Missing Boys Darnelle Flowers And Raysuan Turner Found Shot To Death On Far South Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two teenagers reported missing over the weekend have been found dead in a field on the Far South Side. Both boys had been shot, prompting police to classify the case as a homicide investigation.
Police made the grisly discovery just before midnight Sunday night near 130th and Eberhart, on the edge of Golden Gate Park.
Raysuan Turner's father said his 16-year-old son was one of the two boys found dead. He said Raysuan loved playing football and running track.
Darnelle Flowers' family said they are waiting to complete the terrible task of officially identifying the 17-year-old's body at the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. They said the teen liked to wrestle, and play basketball and football.
Flowers and Turner were classmates at Fenger High School. The boys' families had reported them missing this weekend.
Police First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio confirmed one boy's parents reported him missing after 24 hours, the other reported him missing after 48 hours. Riccio said one of the boys had no criminal history, but the other was known to police.
Police said the mother of one of the victims was with detectives who were following up on leads in the case late Sunday night, when she received an anonymous text that her son's body was in the field near Golden Gate Park. Officers went to the field to investigate, and found both boys' bodies.
No one was in custody Monday morning, but investigators said they have a few people of interest in mind, after a CPD camera caught people running from the area. Police believe the slayings were a gang execution.
As loved ones and friends comforted each other at the scene overnight, police officers combed the neighborhood to look for witnesses.
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Community activist Andrew Holmes said the boys' family had been posting flyers all over the Far South Side over the weekend, and spent hours knocking on doors hoping to find the teens.
"We searched the whole Altgeld Gardens area, doing the same thing, but calls kept coming in saying that your child is over here behind the bushes, by the park in the bushes. So, you know, if any information comes in, any parent's going to do the right thing. They're going to go look for their child," he said.
One boy's cell phone pinged near 130th and Elizabeth in Calumet Park on Saturday, about 2 ½ miles from there the bodies were found Sunday night, according to Holmes.
Holmes said someone reported seeing the bodies late Sunday night behind a house, in some nearby bushes.
"Well it's pretty tough, especially when a mother was just this close to where her baby is laying at, and just was in this area searching and knocking. But the hard part about it is someone knew, and didn't say anything, and they stay right over here. That's the hard part about it," Holmes said.
Police have not said if anyone is in custody, or if they have any suspects.
