Authorities identify man found dead by highway workers in Will County

Authorities have identified a man found dead with gunshot wounds nearly two months ago by highway workers who were cutting grass in far southwest suburban Will County.

Himer Vazquez, 35, of Atlanta, Georgia, was found in a ditch shortly after 2 p.m. on June 21 along Manhattan-Monee Road west of Harlem Avenue in Green Garden Township, according to the Will County coroner’s office and the Will County sheriff’s office.

An employee of the Will County Highway Department reported they found the man’s body while landscaping. The badly decomposed body appeared to have been there “for some time,” the sheriff’s office said at the time. About a week later, authorities had “no leads in their attempt in identifying the man” and released photos of his watch and ring, in the hopes that “someone will recognize the jewelry.”

Vazquez was eventually identified through enhanced fingerprint comparison, the coroner’s office reported Tuesday. Preliminary results of an autopsy showed he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Will County sheriff’s investigators were conducting a homicide investigation. Anyone with information on the death is asked to contact the Will County sheriff’s office at (815) 727-8575.