Authorities have identified the fourth body found in the garage of an illegal in-home mortuary last year in south suburban Riverdale along a box of cremated human remains and a bag of organs.
Pompey Hicks was 51 when he died of an accidental drug and alcohol overdose on Sept. 30, 2011, and he was released to Living Waters funeral home, a “funeral director that met all requirements,” the Cook County medical examiner’s office announced Friday.
He was among the remains found “in various stages of decomposition” in the garage of the home in the 13900 block of South Dearborn in Riverdale Sept. 9, 2015, according to Illinois State Police.
Investigators believe the homeowner, Anton Godfrey, who died Aug. 29, 2015, was “improperly storing bodies in his home garage, which were prepared for burial,” state police said previously. Godfrey had previously been “the subject of multiple court orders to cease and desist his in-home mortuary practices.”
The three others found dead were previously identified as Bridgette Godfrey, who died in February 2013 at the age of 50 of respiratory failure; Ruby Jackson, who died in August 2013 at age 62 of a stroke; and Torrence Henderson, who died in July 2011 at age 38 of a heart condition, according to the medical examiner’s office. The cremains were identified as those of 44-year-old Andre Mabrey, who died in November 2013, but whose cause of death was unknown.
Authorities are still trying to determine the identity of the bag of organs, because investigators could not extract DNA from them, a spokesman for the medical examiner’s office said Friday.
Anyone who may have information is asked to call the ISP Zone 1 Investigations Unit at (847) 294-4600.
