A clothed skeleton was discovered hidden away in the basement of the same West Ridge home where about a week earlier a 79-year-old man had been found dead — sending neighbors into shock, wondering how long the bodies had been there.
“I don’t know what happened,” one longtime neighbor told the Sun-Times. “It’s a very sad thing. It’s a very sad thing for this neighborhood.”
Relatives arrived to clean out the home of the deceased 79-year-old man Monday morning in the 2800 block of West Fitch Avenue and immediately knew something was wrong, the neighbor said.
“She said there’s something in this house that’s just not right,” the neighbor told the Sun-Times.
The gruesome discovery happened when one of the relatives spotted several heavy blankets hanging from a line in the basement, and after pulling them down, he saw a locked door with tape covering the cracks and boxes of mothballs nearby, according to a police report.
After removing the hinges and pulling the door down, the relative found more blankets and plastic trash bags bound by a bungee cord. Peeking inside one of the bags he found a skeleton with clothing on it, the report said.
Police were called, and officials took the remains to the Cook County medical examiner’s office for examination
Another relative told police she believed the skeletal remains were those of an estranged 71-year-old family member they had not seen or heard from for about 15 years.
The body of the 79-year-old resident of the home on West Fitch was discovered earlier this month..
On Feb. 3 , a woman asked police to check on her brother because he wasn’t answering the door or his phone, and she’d lost communication with him about three months earlier, according to a police report.
Once inside, first responders found 79-year-old Gerald Harris in a second-floor bedroom. He was pronounced dead on the scene about 5 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office, which found he died naturally, of heart disease.
The longtime neighbor said Harris’ family had lived in the home since she moved to the block over 50 years ago.
At one point, the parents and siblings occupied the home, but in recent years it was just Harris and his brother — although the neighbor said she had not seen the brother for at least four years.
The neighbor who asked not to be named said Harris, whom she knew as Gerry, was always kind to her.
“He was always jovial, he always said ‘hi,” the neighbor told the Sun-Times. “We always used to chat because he loved to talk.”
The neighbor said that Harris was lonely, especially in recent years, and spent most of his time sitting in his car outside his home.
She worried something was wrong, weeks ago, when she stopped seeing Harris in his car and mail began to pile up on his porch.
When relatives arrived to clean out the home Monday morning, the neighbor said Harris’ sister immediately knew something was off.
It is unknown how long the skeletal remains discovered Monday had been in the home.
“Can you imagine if [they’ve] been in the basement for years?” the neighbor asked.
The medical examiner’s office has not identified the remains found Monday. Area detectives are investigating.
The North Side block was quiet Tuesday morning after a chaotic 24 hours. One neighbor had only recently moved to the block, and while they did not know Harris well, was shocked to hear what happened.
“Check on your family,” the neighbor told the Sun-Times.
