Joliet Woman, 23, Dies Along Will County Forest Preserve Trail, Death Not Deemed Suspicious: Police

JOLIET, IL — Will County Coroner Laurie Summers issued a Facebook press release on Monday regarding this past weekend's death of a 23-year-old woman whose body was found along the Rock Run Greenway Trail of the Will County Forest Preserve that runs between Ingalls Avenue and Theodore Street.

The coroner opted not to identify the woman, and her announcement offered no explanation for how the woman died such as the cause and manner of death. Joliet Patch interviewed David Barrios of the Will County Forest Preserve Police who indicated the woman died of a single gunshot wound and that the gun was found in her hands.

He said his agency does not consider the young woman's death as suspicious.

Barrios said the young woman's car was found on Sunday morning parked nearby at the city of Joliet's Paul Briese Park off Infantry and Ingalls and that her boyfriend went looking for her after she never made it home on Saturday. He managed to find her gone when he came home from his Saturday night work shift and on Sunday morning, he tracked her phone location to the Briese Park. Barrios said her body was found around 6:30 a.m. along the paved section of the trail.

Barrios said that police investigated the boyfriend's version of events, including his alibi and found that he was at work at the time his girlfriend left the residence to take her own life, using one of the boyfriend's multiple guns to do so, Barrios said.

Police performed gunshot residue tests on the woman's hands and the results clearly indicated that she used the gun to shoot herself, Barrios said. The boyfriend was also tested and his results were negative, Barrios said.