Sema'j Crosby 911 Tapes Released By Will County Sheriff

JOLIET, IL - The Will County Sheriff's Department has released the 911 calls from the April 25, 2017 disappearance of 1-year-old Sema'j Crosby, the little girl from Joliet Township whose death remains unsolved more than a year later. Authorities told Patch on Friday that a Chicago radio station had submitted a Freedom of Information Act request several months ago seeking access to the 911 calls, which the sheriff's department initially denied. However, the news media outlet appealed the sheriff's department's decision to deny the public records. The denial was overturned and the sheriff's department was ordered to make the 911 calls available to the public.

On Friday afternoon, Joliet Patch submitted a FOIA request to the Will County Sheriff's Department, which furnished a copy of the 911 call made by Sema'js mother, Sheri Gordon in April 2017. The following written summary is an edited transcript for the first couple minutes of Gordon's 911 call.

Patch has posted the entire unedited 911 call, 9 minutes in length, at the bottom of this article. (In addition to staying Patched in here on Facebook, did you know that you can also get Joliet news delivered straight to your inbox for free? Sign up for our free daily newsletter and our breaking news alerts at Joliet Patch.)

Dispatcher: 911, where's your emergency?
Gordon: Yes, my daughter is missing.
Dispatcher: "What's going on there?"
Gordon: "Yes, my daughter is missing. I cannot find her. She was outside … She's 1.
Dispatcher: "All right. Stay on the phone with me while we get the police in route. What's her name?"
Gordon: "Semaj."
Dispatcher: "Spell it for me."
Gordon: "Semaj Crosby." Gordon proceeds to spell her daughter's first and last name for the dispatcher."
Dispatcher: "When's the last time you saw her?"
Gordon: "Uh, in the front yard, when everybody was outside in the front yard."
Dispatcher: "OK. So how long ago was that?"
Gordon: "That was about … like a half an hour, thirty minutes ago … It was a whole lot of kids out here. It was a whole lot of kids out here … it was a whole lot of adults out here watching them and everything."
Dispatcher: "OK, take a deep breath. I need to ask you some questions. So you think it was 30 minutes ago that you last saw her?"
Gordon: "Yes."

Main image via John Ferak/Joliet Patch Editor