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No Public Safety Threat After Man, Boy Found Dead In Yorkville Home

YORKVILLE, Ill. (STMW) -- A 35-year-old man and his 4-year-old son were found dead this week in the garage of a home in the 300 block of Bertram Drive.

Kendall County Coroner Ken Toftoy said the bodies of Joseph R. Schmitt and son Wyland Schmitt were found in the garage of the two-story, single-family home where Joseph Schmitt lived.

Yorkville Police Chief Rich Hart said Thursday that police are not looking for any suspects in the case and there is no danger to the public.

"This is an isolated and contained incident," Hart said. "There is absolutely no threat to the public or the community."

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Hart said police had no previous contacts at the house. He declined to comment further while the incident is still under investigation.

Police were called to the home at 3:21 p.m. Wednesday for a well-being check. When officers arrived, they discovered the bodies of Joseph and Wyland Schmitt in the garage, near a car. Joseph Schmitt was on the floor and his son was in a chair nearby, Toftoy said.

The exact cause of death will not be confirmed until an autopsy is performed Friday. However, multiple sources confirmed that Schmitt's car was parked in the closed garage where the bodies were found. The car was no longer running when police arrived.

According to DuPage County court records, Schmitt's wife had filed for divorce in August. The couple was scheduled to be in court at the end of November.

Neighbors said Joseph Schmitt and his wife were separated and that she no longer lived in the house. Wyland would visit his father often, neighbors said. They saw the boy occasionally running in the backyard and playing in the pool with his father. Wyland was not enrolled in Yorkville schools.

Neighbors said investigators were at the house for several hours Wednesday.

On Thursday afternoon, two small stuffed animals had been placed at the front door. Family members could not be reached for comment.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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