Sema'j Crosby Group Calls For Outside Prosecutor

JOLIET, IL - The Justice For Sema'j Crosby Action Team returned to downtown Joliet on Thursday afternoon, as promised, to mount more public pressure on the Will County Sheriff's Department of Sheriff Mike Kelley and the Will County State's Attorney's Office of James Glasgow. Last week's peaceful rally took place at the Will County Courthouse on behalf of the one-year-old little girl who died under suspicious circumstances at her Preston Heights home in April. Her case remains unsolved. Thursday's rally was held on North Ottawa Street because that's the site of the professional office building occupied by Glasgow, his team of criminal prosecutors and staff.

"We're hoping our action here is progressive," Bishop Gregg L. Greer, president of Freedom First International based in Chicago, told reporters Thursday afternoon. "The State's Attorney hasn't been responsive to bringing forward information to the community."

"We want to see criminal charges also," Greer added.

Over the past week, supporters of Sema'j Crosby have mobilized "a call-in campaign." Numerous people have taken the initiative to make phone calls to the Will County State's Attorney's Office, asking the staff why nobody has been held accountable in Sema'j death. Her dead body was discovered underneath a couch. Days later, somebody burned down the Preston Heights home, perhaps thinking that doing so would destroy physical evidence. Now, five months later, both the child's apparent homicide and the arson remain unsolved at the Will County Sheriff's Department.

"We want a special prosecutor, if it can't be handled locally," Greer said. "She deserves the benefit of a non-biased investigative agency, if Will County botched the investigation."

Afterward, Will County State's Attorney Office spokesman Chuck Pelkie did not see the logic in seeking a special prosecutor surrounding Sema'j Crosby's death. Allegations the Will County police aren't working hard or aren't doing enough on the case are completely misguided, Pelkie noted.

"There is absolutely no reason to bring in an outside agency," Pelkie told Joliet Patch. "This case is the top priority for the State's Attorney's Office and the Will County Sheriff's Department. For the State's Attorney's Office and the Will County Sheriff's Department, no resources are being spared."

Normally, special prosecutors are sought when the Will County State's Attorney has an apparent conflict of interest, such as the recent case involving Joliet police officer Nick Crowley, who is charged with two felonies stemming from an incident involving gunfire at his home in July. That case has been turned over to the special prosecutor.

But, in the Sema'j Crosby case, "there is no conflict of interest here," Pelkie said. "We've provided as much information as is legally permissible under the law."

Greer has a different perspective. He contends that Will County can file charges on lesser included offenses against the people suspected of being involved in Semaj's death, concealing her body, or obstructing the criminal investigation.

"Proceed with lesser charges while the murder investigation is going," Greer suggested. "We've seen this in other national cases."

Actually, Greer's suggestion happened in a different Will County case just last month.

In August, the Illinois State Police arrested 29-year-old Jonathan Rodriguez of Blue Island and Esteban "Steve" Rodriguez, formerly of Wilmington, in the July 4th disappearance of 24-year-old Martha Sanchez. Her body turned up on July 8 near the Kankakee River in Wilmington Township. So far, nobody has been charged with killing her, but both men are now being incarcerated at separate jail facilities.

Each is facing felony charges of intimidation and concealing a homicide at the Will County Courthouse. Esteban Rodriguez was also busted for having a loaded gun at the time of his arrest in Cook County.

"You have a sixteen-month-old child who was murdered," Greer declared Thursday. "Four months, I know, I is a long time. The bottom line, there is no resolution from Will County State's Attorneys ... It bothers me."

Pelkie told Patch on Thursday evening that investigators for Will County don't want to make any arrests unless the criminal charges are solid, in this case or any other case for that matter.

"Every case has to be reviewed individually," Pelkie said. "This case is being investigated aggressively with the greatest degree of seriousness and urgency. The goal is justice for Sema'j and to this community, but no one is going to cut corners and bring charges that are not warranted."

For two straight Thursdays, The Justice For Sema'j Crosby Action Team has held public rallies in downtown Joliet. But as each day passes, her case remains unsolved, just like in April.

So what's the action team's next move?

Greer said "the game plan" calls for organizing a "major rally through the downtown" in the near future, if her death continues to go without an arrest or a meaningful investigative update from Will County officials.

"It's unacceptable," Greer said. "The bottom line, there is a travesty of justice. That baby deserves more."

For more Patch coverage on the Sema'j Crosby death:

• Sema'j Crosby Group Displeased With Will County Police
• Sema'j Crosby Update: 4 Women Still Not Cooperating With Police
• State Senator Wants Answers In Death Of Baby Sema'j
• Dead Joliet Baby's Autopsy Complete

Images via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak