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5 Years Later, 'DuPage Johnny Doe' A Mystery

(WBBM) - It was five years ago Friday that a boy's body was found in a field in Naperville Township, stuffed into a blue canvas laundry bag with a white drawstring top.

LISTEN: Newsradio780's Steve Miller Reports.

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Authorities say they still don't know how he died or even the real name of the boy known only as "DuPage Johnny Doe."

What is missing, says DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett, is a lead.

"It's likely a homicide because of the way his body was disposed of.  But we don't know the answers to those questions until we get a tip.

"So far, the tips that have come in haven't really led anywhere."

It was chaplain Ron Yurcus who presided over the burial of Johnny Doe three years ago.

"Sometimes if I've got the time I'll just drive by the spot and get out and look and say a little prayer for him there and last week, when I knew it was coming up to this anniversary I stopped there and he had a couple of Matchbox cars there and a couple of flags.

"A lot of people want to condemn the parents or whoever right away, thinking, oh, they were illegals and they dumped him."

Yurcus says uncertainty means people should be slow to condemn.

"There's all kind of questions that give us the opportunity to be compassionate and be forgiving and pray for whoever was involved in this...

"It's between God and whoever was involved in this."

Newsradio780 has asked the DuPage County sheriff's office why information about DuPage Johnny has not been placed on the NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) site, www.namus.gov

The body was clothed in "Faded Glory" brand blue pants and shirt.

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