Family

About a week later, the Dodge Charger he rented from Hertz turned up in Hammond, Indiana, with another man driving it.

Since his disappearance, his mother hired a private investigator and sent out daily emails about her son's case, blaming Hertz for lost leads after the company waited weeks to report the Charger as stolen. 

She also accused the Oswego Police Department of failing to properly investigate his disappearance.

The case is now a murder investigation.

In April 2022, police released grainy surveillance photos of two men who might be connected to Eddie Gardner's disappearance.

The men were in the rented Charger when they were last seen in at 120th and Halsted streets in the West Pullman neighborhood on March 28, 2022.

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Oswego Police
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Oswego Police
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